The Ring
<div class="IPBDescription">The remake, not the original...</div> Ok, i'm extremely tired right now and am off to bed soon (work in the morning) but i just had to post this little critique. I watched the remake of Ring tonight, and i sat through the whole thing criticising it all, the annoying nit picker that i am, while it wasn't too bad a remake, i have these things to say about it:
<li><b>The Point?</b>:
First i'll start on a pretty general point. Ring was first made in about 1998, it's a modern film, the quality is great and, to be honest, there's no real reason for there to be a remake. While i understand they wanted a film of this quality to gain a more mainstream and a worldwide audience (Sorry, a US audience.) remaking the entire film at great expense seems a tad overboard to what a good marketing scheme could have achieved. Ok, ok, i hear you crying "but who wants to see a movie with subtitles"... well i would. If people don't spend the time sitting back and taking in a great film like the original, it's their own loss if they just don't have the effort to read the subtitles. Spending however much it cost (millions?) to remake it seems a bit unecessary just because people are lazy.
<li><b>Samara</b>:
Ok, this is one of my pet hates about the film. Change the plot... ok, that makes sense, change a few character names here and there... ok... but change Sadako? Noooo! Sadako is Sadako. Sadako is not Samara, she is Sadako. End of story.
<li><b>Cultural Differences</b>:
While watching this film i had to take a great deal with a pinch of salt since i understand that in the transition from a mainly Japanese audience to an American audience some of the nuances need be changed. Ok, i accept this, but it just doesn't sit right with me.
<li><b>The "Ring" Representation</b>:
Throughout the entire duration of the movie it's filled with literal and graphical representations of "The Ring". This also didn't sit right with me. There was too much "You see the ring before you die" for my liking. I felt the title was not supposed to be conveyed literally like the remake has.
<li><b>Plot Changes</b>:
While the main plot remained the same and a lot of the same locations and ideas being conveyed between the original and the remake, i felt that they cut a little too much out. From what i gather from the remake Samara is just some weird kid who never managed to fit in and then got killed by her mother. The original goes far deeper into Sadako and her supernatural powers, the story of her mother and the fact that her <b>father</b> ended up attacking her and pushing her body into the well. Why was so much cut but yet they added some of their own. Why did they feel the need to change so much of the story for no good reason at all?
<li><b>Ring - Ring 2 Crossover</b>:
I only noticed one occurrance of this (feel free to ammend any or correct me if i'm wrong.) which is inside the mental hospital when whoever the female lead was (I didn't much care for her name.) interviewed the young girl. When the girl was escorted from her cell to an interview room she was followed with a screen protecting her from the television.
<li><b>In Closing...</b>
In it's own right this wasn't a bad film at all, not as good as the original, no, but still not a bad effort whatsoever. I would recommend everyone to see the original over seeing this, but if you can't find the original, this one will suffice.
I think it's great that a masterpiece like this is getting to a wider audience rather than it slipping entirely into obscurity, but i think the whole remaking process was pointless, the film wasn't out of date or anything and is absolutely fine just the way it is.
<li><b>The Point?</b>:
First i'll start on a pretty general point. Ring was first made in about 1998, it's a modern film, the quality is great and, to be honest, there's no real reason for there to be a remake. While i understand they wanted a film of this quality to gain a more mainstream and a worldwide audience (Sorry, a US audience.) remaking the entire film at great expense seems a tad overboard to what a good marketing scheme could have achieved. Ok, ok, i hear you crying "but who wants to see a movie with subtitles"... well i would. If people don't spend the time sitting back and taking in a great film like the original, it's their own loss if they just don't have the effort to read the subtitles. Spending however much it cost (millions?) to remake it seems a bit unecessary just because people are lazy.
<li><b>Samara</b>:
Ok, this is one of my pet hates about the film. Change the plot... ok, that makes sense, change a few character names here and there... ok... but change Sadako? Noooo! Sadako is Sadako. Sadako is not Samara, she is Sadako. End of story.
<li><b>Cultural Differences</b>:
While watching this film i had to take a great deal with a pinch of salt since i understand that in the transition from a mainly Japanese audience to an American audience some of the nuances need be changed. Ok, i accept this, but it just doesn't sit right with me.
<li><b>The "Ring" Representation</b>:
Throughout the entire duration of the movie it's filled with literal and graphical representations of "The Ring". This also didn't sit right with me. There was too much "You see the ring before you die" for my liking. I felt the title was not supposed to be conveyed literally like the remake has.
<li><b>Plot Changes</b>:
While the main plot remained the same and a lot of the same locations and ideas being conveyed between the original and the remake, i felt that they cut a little too much out. From what i gather from the remake Samara is just some weird kid who never managed to fit in and then got killed by her mother. The original goes far deeper into Sadako and her supernatural powers, the story of her mother and the fact that her <b>father</b> ended up attacking her and pushing her body into the well. Why was so much cut but yet they added some of their own. Why did they feel the need to change so much of the story for no good reason at all?
<li><b>Ring - Ring 2 Crossover</b>:
I only noticed one occurrance of this (feel free to ammend any or correct me if i'm wrong.) which is inside the mental hospital when whoever the female lead was (I didn't much care for her name.) interviewed the young girl. When the girl was escorted from her cell to an interview room she was followed with a screen protecting her from the television.
<li><b>In Closing...</b>
In it's own right this wasn't a bad film at all, not as good as the original, no, but still not a bad effort whatsoever. I would recommend everyone to see the original over seeing this, but if you can't find the original, this one will suffice.
I think it's great that a masterpiece like this is getting to a wider audience rather than it slipping entirely into obscurity, but i think the whole remaking process was pointless, the film wasn't out of date or anything and is absolutely fine just the way it is.
Comments
Lame ending...
Not frightening in the least. The only thing frightening is that people actually could watch the whole thing.
<!--QuoteBegin--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Samara:
Ok, this is one of my pet hates about the film. Change the plot... ok, that makes sense, change a few character names here and there... ok... but change Sadako? Noooo! Sadako is Sadako. Sadako is not Samara, she is Sadako. End of story.<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Maybe they changed it because Caucasians aren't named Sadako? If they had Asian actors sure, keep the name other than that, change it.
I'm ashamed to say that I actually bought it before I watched it-- the video store was picked clean, and I had a gift certificate . . . no excuse, though.
That movie <i>sucked</i>. By comparison, I thought that the Ring was pretty decent (and at least they made the tape a bit more elaborate and creepy).
Ebert is my hero. I even recently started a shrine to him in my <a href='http://cimic.rutgers.edu/~pexter/ebert.htm' target='_blank'>AIM profile</a>. Here's what he said about the Hollywood version: "Rarely has a more serious effort produced a less serious result than in 'The Ring,' the kind of dread dark horror film where you better hope nobody in the audience snickers, because the film teeters right on the edge of the ridiculous."
psh, and esuna, don't go dissin' American audiences -- I mean, you're completely right, American audiences are dumb as bricks, but you have to be American to earn the right to insult em =P
And look at the deaths. In the Japanese version the dead bodies are just dead. Sure their mouth are wide open, and that is sorta scary. In the American version the bodies are liked drowned, rotted, and horribly wrong. And not only do you see the girl dead body. You see her dead body AND her head just DROPS. That extra drop makes that scene a classic. I mean that loud ear piercing scream was enough to give me goose bumps, but that extra drop was enough to give me that feeling of dread in my guts.
And the one thing that I really hated in the Japanese version is when the father clunk her in the back of her head and drown her. I mean it sounded like something out of loony toons. The clunk was sooo out of place. I'm surprise that they havent dub something better in when they translated the movie.
As for Samara vs Sadako. Well I actually like the name Samara. And Samara is such a cutie pie in the movie that it makes it wrong for her to be some sort of creepy antichrist killing machine. Sadako was so unrealistic. The whole 'hair covering her face even when she was alive' thing was just dumb IMO. Samara was so much cooler because she's beliveable. Besides the obviouse things, there is nonthing much that seperates Samara to a average girl.
As for anyone saying that the movie isnt scary. Well duh it isnt scary. We're all grown men and women, not some catholic school girl. But if you want the full effect you need to watch this movie late at night, in the dark, and alone. Like I have the unfortunate oppurtunity when I watched this movie at the theatres, last show of the day and the only one in the room. It makes you think. It's like Silent Hill the movie.
don't remind me about the ring...
I slept with all the lights on for an entire week after watching it.
Scariest... tape... evar.
I hate that creepy tongue... choking... thing.
Ughh...
[SPOILER WARNING]
BTW, samara was born using an ancient chinese voodoo thingamajiga, and thus had some sort of demon in her. The parents hated and rejected her, and this demon rose and started killing horses. The mother killed samara because she was evil. Then the mom killed herself. Blah blah. Good nuff for jerry springer.
I recorded the part where the video is playing onto a another video tape and scared the hell outta my friends. <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo-->
I recorded the part where the video is playing onto a another video tape and scared the hell outta my friends. <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo--> <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
Although the story of The Ring seemed a little far fetched....It would probably still scare me a bit if I watched it by myself..... <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo-->
You mean a movie with Michael Jackson? <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo-->
but horror type of movies like this scare the living &&^& out of me.. and i dont mean in a small way..
im not talking about things like Scream.. that is just weak.. thing like The Ring Ghost Ship... and those kind of things.. they REALLY freak me out..
but yeah i thought the film was quality..
Correct me if i'm wrong, but didn't Sadako use a tv as a forms of communication and kill loads of people?
<!--QuoteBegin--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->And look at the deaths. In the Japanese version the dead bodies are just dead. Sure their mouth are wide open, and that is sorta scary. In the American version the bodies are liked drowned, rotted, and horribly wrong. And not only do you see the girl dead body. You see her dead body AND her head just DROPS. That extra drop makes that scene a classic. I mean that loud ear piercing scream was enough to give me goose bumps, but that extra drop was enough to give me that feeling of dread in my guts.<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Heh, i found that extra "drop" to be nothing but comedy, i'm not particulaly easily shocked, they were overdoing it to try and scare you with cheap scare tactics more at home with tacky slasher movies and teeny horrors. That's not what the Ring's about, it's more an overal feeling of terror and dread that can't be achieved with tricks used to scare 5 year olds.
<!--QuoteBegin--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->And the one thing that I really hated in the Japanese version is when the father clunk her in the back of her head and drown her. I mean it sounded like something out of loony toons. The clunk was sooo out of place. I'm surprise that they havent dub something better in when they translated the movie.<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Hmm, i found that the pointless clunk was far better than strangling someone with a plastic bin liner only then to hit her with a laughably small stone.
<!--QuoteBegin--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->As for Samara vs Sadako. Well I actually like the name Samara. And Samara is such a cutie pie in the movie that it makes it wrong for her to be some sort of creepy antichrist killing machine. Sadako was so unrealistic. The whole 'hair covering her face even when she was alive' thing was just dumb IMO. Samara was so much cooler because she's beliveable. Besides the obviouse things, there is nonthing much that seperates Samara to a average girl.<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I'm going to take it you've not sing Ring 0: Birthday. It's essentially the prequel to Ring, it's a drama / tragedy about the life of Sadako, it gives a lot of depth to her character and man was she cute. Correct me if i'm wrong but Sadako was just as much of a creepy antichrist killing machine without the need of tacky effects. Take the scene where "Noel", or whoever, is killed, when Samara comes through the tv, they've put far far far too many effects on Samara to make her appear scary, this ruined the whole scene for me.
<!--QuoteBegin--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->As for anyone saying that the movie isnt scary. Well duh it isnt scary. We're all grown men and women, not some catholic school girl. But if you want the full effect you need to watch this movie late at night, in the dark, and alone. Like I have the unfortunate oppurtunity when I watched this movie at the theatres, last show of the day and the only one in the room. It makes you think. It's like Silent Hill the movie.<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Neither Ring nor The Ring are scary for me, but i've seen the original a great number of times (one of my favourite movies) so it's ceased to affect me, the remake was too blatant and obvious that it just didn't have the same impact as the original did for me.
As for me, I've seen the remake and will never watch the original for fear of wetting my pants in the theater.
It's not like it's hard to find.... guess some people tend to avoid the "World Cinema" section.
I didnt mean the actual means of killing. I ment the sound effect. It sounded like somone took a hard susage and wack a bowling ball with it.
<!--QuoteBegin--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->I'm going to take it you've not sing Ring 0: Birthday. It's essentially the prequel to Ring, it's a drama / tragedy about the life of Sadako, it gives a lot of depth to her character and man was she cute. Correct me if i'm wrong but Sadako was just as much of a creepy antichrist killing machine without the need of tacky effects.<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Now you comparing a whole series of movies to just one. How can 1 movie have the depth of 3 or 4? But anyways in one of the ring Sadako killing power is due to small pox that is in the tape. So now she doesnt even have telepathic psycho killing power. They made her all scientific and now all you have to do is take your small pox vaccination and laugh at Sadako every time she tries to kill you.
As for me, I've seen the remake and will never watch the original for fear of wetting my pants in the theater. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
man this dude feels my pain!
it is a scary film yesi am an 18 year old male and it was friggin scary...
On another subject, I'm all for the supernatural, but when stuff starts defying physics I just can't immerse my self anymore....I'm weird like that. I wish I could find a movie that would actually scare me though... <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo--> Alien has been the closest so far, but mostly from "BOOO" scary not "oh no, it's so evil!!!" scary.
Listening to: Bohemian Rhapsody, by Queen
...is this around the 5th time this song come up?
(tis my sisters)
worth watching? or will i cry like a littel b!tch lol
(tis my sisters)
worth watching? or will i cry like a littel b!tch lol <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
Worth watching definately, has some freaky effects on the Doctor, extremely unnatural stuff and still kinda gives me the creeps. The film does, unfortunately, end up being laughably bad with what can only be called a flying binbag.
I agree with you on that one. I found the movie on the whole to be pretty darn scary (I saw it in the theater, so everyone who watched it at home in a brightly lit room on a 13 inch screen saying "hahah not scary" can just shutuppayouface), but once we actually SAW Samara doing her thing it was just kinda goofy.
The scene with the corpse... well, that haunted me every time I closed my eyes for a week. It was just so UNNATURAL.
House on Haunted Hill was a similar thing where the first half of the movie was REALLY creepy, but the last bit when the big bad thing finally came out was just stupid. Hollywood still hasn't learned that nothing looks as scary as the thing you can't see.
(tis my sisters)
worth watching? or will i cry like a littel b!tch lol <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Worth watching definately, has some freaky effects on the Doctor, extremely unnatural stuff and still kinda gives me the creeps. The film does, unfortunately, end up being laughably bad with what can only be called a flying binbag. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
That was a good movie... until the "Darkness" came... *Sighs*
Has anyone seen Event Horizon?
(tis my sisters)
worth watching? or will i cry like a littel b!tch lol <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Worth watching definately, has some freaky effects on the Doctor, extremely unnatural stuff and still kinda gives me the creeps. The film does, unfortunately, end up being laughably bad with what can only be called a flying binbag. <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
That was a good movie... until the "Darkness" came... *Sighs*
Has anyone seen Event Horizon? <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
Event Horizon is bloody brilliant, Sam Neil has such a great role. <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->
I could, i didn't find it that scary really. But the acting is superb, the story is great and the whole sci-fi horror genre is something that greatly appeals to me. So i loved it. Not seen it in a few years however.