The Ring

Director: Gore Verbinski Gore Verbinski

Overview

A disturbing videotape appears to hold the power of life and death over those who view it in this offbeat thriller. A strange videotape begins making the rounds in a town in the Pacific Northwest; it is full of bizarre and haunting images, and after watching it, many viewers receive a telephone call in which they are warned they will die in seven days. A handful of teenagers who watched the tape while spending a weekend at a cabin in the mountains scoff at the threat, but as predicted, they all die suddenly on the same night. Rachel Keller (Naomi Watts), the aunt of one of the ill-fated teens, is a journalist who has decided to investigate the matter and travels West with her young son, Aidan (David Dorfman), a troubled child who has been drawing pictures of strange and ominous visions. Rachel managed to find the cabin in the woods and watches the video herself; afterward, she receives the same phone call, and realizes she must solve the puzzle of the video and the person or persons behind it within a week. Rachel turns to her ex, Noah (Martin Henderson), an expert in video technology, who at first is convinced the story is a hoax until he digs deeper into the mystery. The Ring was adapted from a 1996 Japanese film by Hideo Nakata, which became a massive box-office success in Asia and spawned two sequels.

Product Details

Release Date:	10/18/2022
UPC:	0191329232200
Original Release:	2002
Rating:	PG-13
Source:	Paramount

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Naomi Watts	Rachel Keller
Martin Henderson	Noah
David Dorfman	Aidan
Brian Cox	Richard Morgan
Jane Alexander	Dr. Grasnik
Lindsay Frost	Ruth
Pauley Perrette	Beth
Amber Tamblyn	Katie
Rachael Bella	Becca
Sara Rue	Babysitter
Shannon Cochran	Anna Morgan
Daveigh Chase	Samara
Richard Lineback	Innkeeper
Sasha Barrese	Girl Teen #1
Joanna Lin Black	Cashier
Alan Blumenfeld	Harvey
Adam Brody	Male Teen #1
Keith Campbell	Ship's Mate
Gary Cervantes	Painter
Joseph Chrest	Doctor
Aixa Clemente	Nurse
Stephanie Erb	Donna
Art Frankel	Cal
Tess Hall	Girl Teen #2
Chuck Hicks	Ferry Worker
Ronald William Lawrence	Library Clerk
Billy Lloyd	Darby
Coleen Maloney	Mourner #1
Maura McNamara	Girl On Ferry
Catherine Paolone	Mourner #2
David Povall	Girl's Father
Joe Sabatino	Orderly
Michael Spound	Dave
Lindsey Stoddart	Grad Student
Sandra Thigpen	Teacher
Guy Richardson	Librarian
Gina Segall	Singer
Fiachra Trench	Conductor

Technical Credits

Ehren Kruger

Gore Verbinski	Director
Benita Allen-Honess	Associate Producer,Asst. Director
Slamm Andrews	Sound Mixer
Richard Baker	Makeup Special Effects
Bojan Bazelli	Cinematographer
Denise Chamian	Casting
Cinovation Studios	Makeup Special Effects
Craig Wood	Editor
Burt Dalton	Special Effects Supervisor
Tom Duffield	Production Designer
Harry K. Garvin	Camera Operator
Daniel B. Gold	Camera Operator
Giselle Gurza	Asst. Director
Christine Iso	Co-producer
Ehren Kruger	Screenwriter
Mike Macari	Executive Producer
Laurie MacDonald	Producer
Peter Miller	Sound/Sound Designer
Walter Parkes	Producer
Fred Roth	Asst. Director
Jodi Rothfield	Casting
Roy Lee	Executive Producer
Amy Schmiederer	Makeup
Maya Shimoguchi	Set Decoration/Design
Patrick M. Sullivan	Art Director
Michele Weisler	Executive Producer
Julie Weiss	Costumes/Costume Designer
Hans Zimmer	Score Composer

Editorial Reviews

A truly blood-chilling exercise in supernatural horror, this American remake of Hideo Nakata's 1998 Japanese cult classic depicts the inexplicable marriage of demonic malevolence and modern technology. The nightmarish tale gets underway as newspaper reporter Rachel Keller (Naomi Watts) investigates the bizarre fates of teenagers who have died exactly seven days after watching a certain videotape. Rachel watches the tape and pooh-poohs the idea that it might be cursed -- until her young son (David Dorfman) starts making eerie drawings similar to those produced by the victims just days before they died. Despite the occasional plot hole -- suspension of disbelief is a given in horror, anyway -- screenwriter Ehren Kruger crafts a spine-tingling story that is visualized splendidly by director Gore Verbinski, who establishes a sinister, melancholy mood early on and sustains it through the excruciatingly tense final reel. This isn't really an actor's movie, but Watts handles herself surprisingly well, making believable that which is patently unbelievable. She gets able support from Brian Cox (playing a lonely old man whose past sins have a bearing on the present carnage) and Martin Henderson, who is extremely winning as the video geek who helps Rachel analyze the deadly tape. This ambitious little thriller isn't always logical, but it's relentlessly creepy, and that's a quality you always want in a horror movie.

Barnes & Noble - Ed Hulse

Though the majority of truly effective scares in The Ring resound most clearly when borrowed from the original source material, Gore Verbinski's reworking of the phenomenally successful 1998 Japanese film Ringu is a suitably chilling version of the story, which has already seen a Korean remake, two sequels, and a made-for-television movie. Wisely opting for a sustained sense of dread over a series of shock scenes or an over-reliance on special effects, The Ring also benefits from the suitable and assured lead performance of actress Naomi Watts, despite some over-dramatization of events early on. The majority of newly incorporated plot elements are also fairly effective, with at least one instance aboard an island-bound ferry reaching a fever pitch of disturbing heights. And though many of these elements work within the context of the story, certain embellishments are more distracting than effective. The properties of the video that spark the desperate investigation of its origins, as well as the video itself, seem slightly more forced, even if the plot developments that they ultimately lead to are indeed intriguing. A hypnotic melding of obscure nightmarish imagery in the Japanese theatrical release, the video as presented in the American remake, as one character so eloquently states, is "very student film." This isn't to say that it isn't effective in terms of uncomfortable imagery, but rather that it lacks the subtleties that made the original so obscurely menacing. This can also be said of the character of Samara. Where the original wisely refrained from giving the audience a good look at this terrifying figure of mysterious origins, we simply see too much of her here. Her seemingly unearthly and unnatural movements, so effectively realized by utilizing an actress versed in Kabuki theater in the original, is here less-engagingly realized with special effects and trick photography. Also integrating elements from the sequel as well as other contemporary Japanese chillers, The Ring pays homage to its origins while maintaining a decidedly American slant. A highly stylized visual stunner, Verbinski's sparse frame recalls the original while cinematographer Bojan Bazelli's photography helps the film stand on its own as a lusciously foreboding rain-soaked nightmare.

All Movie Guide - Jason Buchanan