The Ring (2002)

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Naomi Watts (Mulholland Dr) stars as a journalist investigating the bizarre, synchronized deaths of four teenagers who died exactly seven days after watching a disturbing videotape. After watching the tape herself, the clock starts ticking for Watts’s character. She finds herself in an island community where a troubled young girl named Samara (Lilo & Stitch‘s Daveigh Chase in flashbacks) seems to be at the heart of the mystery — and the one behind the tape’s deadly power. The film is a lot like an updated version of 1980’s The Changeling, with Watts trying to uncover what happened to Samara before her time is up. The drama gets ratcheted up a few levels when Watts’ estranged husband (Martin Henderson) and their supernaturally gifted young son (David Dorfman) also watch the videotape, sentencing the entire family to death within seven days.

The Ring, based on the 1998 Japanese film Ringu, unfolds nicely as a procedural and contains a fair number of creepy or startling moments. The most memorable is when a spooked horse escapes its trailer on a ferryboat and commits suicide (animal lovers, you are warned). If you question the plot too much, you’ll be able to poke holes in it. Some key questions (how was the tape created? why does Watts’ son have the ability to communicate with Samara?) go unanswered. The Ring is so stylishly executed and drenched in atmosphere by director Gore Verbinski (Mousehunt, The Lone Ranger), that most viewers will happily suspend their disbelief in exchange for some entertaining fright.

With Brian Cox, Jane Alexander, and an uncharacteristically restrained score by Hans Zimmer.