The Ring (2002)

All Critics (180) | Top Critics (39) | Fresh (134) | Rotten (54) | DVD (42)

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.

May 29, 2011 Full Review

Jonathan Rosenbaum

Chicago Reader

Top Critic

A stylish Hollywood remake of the Japanese horror sensation that unfortunately has little personality of its own.

January 2, 2009 Full Review

Todd McCarthy

Variety

Top Critic

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.

November 1, 2007 Full Review

David Ansen

Newsweek

Top Critic

Not everything it might have been, then, but decent enough to have you tracking down the original.

February 9, 2006 Full Review

Trevor Johnston

Time Out

Top Critic

I found The Ring moderately absorbing, largely for its elegantly colorful look and sound.

November 6, 2002 Full Review

Andrew Sarris

New York Observer

Top Critic

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.

October 26, 2002 Full Review | Comment (1)

Eleanor Ringel Gillespie

Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Top Critic

A well-made remake that adds quite a bit to the original story. Alas, The Ring also feels dated and dull.

April 1, 2012 Full Review

R. L. Shaffer

IGN DVD

For a remake and a modern Hollywood horror, it's pretty good.

May 29, 2011 Full Review

Film4

This movie is very, very scary.

December 29, 2010 Full Review

Nell Minow

Common Sense Media

The movie is a dog from start to finish, with enough genre inconsistencies and plot holes to make it a textbook example of borrowing from too many divergent horror films to get anything right.

May 3, 2009 Full Review | Comments (5)

Cole Smithey

ColeSmithey.com

The one thing that stood out from this movie is the incredible cinematography.

April 29, 2009 Full Review

Felix Vasquez Jr.

Cinema Crazed

The American version retains much of the original but does little to justify its existence beyond the commercial considerations of relocating the setting to Seattle and filling the screen with Caucasian faces.

March 10, 2009 Full Review

Steve Biodrowski

Cinefantastique

The creepy exploration of the unknown and unexplainable is far more frightening than the violent killings that typify most horror films.

January 2, 2009 Full Review

Michael Dequina

TheMovieReport.com

What if you watch the tape twice, do you get three and a half days then? If you fast forward through it do you get fourteen? How about pausing it to go to the bathroom? Or only watching half, getting bored and turning it off?

July 14, 2007 Full Review | Comment (1)

Joe Lozito

Big Picture Big Sound

As a concept, it's flawed. As a remake, it's good. As modern horror, it's a firecracker.

December 30, 2006 Full Review

Mark Dinning

Empire Magazine

Seat-moistening ... shot-by-shot faithful to the original film in many instances, yet fully capable of conjuring up molar-grinding moments of its own invention.

January 21, 2005 Full Review

Andrew Wright

Portland Mercury

Based on a 1998 Japanese box-office smash, this electric shocker runs rings around its recent competition.

February 16, 2004 Full Review

Thomas Delapa

Boulder Weekly

There were two points where I thought it was over, and both would have made for better endings than eventual finale.

January 6, 2004 Full Review | Comments (3)

Greg Maki

Star-Democrat (Easton, MD)

Just in time for Halloween comes Gore Verbinski's chilling-to-the-bone suspense ride... guaranteed to have you biting your nails long after the film is done.

October 7, 2003 Full Review

David Foucher

EDGE Boston

sets an atmosphere of creepiness that doesn't let up

September 22, 2003 Full Review

Scott Nash

Three Movie Buffs

• 1. Dr. Grasnik: It means ever since that girl's been gone, things have been better.
  – Submitted by Kelly E (3 months ago)
• 1. Samara: [singing by the well] : Here we go, the world is spinning. When it stops, it's just beginning. Sun comes up, we all laugh. Sun goes down, we all die...
  – Submitted by Kelly E (3 months ago)
• 1. Becca: You start to play it and it's like somebody's nightmare. And then this woman comes on, smiling at you, right? Seeing you... through the screen. Then when it's over, your phone rings, someone knows you watched the tape... and what they say is, "You will die in seven days".
  – Submitted by Kelly E (3 months ago)
• 1. Noah: I can't imagine being stuck down a well all alone like that. How long could you survive?
  2. Rachel Keller: Seven days.
  – Submitted by Kelly E (3 months ago)
• 1. Librarian: You know, I'm not an idiot. You try and walk out of here with my file, and I'll be on you like white on rice, you understand?
  – Submitted by Kelly E (3 months ago)
• 1. Ruth: I spent four hours on the internet and I couldn't find one single case of a 16-year-old girl's heart just stopping. I spoke to three different doctors and not one of them could tell me exactly what happened to my daughter.
  – Submitted by Kelly E (3 months ago)

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