RINGS REVIEW

A young woman finds herself on the receiving end of a terrifying curse that threatens to take her life in 7 days.

Starring: Matilda Anna Ingrid Lutz, Alex Roe, and Johnny Galecki

Directed by: F. Javier Gutierrez

Written by: David Loucka, Jacob Estes, and Akiva Goldsman

  It’s always exciting when a horror movie gets off to a good start. “Rings” appears to get off to that good start when it opens with Samara (Bonnie Morgan) on the hunt for her latest victim on an airplane. That seems like a great unique place to have her, and just when it gets good… “end scene!” Seriously! After that let down, would that be a sign of things to come?

  Soon after that the audience is introduced to a young couple, Julia (Matilda Lutz) and Holt (Alex Roe). It’s their last morning together before Holt goes off to college. College can be about experimenting and finding new things, and that’s exactly what Holt does. He breaks contact with Julia causing her to eventually go to his school to look for him. She soon finds him, and how he’s become part of a deadly experiment. Yes, he watched the tape and to save him, so does she. 

  However, there seems to be something different about her viewing of the tape. This causes Julia to go on the hunt for Samara, and the story behind her. This is also where the story begins to drag on. The audience watches as Julia tries to put the pieces together, where instead it would've been nice to see more of Samara going after people, or even more about the experiment itself.

  Then comes the big final scene once Julia has put all of the pieces together. It won’t take long for some of the audience to say, “wait didn’t I already see this movie?” Even though they might have seen it, it does kind of make sense, and turns out alright. Actually the very last scene turns out to be a good ending to this story. 

  Reminiscent of “Final Destination,” the opening scene has a chance to really set the tone for this movie, but unfortunately it’s cut short. They also cut short the talk about this experiment, which would have been more interesting than Julia’s investigation. As well, it would have opened more opportunity to involve Samara. Even though the ending is awfully familiar, it does make up for some of the earlier mishaps. However, “Rings” still turns out to be a missed opportunity to revive this franchise, so I give it 2 pools of blood.

  HorrO