‘The Ring’ touted as fall’s best horror film
By Taylor Gibbons

Horror movies are a fairly common thing in today's cinematic landscape. Good horror movies, however, are few and far between. Although some have already compared “The Ring” to 1999’s “The Sixth Sense,” to do so is not entirely accurate. Whereas the latter was a drama with elements of horror, “The Ring” is a “smart” horror movie; enriched with elements of drama, but a horror movie nonetheless.

Adapted from the top grossing Japanese film “Ringu,” The Ring tells the story of Rachel Keller (Naomi Watts) a reporter who, while investigating the mysterious death of her niece, discovers a disturbing video tape that purportedly kills the viewer seven days after he or she watches it. After viewing the tape for herself, Rachel believes that it is what killed her niece, and that unless she can somehow decipherits meaning, she will suffer the same fate.

The film follows her over the next seven days as she attempts to unravel the message contained within the tape and save herself as well as her son Aidan (David Dorfman) and her friend Noah (Martin Henderson) from the supernatural power it commands.

Although its protagonists are more believable than those featured in “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” and the plot unfolds in a way that asks viewers to pay more attention than was demanded by “Evil Dead,” “The Ring” is, at it’s core, a true horror film.

Set against a series of washed out urban backdrops, deadened pastoral landscapes and bleak empty rooms and rarely featuring more than two or three characters on camera at the same time, “The Ring” makes a nightmare of the modern world, thereby eliminating any safe harbor and emphasizing the helplessness of the characters in the face of a seemingly unknowable foe.

Instead of running through the woods with a monster on their heels or fumbling in the dark for a flashlight, the protagonists of “The Ring” dart to and fro in a world where nothing seems safe, and impending danger hangs in the air rather than at one’s heels. Instead of fumbling madly for a flashlight, they fumble for clues, desperately trying to comprehend the force that that threatens their lives before time runs out. Although the movie concludes with one or two unanswered questions, the final revelation is as compelling as any I’ve seen in recent years.

“The Ring” employs a small cast of lesser known actors, all of whom hand in performances which, though not necessarily the linchpin of the movie, do nothing to detract from it. Naomi Watts and Martin Henderson are both equally inoffensive if not particularly memorable as Rachel and Noah. She plays an intrepid young mother, he plays a cynical gen x-er who never totally grew out of it. Both performances work, but neither is anything to write home about.

More interesting is David Dorfman’s performance as Aidan Keller, a stony-eyed little boy reminiscent of Haley Joel Osment’s character from “The Sixth Sense.” Although the character of Aidan lacks the depth of Osment's previous role, Dorfman does a fine job of adding a little depth to a role which could have just had him staring at people a lot and drawing creepy crayon pictures at random intervals.

“The Ring” features some other notable performances, particularly from Brian Cox and Daveigh Chase as Richard Morgan and his daughter Samara, though, in the interest of not spoiling the plot, I won’t go into any detail.

“The Ring” is an uncommon horror movie not only in what it attempts but in what it succeeds in. By crafting a combination of scares and substance, Dreamworks has created the best horror movie of the fall and what will probably be remembered as one of the better horror movies of the decade.