The Firelight Shocks DVD Review Section

Ring Distributor: Tartan/Metro Region: 2 Ratio: 1.85.1 (Enhanced for widescreen televisions) Sound: Stereo

Ah yes, Ring - the Japanese blockbuster which scared the shit out of audiences in the Land of the Rising Sun. Indeed, so great was Ring’s reputation for disturbing its viewer’s sleep that word soon spread to these shores about the film’s apparent ability to ‘scare the hell’ out of anyone who dares to watch it. Hollywood, of course, bought up the rights to remake it and, in Japan, a prequel and a sequel soon followed. Thus, Ring has successfully become an Oriental Blair Witch Project; a film mooted as being able to ‘scare the hell out of you’, a movie which relies upon psychological terror as opposed to revulsion and, more importantly, a enormous cultural (not to mention cult) success. Hype, of course, goes a long way and the big question is whether on not Ring is actually any good... Ring begins with two teenaged girls relating the central premise of the film, which is that a videotape, possessed by an evil spirit, is currently doing the rounds in Tokyo. Once viewed, the phone rings and an eerie voice informs the unfortunate videotape viewer that they have only a week to live. Utter pap, of course, but nonetheless a relatively intriguing premise which, one would think, could be used to successfully stimulate a genuine sense of impending doom and paranoia. Sadly, ‘tis not to be. Once the two teenaged girls have kicked the bucket, a reporter (who is actually the aunt of one of the girls) begins to investigate the story of the haunted videotape. Luckily, the tape is found residing at a nearby hotel and, once watched, the phone does indeed ring and the reporter hears a horrid voice on the other end. She tells her ex-husband and, together, they investigate the legend behind the urban myth. What this results in is actually eighty minutes of chit chat, incredibly fortunate coincidences (her ex-hubby is a psychic and, get this, he can even see people’s pasts just by grabbing them by the arm) and ludicrous, underdeveloped plot twists which, quite literally, make no sense whatsoever. The characters act in a stupid manner...you almost think they deserve their fate...and no one, not even for one second, thinks about handing the videotape into the nearest police station. Of course, horror films do not need to make sense but I kept finding myself drawn out of the movie by the sheer stupidity of it, not to mention the unintentionally hilarious sight of some poor sod suddenly being scared to death (he literally freezes and collapses). I’m all for the return to more intelligent and subdued horror films such as The Sixth Sense and the marvellous Blair Witch Project but Ring is a sure-fire dud. I wanted to love this film, I really did. I so wanted to be scared, that by the end I was almost trying to frighten myself by the image of what the greasy haired woman who haunts the videotape might actually look like ... but it just did not work. Unless your idea of horror is the image of a Marilyn Manson fan dressed in a white robe with unwashed hair I suspect your reaction to this film might be the same as mine. Goths with bad nails crawling out from a television set and opening one beady eye does not make me shiver in my seat! Ring... a pile of shit really.

Extras: Three trailers - one for Ring, another for Ring 2 (oh great...), and another for the utterly fabulous, pee your pants horrific Audition. Then we have the usual filmographies, a gushing review from the usually reliable Mark Kermode and a whole host of press releases talking about how Ring is great and brilliant and so on and so forth. Bloody Goths. Not a bad package, but not a particularly good one either - couldn’t they have done a wee documentary on the success of the film in Japan? The anamorphically enhanced 1.85.1 widescreen transfer is average - the dark scenes are a bit too dark, and the print has some notable damage. However, the film still looks remarkably clean in the daylight scenes and one thing that can be said is that Ring is beautifully shot. Clearly, DVD is now the best way to see this film. However, if you’ve not seen Ring before then don’t expect a new revelation in cinematic fright - this is Blair Witch light.