The Ring 2002

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: There's nothing happening behind all the imagistic dada. Read more

Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press: The most unsettling and inspired horror film since The Blair Witch Project. Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: Deeply unsettling, occasionally exasperating movie. Read more

Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper: It's the kind of effectively creepy-scary thriller that has you fixating on a far corner of the screen at times because your nerves just can't take it any more. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: It's up to [Watts] to lend credibility to this strange scenario, and her presence succeeds in making us believe. Read more

Jay Boyar, Orlando Sentinel: The film's murkiness and muted colors suggest the malaise of the treacherous limbo into which the characters wander. Read more

Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer: More likely to have you scratching your head than hiding under your seat. Read more

Christy Lemire, Associated Press: The Ring, about a videotape that kills people, is so full of inconsistencies and plot holes that I stumbled from a recent screening with few answers, and a ton of questions. Read more

Mark Rahner, Seattle Times: Shows surprising restraint for an American remake, effective atmosphere from cinematographer Bojan Bazelli, good acting from Watts and some nice surprises. Read more

Richard Schickel, TIME Magazine: An edgy, watchable film, but one that makes you feel more squeamish than screamish. Read more

Susan Stark, Detroit News: Read more

Paul Clinton (CNN.com), CNN.com: It's truly a fascinating mind game that twists and turns itself into your subconscious. Read more

Elvis Mitchell, New York Times: While impressively made, this impassive and cold feature fails, in a spectacular fashion, to deliver the thrills. Read more

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: Stylish but distressingly generic and not particularly scary. Read more

Andrew Sarris, New York Observer: I found The Ring moderately absorbing, largely for its elegantly colorful look and sound. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: Watching The Ring won't kill you, but it could bore you half to death. Read more

Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: The boo! factor is waaaay up there -- a nine on a scale of 10. But the makes-sense factor is something like a three, at best. Read more

Keith Phipps, AV Club: Gore Verbinski creates an air of dread that begins with the first scene and never lets up, subtly incorporating elements from the current wave of Japanese horror films along the way. Read more

Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader: It's a treasure hunt reduced to isolated jolts and more clues than you can shake a stick at (every fly on the wall and child's drawing bristles with unholy significance), and an utter waste of Watts. Read more

Robert K. Elder, Chicago Tribune: Even if parts don't hold up in the daylight, the chill will stick to your bones. Read more

Eric Harrison, Houston Chronicle: A thought-provoking horror film that packs a visceral wallop. Read more

Steven Rosen, Denver Post: It's far better than most gimmicky horror films. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: A very elegantly crafted piece of gothic snuff hokum. Read more

Chris Vognar, Dallas Morning News: Even if The Ring has a familiar ring, it's still unusually crafty and intelligent for Hollywood horror. Read more

David Chute, L.A. Weekly: In the final reel, the tension dissipates with a flabby hiss, as the film devolves into a banal, conventional ghost story. Read more

Jan Stuart, Newsday: Verbinski implements every hack-artist trick to give us the ooky-spookies. Read more

David Ansen, Newsweek: Elegantly shot by Bojan Bazelli and designed by Tom Duffield, with a chilling Hans Zimmer score, this visually stunning movie serves up generous dollops of designer creepiness. Read more

Jack Mathews, New York Daily News: I hated it, but I grant that it does tap into a vein of technological horror -- the fear of the VCR! -- that will have young videophiles chatting it up for weeks. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: The movie seems to have been slapped together without concern about whether anything makes sense. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: Rarely has a more serious effort produced a less serious result. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: Creeps you out in high style, even if Nakata did it better. Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: A deviously engineered parasite that'll crawl under your skin and live in your nervous system for a while if you give it half a chance. Read more

C.W. Nevius, San Francisco Chronicle: So good it's scary. Read more

David Edelstein, Slate: The filmmakers have wisely stayed close to the original's mood, which is somber and flat, with quick (near-subliminal) inserts and a soundtrack full of watery-grave groans and murmurs. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: It's a discomfiting, original premise that carries you through the film's first 90 minutes with a sense of acute anxiety. Read more

Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail: Though The Ring is only a copy, it still can carry the echo of a real chill. Read more

Geoff Pevere, Toronto Star: With its hints of a greater intelligence lurking somewhere, The Ring makes its stupidity more than obvious. It's painful. Read more

Trevor Johnston, Time Out: Not everything it might have been, then, but decent enough to have you tracking down the original. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: At times, the suspense is palpable, but by the end there's a sense that the crux of the mystery hinges on a technicality that strains credulity and leaves the viewer haunted by the waste of potential. Read more

Todd McCarthy, Variety: A stylish Hollywood remake of the Japanese horror sensation that unfortunately has little personality of its own. Read more

Michael Atkinson, Village Voice: By-the-book Hollywood remake. Read more

Bruce Diones, New Yorker: The movie's nifty beginning-all anxiety and dread-suggests that the audience is in for a fearful ride, but the one-dimensional story quickly runs out of fuel. Read more