Rings - directed by F. Javier Gutiérrez
Horror as a genre often doesn't get the respect that I believe it deserves.
I recall the scoffing and tut-tutting when "The Silence of the Lambs" took out all of the big category Oscars in the early nineties.
'Oh, no- a horror movie!!... Best Picture?!'
I would hope that any movie from any genre would be embraced if it reached a level of quality deserving of praise.
Comedy suffers in similar fashion of course.
Horror doesn't help itself much though - I have to concede.
It relies far too often on the same old schtick with endless reboots, remakes and sequels.
These are not bad things necessarily but when an idea has been flogged to within an inch of its life it really should be let go.
And so it is with "Rings".
A reboot, remake or sequel (I have no idea which) that I don't believe anyone asked for and certainly has nothing new to say.
I am going to struggle with summarising the plot here because I lost interest really quickly.
There is the same old business with the surrealist video clip that you watch and then the phone rings and a voice says 'Seven days' and then a week later you die when a girl with straggly black hair obscuring her face emerges from a tv to give you a heart attack or some such fatal thing.
The opening of this film has the final act played out on a jetliner mid-flight because of course they have a bunch of screens in the back of every seat and indeed in the cockpit.
You may have just had a little 'Ooh... clever' thought there but rein that in - whatever possibility that idea may have is not exploited.
Next the plot shifts to an attractive young couple who talk about Orpheus before the actri-chap drives off to college and the attracti-chick stays at home looking attractive.
When several daily Skype call appointments are missed the young woman whose name is Julia heads out to the college to see what her fella is up to.
His name is Holt and I just had too look it up because even though I left the screening a mere twenty minutes ago I had already forgotten.
It's that sort of movie I'm afraid.
I am not going to delve any deeper into the plot because even if I could explain what happened it would serve no purpose other than spoiling a movie I strongly suggest that you avoid anyway.
This is flat, boring, non-sensical and doesn't come within thirty feet of a scare.
Not once during this film did I have a feeling of tension.
There isn't even a jump scare- that cheapest of tricks that can be fallen back on when all else fails.
Well, all else does fail here and I struggle to find anything good to say about this film.
I suppose it has a few effective shots in it and the editing is decent.
I also like the lead actor Matilda Lutz.
She is Italian and has half a dozen features to her name only one of which rates higher than a 7.0 on IMDB.
She clearly needs to make better choices because there isn't a thing wrong with her acting and she is a very attracive young woman to boot.
(She has a co-starring role with Scott Eastwood coming up in the Wayne Kramer movie "Ecstasia" which sounds interesting - at the very least it will be a very good looking film!)
That's about all the praise I can manage though.
I was thoroughly bored for pretty much the entirety of this film.
The Japanese original movie "Ringu" was great and even the US remake was very good but the idea simply doesn't stretch beyond effectively one movie and this is the fourth now.
There isn't a story to tell and it shows very, very quickly.
Occasionally there is the threat of an interesting idea or plot turn but it never lasts.
The script is all over the place and I simply stopped trying to keep up after half an hour.
You will be able to see each and every reveal coming from a mile away any way right down to the mandatory grim ending that makes nonsense of every damned thing that happened leading up to it!
Honestly- this is pretty awful.
Rumour has it that its poor performance at the box office has lead to Paramount cancelling the Friday the 13th reboot and that is a shame.
Those movies also ran out of ideas after the first one (you could argue before then) but they compensate by being fun, occasionally inventive and enjoyable as guilty pleasures.
Watching "Rings" is depressing because it's so bad it takes down other franchises with it apparently.
RATING: 55 / 100
CONCLUSION: A movie that has no good reason to exist. There isn't a story left to tell in this series and this dull, scareless snoozefest proves it within minutes of the film starting
Starring: Matilda Anna Ingrid Lutz, Alex Roe, Vincent D'Onofrio, Johnny Galecki, Aimee Teagarden, Bonnie Morgan, Chuck David Willis, Patrick R. Walker, Zach Roerig, Laura Wiggins
Screenplay: David Louka, Jacob Estes & Akiva Goldsman
Music Score by: Matthew Margeson
Cinematography: Sharone Meir
Edited by: Steve Mirkovich & Jeremiah O'Driscoll
Running Time: 102 minutes
Language: English
Rated: M - Violence and Horror
Running Time: 102 minutes
Language: English
Rated: M - Violence and Horror
I recall the scoffing and tut-tutting when "The Silence of the Lambs" took out all of the big category Oscars in the early nineties.
'Oh, no- a horror movie!!... Best Picture?!'
I would hope that any movie from any genre would be embraced if it reached a level of quality deserving of praise.
Comedy suffers in similar fashion of course.
Horror doesn't help itself much though - I have to concede.
It relies far too often on the same old schtick with endless reboots, remakes and sequels.
These are not bad things necessarily but when an idea has been flogged to within an inch of its life it really should be let go.
And so it is with "Rings".
A reboot, remake or sequel (I have no idea which) that I don't believe anyone asked for and certainly has nothing new to say.
 |
| Matilda Lutz - possibly the only decent thing about "Rings" |
There is the same old business with the surrealist video clip that you watch and then the phone rings and a voice says 'Seven days' and then a week later you die when a girl with straggly black hair obscuring her face emerges from a tv to give you a heart attack or some such fatal thing.
The opening of this film has the final act played out on a jetliner mid-flight because of course they have a bunch of screens in the back of every seat and indeed in the cockpit.
You may have just had a little 'Ooh... clever' thought there but rein that in - whatever possibility that idea may have is not exploited.
Next the plot shifts to an attractive young couple who talk about Orpheus before the actri-chap drives off to college and the attracti-chick stays at home looking attractive.
When several daily Skype call appointments are missed the young woman whose name is Julia heads out to the college to see what her fella is up to.
His name is Holt and I just had too look it up because even though I left the screening a mere twenty minutes ago I had already forgotten.
It's that sort of movie I'm afraid.
I am not going to delve any deeper into the plot because even if I could explain what happened it would serve no purpose other than spoiling a movie I strongly suggest that you avoid anyway.
This is flat, boring, non-sensical and doesn't come within thirty feet of a scare.
Not once during this film did I have a feeling of tension.
There isn't even a jump scare- that cheapest of tricks that can be fallen back on when all else fails.
Well, all else does fail here and I struggle to find anything good to say about this film.
I suppose it has a few effective shots in it and the editing is decent.
I also like the lead actor Matilda Lutz.
She is Italian and has half a dozen features to her name only one of which rates higher than a 7.0 on IMDB.
She clearly needs to make better choices because there isn't a thing wrong with her acting and she is a very attracive young woman to boot.
(She has a co-starring role with Scott Eastwood coming up in the Wayne Kramer movie "Ecstasia" which sounds interesting - at the very least it will be a very good looking film!)
 |
| When seeing Johnny Galecki on screen makes you wish you were watching Big Bang Theory your film has issues |
I was thoroughly bored for pretty much the entirety of this film.
The Japanese original movie "Ringu" was great and even the US remake was very good but the idea simply doesn't stretch beyond effectively one movie and this is the fourth now.
There isn't a story to tell and it shows very, very quickly.
Occasionally there is the threat of an interesting idea or plot turn but it never lasts.
The script is all over the place and I simply stopped trying to keep up after half an hour.
You will be able to see each and every reveal coming from a mile away any way right down to the mandatory grim ending that makes nonsense of every damned thing that happened leading up to it!
Honestly- this is pretty awful.
Rumour has it that its poor performance at the box office has lead to Paramount cancelling the Friday the 13th reboot and that is a shame.
Those movies also ran out of ideas after the first one (you could argue before then) but they compensate by being fun, occasionally inventive and enjoyable as guilty pleasures.
Watching "Rings" is depressing because it's so bad it takes down other franchises with it apparently.
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