Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5447 in DVD
• Released on: 2005-10-10
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Full Screen, PAL
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, German, French, Dutch, Arabic, Bulgarian
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 110 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
An unexpected marriage of big-budget production values and low-budget instincts, The Ring offers chills to be savoured. Usually when Hollywood indulges its cash-hungry game of remaking foreign films the result sacrifices much of what made the original so special. Clearly, the supremely eerie supernatural vibe that permeated the legendary 1998 Japanese horror film must have done something to those Hollywood suits, because Gore Verbinski's remake is actually rather good. Certainly, it's not superior to the original, but it's undoubtedly a cut above most modern horror efforts, expertly wringing every drop of suspense. The impressive Naomi Watts (Mullholland Drive) plays a journalist investigating an urban myth of a videotape that kills the viewer a week after watching it. Succumbing to curiosity, she watches it herself--big mistake--and has a week to solve the mystery or fall victim to its sinister power.

While transferring the action from Japan to modern-day Seattle may weaken the impact of the plot's mythological elements, and the film may be guilty of pointless padding (belying the original's lean format), Verbinski's effort is no less squirm-inducing, bolstered with a tremendous shocker of an ending. Exquisitely utilising the strong visual sense displayed in The Mexican, Verbinski creates a thick atmosphere of dread and suspense that never lets up, thankfully favouring old-fashioned scares, rather than retreating to blunt CG spectacle. In Watts, the film has a horror heroine who far exceeds the average wide-eyed scream queen, perfectly conveying the endless stream of bone-chilling moments. --Danny Graydon

Special Features

• 15 min experimental short film created by director Gore Verbinski exclusively for the release
  
• Animated menus
  
• Trailer

DVD Technical Information:

• Running Time: 110 minutes
  
• Region Code: 2
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85
  
• Wide Screen
  
• Soundtrack Languages: Dolby Digital 5.1: French, German, English
  
• Subtitles: Arabic, Bulgarian, Dutch, English, English for the Hearing Impaired, French, German

Synopsis
In Gore Verbinski's remake of Hideo Nakata's chilling horror film, a group of teenagers all die suddenly and inexplicably exactly one week after watching a mysterious videotape at a remote cabin in the Pacific Northwest. Journalist Rachel Keller (Naomi Watts), a relative of one of the victims, begins an investigation that leads to a mountain resort where she discovers the tape, which contains footage of random and surreal images. After viewing the tape, Rachel receives a phone call stating that she, too, has seven days left to live. As the clock ticks away, Rachel enlists the help of her former boyfriend Noah (Martin Henderson), who is the father of her startlingly serious young son Aidan (David Dorfman). Assisted by the intuitive illustrations of Aidan and the initially reluctant research of Noah, Rachel attempts to discover the significance of the cryptic tape before her time is up.
The original RING, based on a novel by Koji Suzuki, was a cult phenomenon in Japan, spawning a sequel, a prequel, and other spin-offs. Although Verbinski's adaptation shares much in common with its Japanese counterpart, the director distinctly alters numerous plot elements and, in grandiose Hollywood style, employs a much larger budget. The beautiful cinematography is one of the more telling enhancements, along with added screen time for other characters, including the morose Richard Morgan (Brian Cox). However, the key to this RING is Watts, who shines through the creepy atmosphere in a role that follows her success in MULHOLLAND DRIVE. This would appear to be no coincidence, since the film comes across like a David Lynch version of an X-FILES episode that presents shockingly scary moments and makes the most out of the unknown.

Customer Reviews

Get into The Ring at your peril
Having seen Ring (the original Japanese version) I can honestly say this is a poor man's remake - gone really is the rawness that the original Ring portrays. The Ring never really lives up to expectations and does not keep you on the edge - mere boredom set in after only 30 minutes. Maybe I was expecting more from this but I'd see this as being a little off centre and certainly anyone wanting to get joy from the Ring, try the Japanese original - far more enjoyment for your pound and I think the Jap's eye this as being a poor remake.

Pathetic vs the Original
Another botched job by Hollywood failures. It seems the creativity well has become so dry that film makers are ever increasingly snapping up classic movies from other cultures and failing miserably to comprehend what made them successful the first time around.

Cinematic Arse Gravy of the worst kind.

Then you die

Every horror buff knows -- the horror that creeps up on you gradually is much, much scarier the one who bounces out and yells "boo" as it decapitates somebody with a machete.

And sadly, most current "horror" movies lack horror, because it's easier to substitute it with screaming blondes, blood, guts and sharp objects. But "The Ring" is soaked in foreboding, creepiness and horrific imagery. Director Gore Verbinski relies heavily on the original Japanese movie for a lot of his remake's flavor, and the result is a slow-building terror that keeps twisting right up to the end.

Single mum Rachel (Naomi Watts) is attending her niece's funeral, after she died under bizarre circumstances. Several of her friends died on the exact same day, at the same time, which (surprise surprise) makes Rachel think this isn't a coincidence. So she investigates the mountain cabin all the kids stayed at a week ago, and finds an unlabeled videotape with a series of bizarre images -- and a curse that will kill you one week afterwards.

She enlists the help of her ex-boyfriend Noah (Martin Henderson) to help her unravel and break the curse. The secret of the tape is wrapped up in a young girl, Samara, who vanished from her adoptive parents' horse farm years ago. Somehow Samara's evil rage has lived in on her curse, and it will destroy Rachel, Noah and their son unless Rachel can find a way to escape it.

Remaking Asian horror movies is one of those movie trends that is hanging on in Hollywood, with everything from "The Grudge" to "The Eye" to "Bangkok Dangerous" getting the A-list Hollywood treatment. Some are good, some are mediocre, most are wretched. But "The Ring" was the first of these, adapted from Hideo Nakata's adaptation of Koji Suzuki's novel (cue cries of "but the original was better). And it achieves the distinction of being almost as atmospheric and haunting as the original.

Most of its brilliance comes from director Gore Verbinski, who thankfully did not simply use the name and concept, and invent a teenybopper plot around that. This is actually rather similar to Nakata's adaptation -- Verbinski alters some few things from the original film, but keeps the same dark, murky atmosphere and many of the same scenes. Even the cinematography has a dark, overcast look, filled with forbidding symbolism -- lots of grey skies and overflowing water. It's as if Samara's influence is permeating everything.

And what about the horror? It comes from the building tension as Rachel's deadline creeps toward us, and brief flashes of Samara's influence -- for example, that poor horse going berserk on a ferry, or the blurred-out faces of the doomed. The entire movie is infused with the feeling that something invisible and ghastly is just waiting to attack you, and it's just waiting for the right moment.

The keystone of this movie is Naomi Watts. This talented actress is virtually perfect as the perpetually worried, perplexed Rachel; as the deadline approaches, her fear and grief are almost palpably overwhelming. Henderson is also good, whether as a flip carefree artist or as a caring ex-boyfriend. Dorfman is the one disappointment -- he seems less like a little boy than a pompous oracle, and he's almost creepier than Samara.

Which is saying something, because Daveigh Chase is utterly chilling as Samara Morgan, a creepy little devil-child with black weedy hair over her face, a white nightgown and "Omen" eyes. In keeping with the watery theme of the movie, she always seems vaguely damp.

"The Ring" is one of those rarest kinds of movies -- a remake with its own flavour, even as it sticks to the original story. Excellent direction, great acting, and the haunting determination to never, ever watch an unlabeled movie again.