Top 25 Greatest Halloween Films: #15 – 'The Ring' (2002)

#15: The Ring (2002)

“What about the person we show it too? What happens to them?”

As we reach the heart of my top ten you’re going to discover that (for the most part) the purer the horror the more satisfied I am. Films that end on a mystery solved/ danger over/group hug beat, like “The Sixth Sense,” make for splendid ghost stories but lack something in The Department of True Horror. And most films that try to fool you into thinking that you may now exhale and roam about the cabin, simply don’t work. You see the final “shock” coming a mile away. Then there’s director Gore Verbinski’s relentlessly creepy and atmospheric remake of the Japanese horror film “Ringu” (1998) which, thanks to a very well-crafted piece of misdirection, succeeds where so many others fail with what you might call its fourth act; a stunner of a final plot turn that leaves you a little breathless.

It sounds like an urban legend (and a hokey concept for a movie), one of those tales teenagers tell to scare one another. Out there somewhere is a VHS tape of what would otherwise come off as a pretentious short art film if not for the fact that when it’s over your phone rings and someone informs you that your life expectancy has just been reduced to seven days. When the legend becomes fact for Rachel Keller’s (Naomi Watts) teen-aged niece, the Seattle Post Intelligencer reporter sets out to uncover a mystery she’s sure will involve something worldly (like drugs) but instead finds herself embroiled in an enthralling, supernatural puzzle involving, among other things, insanity, horses that commit suicide, and an unsettling little girl named Samara who might have been killed by her own mother.

Watts is superb carrying the film all on her own lovely shoulders. As the stakes steadily increase and as time runs out, Rachel is never anything less than capable and resourceful – only a step or two ahead of the audience (as it should be). Nothing contrived occurs to artificially move the plot and best of all, Rachel never does anything stupid. She’s a formidable protagonist and Ehren Kruger’s intelligent screenplay doesn’t let her down.

Wisely, Verbinski takes his time in telling the story. The quiet, steady pacing of the slow-reveal plot and the expressive cinematography that beautifully captures the moody weather of the American Northwest combine to create a somewhat hypnotic effect while watching. This, of course, plays well on some level of your subconscious with the story’s overall concept of a cursed film.

Best of all, there are no cheap scares. No screeching cats jump from out of nowhere and what at first might appear as seemingly random happenings meant only to fulfill some mid-level producer’s [insert scary moment here] note, in the end make perfect sense. The purpose of each of these events is eventually revealed (usually without explanatory exposition) and the net-effect is an even more satisfactory experience as you mentally rewind these moments and put that particular part of the puzzle together for yourself.

Other than the closing scene and Brian Cox’s awesomely staged suicide, my favorite moment is a disarming one (in a horror film, at least) that comes just as Rachel’s life has turned a terrible corner. Standing on the balcony of her high-rise apartment, she takes a moment for herself and is eventually drawn to the various goings on in the adjacent apartment building. Wordlessly she watches as her neighbors live out the mundane practices of everyday life, and wordlessly Watts the actress communicates perfectly the poignancy of a woman witnessing what’s truly precious and wondering if her own life hasn’t passed a point of no return.

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What didn’t make the list: Friday the 13th 1980

Even at fourteen, I expected more from a horror film than creative kills and well-staged butchery. What’s there to be scared over if you don’t care about the characters? To me it was all spectacle, somewhat diverting, but also a little redundant and repetitive. My friends and I only bought tickets to make fun and ogle at the naked chicks. Though I’ve personally never found any of them entertaining on any level, there is a place for these kinds of films. Just not on this particular countdown.