Check out my updated review! http://thevagrantrises.blogspot.com/2015/04/updated-review-8-ring-american-remake.html
Disclaimer: Contains spoilers!
Plot Summary: A reporter stumbles upon a cursed VHS tape that will kill the viewer seven days after watching it.
Review: Too bad everyone knows the plot by now, but when I saw this thing in the cinema, and had no clue what it was even about, I was blown away! My memory of watching this film, spur of the moment one night, with some of my good friends after hearing about how scary it was really makes me nostalgic. This is one of my all-time favorite movies. This movie is SCARY! The film starts off with two girls setting up the plot, during a sleepover, about how if you watch some tape you will receive a phone call telling you that you have seven days to live; on the seventh day you die. We then see creepy happenings as the first girl bites the big one. Apparently this girl was the babysitter/cousin of Rachel (Naomi Watts who is looking quite sexy here) and her son, Aiden. Rachel, with her reporter instincts, hears about the way the girl died and decides to investigate the urban legend surrounding the tape after she discovers others involved died similarly. Rachel of course tracks down the tape, watches it, and is now going to die in seven days. From here the film takes a more mystery-like approach as Rachel and her ex-boyfriend(?), Noah, try to find out where the tape came from since Aiden watched the tape like an idiot. Along the way we get plenty of scares as we uncover that everything traces back to a little girl named Samara who, in life, possessed strange psychic powers. In death, her ghost is still wreaking havoc. The movie's climax is great as we have a scene with Rachel trapped in a well with Samara's dead body. At this point we learn the well is "the ring" and that Samara lived for seven days before dying in said well. At first we think the film is wrapped up in a nice package until we learn Samara was a raving bitch and wants to keep killing people! I must say, the twists and turns were excellent, and I found this version superior to the Japanese one. Samara looks so much more frightening compared to her Japanese counterpart Sadako. The makeup effects were so incredibly disturbing on Samara and were a much needed welcome to just an angry look from Sadako. At the same time, I felt the pacing and scares were tighter than the original as well. I'm sure many horror fans are screaming "blasphemy" at my words, but whatever. There's really nothing I didn't like about this movie except that it has already become semi-dated with VHS now obsolete. But who cares! This is a must-see for all and not just horror fans.
Notable Moment: When Samara comes out of the TV of course! This scene has scared me for life. It looks awesome and really caught me off guard on my first viewing.
Final Rating: 9.5/10
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