Sunday, June 01, 2003

In the end you see The Ring
The Ring, can only hope to be a good horror film. If disturbing the audience and giving them bad dreams is only what a horror film is to do, then maybe yes! Relying entirely on shock value is the forte of the non-genius filmmaker; making effective shockers, but hardly making the audience anxious.
This brings me to a question: what is a horror film to do? Give the audience a temporary scare? Shake the very world-view and belief system of the viewer? Or simply provide entertainment for the slightly sadomasochistic person in all of us?
If Psycho is a classic and so are The Sixth Sense and The Shining, that is because there have very few elements of shock value, rather, they have carefully paced build-up of tension that is eventually resolved to leave the audience in a relieved state of peace. The Ring consists of too many surprises, hardly any suspense and goes to defy its own purposes and therefore mislead the audience by deliberately breaking thought trains and plot consistency. The ending therefore, though open, is retching and hardly cathartic leaving an aftertaste. Also, unlike The Sixth Sense or Psycho, I wouldn�t watch this movie again. Worth renting the video if you want a good night�s scare (sometimes it is important to do so).

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