Mood 'Ring'

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By David Ansen

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"The Ring" starts like a "Scream" knockoff, with two teenage girls creeping each other out with the tall tale of a lethal videotape: once you watch it, your phone rings and a voice tells you you have seven days to live. We soon find out it's no legend, and Gore Verbinski's horror movie--a Hollywood remake of the immensely popular 1998 Japanese movie "Ringus," which spawned two Japanese sequels--shifts into solemn gear and starts to raise some serious goose bumps. You know the movie is going to be stylish from the videotape itself, which you watch through the eyes of reporter Rachel Keller (Naomi Watts), the aunt of one of four teenagers who died a week after watching the tape. A disturbing black-and-white surrealist nightmare--filled with blood, severed fingers, centipedes and a woman hurling herself off the edge of a cliff--the video's images will supply the clues Rachel must follow as she rushes against time to save herself, her ex (Martin Henderson) and her strange, sixth-sensible son (David Dorfman) from a horrible end. This demonic ghost story is stronger on mood than character. The more the mysterious pieces fall into place, the less sense "The Ring" makes. But most horror fans will happily sacrifice coherence and plausibility for some good otherworldly jolts. 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.

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