Rings review: Samara Morgan and her haunted video tape get a digital upload in the latest Ring film, aptly titled Rings.
Rings review by Kat Hughes, February 2017.
1998 saw Japan introduce one of the creepiest horror icons in history, Sadako. The character came from Ringu, directed by Hideo Nakata, which told the story of a haunted video cassette. The film was sinister and chilling, and has had countless sequels and crossovers, as well as two American versions. Now comes a third American outing, this one twelve years since the last, featuring Sadako’s US counterpart, Samara, once more.
This time around Samara has had a digital upgrade as The Big Bang Theory’s Johnny Galecki foolishly decides it’d be a good idea to upload that creepy video online and study it. It’s down to young woman Julia (Matilda Lutz) to solve the mystery of Samara after she is persuaded into watching the film to help her boyfriend Holt (Alex Roe). With the seven-day countdown ticking away, can Julia stop herself from being the next victim? More importantly, can she stop Samara from going viral?
The film starts on a big scale as an unknowing Samara victim (played by The Vampire Diaries’ Zach Roerig) boards a plane and causes all manor of carnage. Not since Final Destination has a plane journey been filled with so much dread and foreboding. This bold opening paves the way for things to come and sets hopes high for what is to follow, but it can’t quite keep the momentum going.
Technology has come a long way since our last film, videos have died [sob] and everything is online. It’s a stroke of genius then that Rings deals with a virtual version of ‘that’ video. Quite why biologists would be interested in the tape, and why people happily watch it are never fully explained, but then we’ve never understood why folks in Ring movies watch the cursed tapes.
Those that have become used to the Blumhouse jump scares might find themselves disappointed with Rings. This film goes back to the origins of the Ring series and is much more of a murder mystery with supernatural elements. It takes horror back to the early noughties when this style was rife. It’ll upset some, but will please those bored of cheap scares.
Everyone and their mother knows about that iconic terrifying moment in Ringu / The Ring so director F. Javier Gutiérrez has had his work cut out for him to provide something fresh. Yes we see Samara emerging from a TV, (that is her signature move after all), but there’s much more to this film than meets the eye.
That being said, the climax is a little underwhelming, it all feels too familiar. Then we get to the seriously old-school post-showdown sequel set-up; this is where things get really interesting, and then just end. You can’t help but feel that the film could be so much better if it were to start where it ends. Guess we’ll just have to wait for the sequel.
A return of an old film foe, Rings has plenty to offer the social media generation, but can’t quite match up to it’s eye-catching opening and show-stopping end.
Rings review by Kat Hughes, February 2017.
Rings is cinemas across the US and UK cinemas now.
