Review of Ring, The

Introduction

Imagine the horror. It`s a Saturday night and the glowing box in the corner of the room fails to throw anything that could be remotely classed as entertainment in your direction. Enough is enough, it`s time for Pizza Hut and Blockbusters. You return home with said cheese and tomato comestible and a video (why not a DVD?) that you believe contains the latest celluloid gem from Rowan Atkinson.

But no...as you watch you become engrossed in surreal images of wells, horses and wet girls with long hair (I`m sure this wasn`t a top shelf title).

The movies finished and so has the Pizza. The phone rings. You answer. A voice on the other end tells you that you will die in seven days. There`s a mystery (the pizzas all gone but you feel like you only had a slice?) no, where did the tape come from? Who made it? And, most importantly, why will I peg it in a week.

This is the premise of The Ring (minus the pizza). Like most great movies a simple concept with some seriously spooky twists and turns. Based on the Japanese cult movie Ringu and rehashed Hollywood style by
Dreamworks, it is more or less faithful to the source material but delivers greater scares due to the language factor, as both dubbed and subtitles versions of Ringu distracted me from the story.

You can`t really say too much about this movie, as doing so would give the game away. I saw it on its theatrical release at 12 midnight, on my own in a darkened theatre. This probably helped on the scares front and I knew that it probably would not have the same effect on a second viewing.

So how does The Ring fare second time around?

Video

The image, presented in anamorphic 1.85:1 ratio is just immaculate. There are no signs of macro blocking or haloing but odd scenes do throw up some evidence of edge enhancement, but nothing to distract. Colours are natural throughout but some consideration must be given to the use of blue filters to give certain scenes that
extra cold feel. Whites are sharp when they need to be with blacks backing them up solidly.

The picture has a great, almost three-dimensional depth, but I would say it could do with a little artificial grain. Horror movies that look too glossy and polished sometimes fail to convey a sense of realism of the real world. I know DVDs are supposed to display pristine images but on some occasions a small amount of a rough edge would do wonders for this genre.

Audio

On this platter you get three 5.1 Dolby Digital selections (German, French and English). The UK loses out to the US release here as we don`t get the DTS audio, that said the 5.1 mix does pack a good punch. Most good recent horror movies have used surround mixing to give as many aural scares as the visuals and this is no exception.

Good aggressive but subtle use of the rears adds fabulous tension, while the centre channel relates crisp clean
dialogue that`s never drowned out by the eerie score.

Features

When DVD first came on the scene everyone and their aunt wanted a DVD release to contain the movie`s original theatrical trailer. This DVD has it, but as time trudges along do we really need them anymore. Purists will argue a defiant yes! I`m on the fence with this one. If it`s a straight segment of clips from the movie with that guy with chronic bronchitis telling us the plot, I couldn`t care less. On the other hand if its a piece of art in it`s own right, the kind of trailer made with a bit of special care like Pixar`s Monster`s Inc. trailers then yes, I`d like them!

Also on this disc is a 15 minute experimental film made by The Ring director Gore Verbinski. This is a watch once item that I`ll let you judge for yourself. There is also an Easter egg on the disc that allows you to view the full deadly video from the movie the region one version has it also. Just press up at the main menu screen, the red cursor will vanish. Now just press enter!

Conclusion

Soon to become a classic of the horror genre it remarkably surpasses the original. The Hollywoodised nature opens up this basic urban legend flick to a greater audience. It`s picture perfection takes the edge off the scares but is boosted by some delightfully jumpy behind the sofa audio moments. Extras are the same old, same old and not very well thought out but I buy a movie for the main feature and this one delivers shocks non stop. Who though the man who brought us Mouse Hunt could give you the scare of your life. Wait a second he already did!