The Ring (2002)

I had no idea that The Ring wasn't going to be a jump scary, chase around horror film. In my head I had it as a classic horror film that has plenty of jump scares and murder before revealing towards the end that it comes from the television. However the very first scene reveals it is because of a seemingly haunted tape that is killing people meaning the majority of the film revolves around the mystery of the tape not the actual act of murder. Which is a concept I like more because as I have mentioned I do love a creepy mystery film over a murder spree film. But more than that, I especially love an unexplained nonsensical mystery which suited me perfectly when I first saw the actual tape footage for the first time.

Admittedly when the tape began to play straight on as if I was the actual one watching it I did begin to freak out slightly. I'm not afraid to admit it, I'm a scary cat! And if you tell me this tape is haunted before pressing play I'm not going to want to look! What if it becomes a manifestation where so many people have watched the same film saying it's haunted that it actually becomes haunted, I don't know. Either way I didn't wanna risk it so I was secretly glad when I had a brief note to make so I could look away and only watch it from the corner of my eye. Sue me. That being said I did like how seemingly unstructured the tape was. Between flashes of a tall ladder, a woman brushing her hair, waves washing blood ect it seemed as if nothing was making sense which in itself emphasised the spooky atmosphere. I am being slightly exaggerated here because the tape does later become clear as the mystery evolves but I mean at the beginning it is clips of scenes that seem to have no correlation and that is what I enjoy more. However following from this I do have a slight question about the tapes.

When Rachel first watches the tape we see an image of water slowly merging with blood. Then later in the film when Rachel takes the ferry to visit the lighthouse a horse jumps over board and gets caught in the jet and dies, causing blood to soak into the water. That image seems to be a replica of what takes place in the tape but I was under the later impression that the tape worked more of an informational video on what happened to Samara. If that is the case and the tape works as a background into Samara's life then it doesn't make sense for the bloody water to take place in that exact way since it is linked to Rachel. At first I thought this was because Rachel was becoming a version of Samara or that the tape was a prediction for what would happen in her future since there was also the brief image of the ladder when leaving Noah's. But once again those seem to be the only two moments and even the ladder can later be explained when entering the barn leaving just the water. Again it can be left upto assumption considering both Samara died in water at the well and (most likely) the horses in the past also died in water. So it is easy to assume the bloody water was just another metaphor but the exact same moment did give me pause. Leading from that if there is a slight chance that the tape gives you an insight into the watchers future I would be curious to know what it showed for each person.

Another question I had was why and how Samara was able to possess a tape and television. If there was a more specific correlation to the television such as Samara always watching it then I could understand more where the haunting came from but that wasn't seen. Instead it appeared to come from the mother? As far as I understand the top of the barn had been made into a childlike room for the mother to stay in as she was hooked on this idea of having a child. In that room there was a television which I assume is from where the haunting first started but I do not understand the link between that television and Samara. Similarly the mother as a character is someone I both love and do not understand. This woman who wanted nothing more than to have a child, finally has a child and then kills her. Sometimes having a mystery such as this left unknown does more justice than the actual answer which is something I feel works well in this scenario but naturally I'm going to keep wondering. Once, the dad revealed that his wife was never supposed to have a child. That partnered with the knowledge she had multiple miscarriages I thought he was going to reveal she was always crazy and the reason they never had a child was because he made sure of it. Which could still have been possible it was just less obvious which again does it justice as some answers are best left unexplained. The only other reason I can think although much darker is that the wife was getting pregnant and then purposefully killing it, showing that she has always been an unstable character. Until a time came when the child in her womb wasn't enough and so she adopted one.

Some more things I loved about this movie was the use of a creepy drawing child. A creepy child is normal in movies like this but if I had to pick between child who speaks to the dead and child who draws around the dead, I would pick the drawing child. Something about it is so much more enjoyable to me, maybe because I am a creative person I'd rather have art than a dialogue to show the two communications. It is also so much more interesting to find the unspoken link between the two realms in a chaotic messy drawing. And the fact the 'power' comes from something pre-existing him seeing the tape makes it much more intriguing because if he was able to communicate with Samara before even seeing the tape my question is why. Why Samara and why him? What's more, after watching the tape he was able to pull on even more information about Samara that the others didn't understand from their watching. It was as if watching the tape merely strengthened the connection he had which then got me thinking of a badass link up. Are you kidding, creepy artist kid and his bestie a water demon. That's iconic.

The only other gripe I had with this film was the ending. I did have suspicions throughout that the films was going to end up being an allegory for watching less television. Thankfully that didn't become the main take away although easily depicted. Instead they ended with rewatching the tape and hinting that the only way to 'kill Samara' was by getting more people to watch it. Now I am all for keeping Samara alive, in fact once they revealed that Samara simply moved on from Rachel and killed Noah I was loving it. I thought it would continue to kill everyone who saw the tape as normal which instead raised the question why not Rachel. It is a question I still don't understand and a plot I wish they explored more. Instead they seemingly passed on the curse to everyone else which while it left it open ended I didn't like how unclear it was. By passing the tape and therefore hauntings onto us it (in my opinion) dulls the overall spooky vibe. It says that if everyone watches the tape there is no way she can murder us all and to that I say yes she can. It may take longer but I can guarantee she will get through them, after all she is immortal with nothing but time.

So the alternative is that I read the ending wrong to which I ask what was the ending then? It just seemed to build and build with each movement that went on to this great mystery and as we found out reasons and links I was more and more fascinated by how this seemingly demon girl operates. Only for them to end in a way which lowered the fun. But it is only a small 'issue' I had with the film and still really enjoyed the mystery with it's long spreading lore hints throughout. For that reason I have rated it somewhat high and would watch again to see if there is anymore lore drops I could now pick up on the second time round now I know what is happening.