"Seven days..."
In the spirit of Halloween and all things creepy, today I bring a film that will make Japanese horror film purists cringe. The film in question is the American remake of The Ring. Now, I know before I’ve verbally assaulted American remakes of foreign films, especially from the horror genre, but this film is distinctively its own entity. With eerie images and scenes saturated with hues of green, The Ring does what most horror films fail to do: establish a mood. This is a huge redeeming factor because horror films just rely on the fact that most people are afraid of the paranormal or strange. More or less, they just assume whatever creature they place on the screen will make the audience shiver. But, after years and years of horror films being released, we’ve seen the macabre numerous times, and we know it all too well. In the case of The Ring, we have what can be deemed as paranormal activity, if not the emergence of eternal damnation on Earth.
The film follows Rachel Keller (Naomi Watts) as she investigates the death of her niece. Through the aide of journalistic intuition and family duty, Rachel ventures down a rabbit hole that leads her to a videotape that is said to plague the viewers who watch it. The tape is filled with disjointed, but surreal images that are so out of place and bizarre that one can’t help but think they’re watching the Devil’s home movies. Upon watching the video for herself, Rachel gets a grim phone call from what we can only assume is a jaded spirit who forewarns her that she has ‘seven days’. Disturbed by the call, Rachel enlists her video expert/former lover Noah (Martin Henderson) to see whether the video is authentic. Lacking the desired results from Noah’s investigation, Rachel pushes harder. Her digging becomes more pertinent when her son watches the ghastly video, and many of the images that filled the video begin to manifest in her life.
As each day passes, Rachel works her way to the bottom of a mystery that leads to a rather distressing ending. Now, trying to explain the inner workings of the video itself and the paranormal rules that exist within the film’s screenplay is pretty difficult. It seems to be all over the place with no real boundaries until the end, which attempts to throw as much exposition at us as possible. Most of it sticks, but the rhyme and reason for everything isn’t entirely developed. In spite of this, the film’s mood will rope you back in when its logic throws you to the wayside. Slick production helps push the film to a visual height that threatens to unleash a monstrosity on us when we turn every corner with Rachel. The film’s ability to evoke a strong sense of dread is encapsulated in the very video the film bases its eerie premise on. Images of a chair spinning upside down, a finger being punctured by a nail, and a woman freefalling off a cliff are just examples of the creepy images you can expect in this film. They’re not gory, but their presentation and intent are unnerving.
The images become even more effective when coupled with the terrific score assembled by Hans Zimmer. Featuring an assortment of strings that saw away at our nerves, and percussions that’ll give you heart palpitations, The Ring is a film that invades the senses with no regard for your own sense of well being. If this is not enough to get us invested, then Naomi Watts is, as she entrenches herself into her panic stricken character. Watts certainly has the lung power to match the scream queens that have littered the hallways of the horror genre, but her ability to fill her character with a motherly sense of urgency makes the film surprisingly emotionally resonant. This notion is especially important to the film’s third act which grazes upon family issues like child neglect. Despite all of this goodwill, I know some will get hung up on the film’s premise. Is it a film perfectly built on its own paranormal logic? Not entirely, but it’s a film that is dripping with dread that continuously incites fear and anxiety in both its characters and audience. Don’t be surprised if the same can be said for you once The Ring fades to black, and your left to ask yourself: should I sleep with the lights on?
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