Once you watch it, you have seven days.
If you haven’t seen The Ring by now, you’re missing out on a horror classic. The 2002 film (itself a remake) terrified audiences with its creepy story and burning anxiety. It built tension like no other movie I’ve seen, culminating in a fantastic payoff that included a fun twist.
The 2005 sequel was a critical and commercial dud, but more than ten years later, the franchise is being revived for another go. Not sure if you want to see it? Check out the first few minutes in the video above. The “Extended Plane” sequence sets the tone for what the film is hoping to accomplish.
Here’s the movie’s official synopsis:
A new chapter in the beloved RING horror franchise. A young woman becomes worried about her boyfriend when he explores a dark subculture surrounding a mysterious videotape said to kill the watcher seven days after he has viewed it. She sacrifices herself to save her boyfriend and in doing so makes a horrifying discovery: there is a “movie within the movie” that no one has ever seen before.
What was an A-caliber horror movie has seemingly been turned into a mediocre has-been. But, then again, I’m making my assessment based on a single clip. The premise, which centers on a VHS tape (now a viral video) that causes people to die, doesn’t quite hold up. Hopefully, the filmmakers will introduce some fun new ideas beyond what can be discerned in the clip above.
I want to believe
I’m hopeful this reboot will do the original justice, but it has had a tough time even getting released. It was supposed to come out in 2015 and was later rescheduled for April 2016. It hit another setback and was again delayed a month before it was set to come out last October. Now, finally, the movie is making its debut.
Samara is still as terrifying as ever. But I’m not so sure she’ll have quite the impact she did all those years ago. We’ll see when Rings hits theaters on February 3.