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The Ring (2002)

tomatometer

71

Average Rating: 6.6/10
Reviews Counted: 179
Fresh: 127 | Rotten: 52

With little gore and a lot of creepy visuals, The Ring gets under your skin.

54

Average Rating: 6.3/10
Critic Reviews: 35
Fresh: 19 | Rotten: 16

With little gore and a lot of creepy visuals, The Ring gets under your skin.

audience

50

liked it
Average Rating: 3/5
User Ratings: 30,975,340

My Rating

Movie Info

A disturbing videotape appears to hold the power of life and death over those who view it in this offbeat thriller. A strange videotape begins making the rounds in a town in the Pacific Northwest; it is full of bizarre and haunting images, and after watching it, many viewers receive a telephone call in which they are warned they will die in seven days. A handful of teenagers who watched the tape while spending a weekend at a cabin in the mountains scoff at the threat, but as predicted, they all

PG-13, 1 hr. 49 min.

Drama, Horror, Romance, Mystery & Suspense

Ehren Kruger, Scott Frank

Mar 4, 2003

$128.6M

DreamWorks SKG

Cast

All Critics (179) | Top Critics (35) | Fresh (133) | 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 Source: Chicago Reader | Comment
Chicago Reader
Top Critic IconTop Critic

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

January 2, 2009 Full Review Source: Variety | Comment
Variety
Top Critic IconTop 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 Source: Newsweek | Comment
Newsweek
Top Critic IconTop Critic

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

November 6, 2002 Full Review Source: New York Observer | Comment
New York Observer
Top Critic IconTop 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 Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution | Comment (1)
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Successfully envelops us in a disturbing experience.

October 25, 2002 Full Review Source: Sacramento Bee | Comment
Sacramento Bee
Top Critic IconTop Critic

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

May 29, 2011 Full Review Source: Film4 | Comment

This movie is very, very scary.

December 29, 2010 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media | Comment
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 Source: ColeSmithey.com | Comments (3)
ColeSmithey.com

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

April 29, 2009 Full Review Source: Cinema Crazed | Comment
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 Source: Cinefantastique | Comment
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 Source: TheMovieReport.com | Comment
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 Source: Big Picture Big Sound | Comment
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 Source: Empire Magazine | Comment
Empire Magazine

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

February 9, 2006 Full Review Source: Time Out | Comment

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 Source: Portland Mercury | Comment

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

February 16, 2004 Full Review Source: Boulder Weekly | Comment

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 Source: Star-Democrat (Easton, MD) | Comment (1)
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 Source: EDGE Boston | Comment
EDGE Boston

sets an atmosphere of creepiness that doesn't let up

September 22, 2003 Full Review Source: Three Movie Buffs | Comment
Three Movie Buffs
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for The Ring

The plot was intriguing but so damn scary! Friend and I left halfway through the movie when we were teenagers... security guard took pity on us and let us out at the top of the stairs though he wasn't supposed to.

January 5, 2012
Letitia Lew

Super Reviewer

I hate horror movies.

November 19, 2006
wildaly14

Super Reviewer

    1. Katie: Becca, quit it!
    – Submitted by Nick P (4 months ago)
    1. Samara: 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 Javis C (4 months ago)
    1. Rachel Keller: I think before you die, you see the ring...
    – Submitted by Javis C (5 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 Virginia K (6 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 Virginia K (6 months ago)

Latest News for The Ring

April 27, 2010:
Paramount Preps The Ring 3-D
Paramount is moving ahead with plans for another sequel to "The Ring" -- and yes, it will be in 3-D.

January 8, 2007:
Remaker Focused on "The Host" and "The Ring 3"
Since producing the American version of "The Ring" in 2002, producer Roy Lee has stayed...

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Foreign Titles

  • The Ring (2002) (DE)
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