One of the scariest films ever, gets the remake treatment but does it ruin
the effect the original had on it’s terrified viewers?
When her niece dies under mysterious circumstances, investigative
journalist Rachel Keller begins applying her job technique to her niece’s
private life and uncovers the truth about a cursed videotape, when you see
it your phone rings and a mysterious voice whispers that you will die in
seven days. The only problem is Rachel doesn’t find this out until after
she has seen it!!
Hardcore fans of the original film ‘Ring’ did not take kindly to the idea
of this Americanisation, but I must say it’s a worthy adaptation.
Once again the opening sequence unsettled me, but the jump cut cop-out
right at the end ruined it slightly.
As we got into the main action it was evident that there was a little more
attention being paid to the character emotions and relationships angle,
but it worked in the film’s favour.
The actual tape was more weird than unsettling this time but ultimately
made more sense to me by film’s end.
Once again, whilst fans of the original were not pleased about new
sub-plots involving horses and Rachel’s son’s art, I felt that they were a
bonus as the film makers had added original aspects which fitted and were
also suitably eerie.
The look and tone of the film was chilling and Gore Verbinski demonstrated
some lovely camera angles and coaxed terrific performances from his cast.
On first watch I felt that the film went on too long, but thought that it
played better on second watch.
Undeniably creepy, this remake covered new ground, whilst retaining the
atmosphere of the original and whilst it is very eerie, it was evident
that it was never going to re-capture the sense of dread present in
‘Ring’.
OVERALL SUMMARY
As I had seen the original, the mind games that had so frightened me in
‘Ring’ were wasted here, but this is still an excellent film.
