CLICK HERE FOR BLOGGER TEMPLATES AND MYSPACE LAYOUTS »

Thursday, December 16, 2010

THE RING

Directed by Gore Verbinski
Starring Naomi Watts, Martin Henderson, David Dorfman, Lindsay Frost, Brian Cox, Jane Alexander, Amber Tamblyn, Rachael Bella, Shannon Cochran, Daveigh Chase, Adam Brody

The Ring (2002) is really the film which started the string of American remakes of eastern horror films. The Ring has been followed by others such as The Grudge (2004), One Missed Call (2008), Shutter (2008) and The Eye (2008). The remakes themselves have varied from excellent to fucking shit, but this American version of Ringu (1998) remains an effective and impressive opening act.

Watts plays a journalist Rachel who stumbles upon a videotape after her niece is killed under mysterious circumstances. Rumor has it that the tape kills anyone seven days after seeing it. After watching the tape herself and after some disturbing occurrances, Rachel becomes more and more convinced of the tape's power. She must dive into the mystery and origin of the tape in order to save herself and those close to her.


I for one have no problem whatsoever with remaking films as long as they are made with appropriate taste by talented people who know what the hell they're doing and the films have enough own spin to them so that they are not straight out copies of the originals. The Ring falls safely into that green zone of fantastic remakes. It is a very effective psychological horror film and improves on the original in terms of visual creativity and tension. Director Verbinski (Pirates of the Caribbean 1-3) has created a very unique atmosphere of uneasy but pleasurable viewing because the whole time you have that gut feeling that something terrible and disturbing is boiling under the surface. I've seen this film about four times now and it really hasn't lost much of it's energy as a result of repeated viewing. That's quite something for a horror film. In the end though, horror is like comedy in the sense that it either gets you or it doesn't. I have friends who've considered this a dull film, but I can't watch The Ring without cringing every once in a while. And thankfully from the atmosphere of fear and not because the film's a piece of shit.


KITEYTETTYNÄ SINIVALKOISILLE
The Ring aloitti kokonaisen virran amerikkalaisia uusintaversioita itämaisista alkuperäiselokuvista. Olen huomannut että useimmilla katsojilla on jonkinlainen ennakkovaraus aivan kaikkiin uusintaversioihin ja tuomitsevat ko. leffat edes näkemättä niitä, mutta itse en ole kokenut ainakaan vielä tarvetta moiseen, sillä yleistäminen on etenkin näissä asioissa typerä siirto. Kenties myös siksi että pääasiassa nämä uudet versiot ovat olleet erittäin onnistuneita kauhuelokuvia. The Ring on visuaalisesti kekseliäs, hieno ja aidosti ahdistava. Verta filmissä ei ole miltei nimeksikään, mutta psykologista kauhua senkin edestä, sillä koko elokuvan ajan katsojalla on tunne ettei kaikki ole aivan kunnossa ja että pinnan alla kytee jotain järkyttävää. Se mitä et näe on toki melkein poikkeuksetta pelottavampaa ja The Ring käyttää tuota taktiikkaa mestarillisesti vaikka lopussa hieman leikitäänkin tehosteilla. Kauhu, kuten komediakin, on silti hyvin yksilöllinen käsite. Se mikä on pelottavaa yhdelle saa toisen vain haukottelemaan, mutta omasta mielestäni tämä leffa on melko harvinainen helmi ja aidosti (mitä parhaimmalla tavalla) ahdistava.


The Ring at IMDb

The original Ringu at IMDb


0 comments: