RINGS Review - The Well is Dry
- Feb 3, 2017
- 4 min read
2002’s THE RING will always be appreciated by horror fans as the film which pulled the genre out of the ditch it found itself in after the post SCREAM era. And just as A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET became required sleepover viewing in the 80s, THE RING became a rite of passage for a generation, and I’m sure that generation, now in their mid to late 20s, is interested to see what’s left to explore in a franchise they have fond memories of. Unfortunately, not much.
The third installment in the series presents us with young lovers Julia (Matilda Anna Ingrid Lutz) and Holt (Alex Roe) on the day Holt is heading off to college. Julia should be going to college with him, but apparently her mother needs her to stay behind, though it’s never explained why. In fact, we never see mom, leaving that revelation only to serve as a convenient plot device to keep Julia home. Julia and Holt Skype often, and when she doesn't hear from him for several days, she becomes worried. Has he found someone else? Was the long distance relationship just too much? Mind you, Julia never actually expresses these emotions and doubts in the film (this would have been a good time for mom to show up), I’m just filling in the gaps here, because there are many. After having an unexplained nightmare about Holt and Samara, which seems odd because there is no context for Julia to have said nightmare, she gets a Skype call from Holt’s computer. Only, it’s not Holt. It’s a panicked woman looking for Holt, and ranting that “She will come for him! She’s coming for real this time! He can’t escape her!” And then she’s gone. Julia is really concerned now, and despite her mother allegedly needing her, she races off to Holt’s college to find out what is going on.
When she arrives, she discovers Holt has hooked up with a Professor by the name of Gabriel (Johnny Galecki) who has discovered The Ring tape and is studying it, using his students as subjects. Don’t worry, it’s totally cool because they bring more and more people into the study to pass the curse off onto so nobody will die. And despite having so many people involved in the research (there are literally like twenty or so students in one scene), it’s all hush-hush and no campus officials know about it because college students are really good at keeping their mouths shut. Julia also finds out Holt has seen the tape, and has twelve hours to live. Needless to say, the study goes sideways and the person who was supposed to watch the video for Holt is a no show. Not wanting the love of her life to die, Julia watches the video, which buys them seven more days to find out how to stop the curse. Or does it? While Julia gets the phone call telling her she’ll die in seven days, her symptoms of being infected are progressing at a rapid pace (why is never explained), and when she goes to make a copy of the video for her potential savior to watch, it contains images never seen before. They soon determine there is a tape within the tape, and Samara is trying to tell them something. There is more to her story. Thus, Julia and Holt race off to piece together the clues and find out what truths they yield.
If this sounds familiar, that’s because it is. This film is dull. A paint by numbers sequel that fills in all the colors in all the necessary spots to eventually complete an uninteresting picture. While the original was a path of discovery, pulling off the delicate balancing act of being a horror film while also being a procedural thriller, RINGS is a pale imitation by comparison. It never really tries to be its own film, choosing instead to mimic the original’s beats and tones, and failing to ever really do so in a new and interesting way. We are way ahead of the characters pretty much the entire way, which leaves no room for surprises, and no sense the writers were ever trying to misdirect you in any way. It’s an A to B horror flick with no “aha” moments. Some of this can be blamed on the source material itself. Unlike the aforementioned NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET, which had the vast realm of dreams and dream research to explore and play with, THE RING is fairly limited in scope. There’s simply not much left to explore. Just how many messages can Samara have for her victims before you’re wondering why she doesn’t just get it all off her chest at once?
While we all appreciate a good supernatural horror film, this thing just doesn’t work. The genre has moved on over the course of the past fifteen years, and the franchise feels like day old bread. It was great yesterday. But, today? Not so much. RIP Samara. Please?
[ ] See It Now
[ ] Wait for Red Box
[X] Skip It
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