RINGS...

RINGS

The third film in a series, Rings continues to the story begun in The Ring- When a person watches the haunted video tape they will receive a phone call stating that they will die in “seven days”. The caller is Samara, a mysterious young girl who was murdered years ago and is currently haunting the video. SPOILER ALERT: The first film establishes that one can rid themselves of the curse by making a copy and passing it on to another before the seven days are up.

The third film picks up a little over a decade later when a college professor comes across the tape and starts the curse into motion on a new scale. Rather than seeing the tape as a “curse,” the professor decides to experiment with the idea of life after death and engages in a mass experiment with the student body. One person watches the tape, another person tails behind them, going on in a pyramid scheme that encourages the students to refer to themselves as “The Sevens”. And the tape eventually finds it’s way to the eyes of Holt, whose girlfriend will do anything to save him. And anything inludes watching the tape….

So here’s what I find interesting: the film continues to push the narrative of the first, but Samara’s presence shouldn’t be the only point in spreading this curse. There should be an endgame and this film finally addresses the possibility of that endpoint when our lead is unable to create a new duplicate. More images have appeared in the video code, images meant for her alone. And those images send her and Holt on another journey of their own…

“Rings” is not a reinvention of the wheel and makes a few stumbling missteps along the way, but it is largely an enjoyable film. There’s been a pretty big backlash from the horror community and reviews, panning the film on a number of faults. I, however, had a nice time watching the film and enjoyed myself immensely. While it won’t crack my top ten of the year, I can definitely see myself purchasing the blu-ray when it’s released.

6.5 out of 10 and a mild recommend. See it in the theaters.