Rings

Seriously this SHOULD have been made into the feature length sequel the only reason I'm giving it a 7 instead of an 8 is because you have to tune into The Ring Two to see what happens to Jake and that movie sucks.

Rings is the bridge between The Ring and The Ring 2. In the six months between the 2 films the copy of the infamous videotape made by Rachel has multiplied many times (still no explanation as to how people know they're going to die) and it's become such an urban legend that there is a website devoted to it.

Jake, the unfortunate high school kid at the start of The Ring 2, has watched the videotape in order to save the life of one of his so-called friends, thus taking on board the responsibility of making someone else watch it in 7 days or die by Samara's fright.

Initially Jake is intrigued and is offered a glimpse into the bizarre world of post-videotape viewing that we only saw thru Rachel's eyes in the first. Nothing is explained in any greater detail but the paranormal universe Jake falls into is fleshed-out more and is highly spooky. The short even manages to outdo The Ring 2 by giving us a couple of frights. I don't care how ridiculous the movies are, the image of Samara climbing out the well will ALWAYS be spooky.

Anyone who has seen The Ring 2 will already know what becomes of Jake and his would-be girlfriend Emily (the one he forces to watch the tape) but if you're a fan of the films then this is essential viewing. If you've yet to see The Ring 2 then it's the perfect introduction.

I shall be honest about this. I liked it, it was the best short movie I ever saw, as far as i am concerned. In a matter of fact, I liked this one way better than the true sequel. It's very thrilling, to watch how a teen slowly grows insane while being in the presence of Samara Morgan. It's very realistic, just like how I would see it happen in real life. It's far more realistic than The Ring. i mean, if I'd been Rachel, I would have freaked out the first day or something. Screw 'finding out what mystery lies behind the tape'. I'd lose my mind!

Sometimes I actually screamed and crushed my friend's arm. So a big bravo.

This is a 15-minute long film that serves as a sort of prequel to The Ring Two (2005) and which chronologically follows the events of The Ring (2002). It begins with Jake on day 7 of "having the Ring curse". He's on the phone with someone and he's scared, but he's being advised to "record everything he sees". Then we move to a flashback showing Jake's story--from his initial involvement with "The Ring" up to the opening point of the film and slightly beyond.

As a bridge to The Ring Two, Rings only really links to the beginning of its feature-length sibling. That's bad news for The Ring Two, because this is a much better film. It has a more interesting story, the "background premise" is much more interesting, the effects have more impact, and the cinematography is much better.

Just for anyone not familiar with the gist of "The Ring Curse" (it's a prerequisite for "getting" this film; I'd advise skipping this paragraph if you haven't seen The Ring yet), the basic idea of the series is that there is a creepy piece of short, mysterious video (usually on a videotape, but not always) that some people were watching, initially by accident. After the video, which featured a strange little girl with long, straight, black hair hanging over her face like Cousin It from "The Addams Family" (1964), finished playing, the viewer would get a call telling them that they only have seven days. If they didn't get someone else to watch the tape in that time period, they would die at the end of the seven-day period, almost to the minute of their watching the Ring video.

The background idea in Rings, which was suggested by the last few pages of Kôji Suzuki's Ring novel, is that subsequent to the events shown in The Ring, knowledge of the curse, as well as copies of the videotape, have burgeoned into a bizarre kind of underground subculture. Groups of people watch each other's tapes, especially for new members, to ensure that they can have a "Ring Experience". Internet sites and support groups have blossomed.

People have figured out that while under the Ring curse, one sees bizarre things that others do not see, whether they're "windows on another (level of) reality" or merely hallucinations. As the days go by, the visions become more intense. Part of the attraction to the subculture is seeing how far one can go before showing someone else the tape and ridding oneself of the curse. It's basically a combination of acid tripping and being a daredevil--taking increasingly chancy risks with one's life, all in the knowledge that one will be safe in the end, as long as one does not push it too far.

This is an excellent idea. It's a pity they didn't continue the story as the bulk of The Ring Two. However watching Rings first will at least give The Ring Two more depth for you, because otherwise the opening scenes of The Ring Two, which are a continuation, will seem far more unrelated/disconnected.

Rings has an amazing visual sense. The cinematography, by Lukas Ettlin, who also shot 2004's American remake of Ju-On: The Grudge in conjunction with Hideo Yamamoto, is fantastic throughout, although if you have an aversion to "MTV-styled cinematography" you might not appreciate it as much. Director and co-writer Jonathan Liebesman has Ettlin employ a lot of different filmstocks, different kinds of cameras and methods (handhelds, steadicams, cinema vérité, tracking shots, etc.), and different processing techniques. The shifting visual styles constantly "cycle", or "ring", if you like, for the length of the film.

Although Ring Two also had fine, bizarre events and effects, Rings tends to trump its big sister in that regard, as well, especially since Liebesman packs as much or more into 15-minutes than the two hours of its successor. The overall feel here is much more surrealistic and horrific. To me, that seems to be what a Ring film should aim for.

The bottom line is that if you're a Ring/Ringu fan, you shouldn't miss this short. It's fun to imagine an ideal world where Rings is stretched to full length as the "real sequel" and The Ring Two is a shorter footnote. The bad news is how Rings was made available to us--packaged with a re-release, exactly the same as the earlier release, of the first film. I'm sure most Ring/Ringu fans already owned The Ring on DVD. I did, and I had to buy it again to get a copy of Rings. But, we can just pass on our second copy of the Ring DVD to someone who hasn't seen it, thus ensuring we get past what is otherwise a seven-year expiration date on our lives.

I am very confused, I do not understand why the studio didn't release this with the film? Okay I understand that to start the film out with a 16 minuet opening like this would have been boring in the theater, it would have dragged the opening on a bit, but that's what editing is for! they could have re-edited this opening, cut it down to maybe 8-10mins. When I first saw Ring 2 in the theater I was unclear about the opening, "why was he so desperate for this girl to see the tape?" why this? why that? and I wasn't alone. It didn't hurt Ring 2 but it could have opened it with a more awe inspiring or knock over the head start then there was. You watch Rings and then watch Ring 2, it makes the opening a lot more intense!! and you feel more for the girl and the guy, your in there with them both. Without Rings your not. I am very glade they did include Rings on the Ring 2 DVD, just wish they could have inserted it along with the film. I also heard they did show this opening in a few limited theaters before Ring 2, so if they do that why couldn't they have inserted it into the film? Well before you watch Ring 2 on DVD make sure you first watch Rings!!!