How does the character of Rachel Keller (Naomi Watts) in "The Ring" (2002) subvert or convert to past heroines or heroes in the horror genre?.
In 2002, we saw a new film hit the screens by Dreamworks called "The Ring" directed by Gore Verbinski ("The Mexican" 2000 and "Mousehunt" 1998). The film has a complex plotline in which a mysterious videotape is watched by a pair of teenage girls (a scene reminiscing that of the opening of Scream). After watching the tape the plot takes one of the girls into a mental institution and the other to mysteriously die. The tape eventually makes it into the hands of Rachel Keller, (Naomi Watts) a single mother and her young son, Aidan, who throughout the film has a special bond with to what ends up to be the killer. Rachel is a reporter and begins an investigation to what happened to the two girls (one of the girls happens to be Rachel's niece). Rachel finds herself slipping down a very slippery slope as she soon discovers that others who had seen the tape had only lived for 7 days after seeing the dark images displayed. The tape turns out to be the summit of a giant mystery that will bring Rachel and the people she cares about to the brink of death. What kind of power is housed within the tape? What are the secrets surrounding the tape? And how can it be stopped?.
"The Ring" is a nail biter from the opening frame. It is a roller coaster for the mind that doesn't let go until every pinpointed detail is revealed. I loved the feeling of this movie as it plays with your mind as the cleverly conceived plot unfolds. The film isn't afraid to slowly release detail after detail very carefully and methodically. A lot of films these days tend to bash us over the head with a shock ending or gross-fest but this film is too clever for either movie invention. .
The film is a remake of a 1998 Japanese horror film called "Ringu" which I have not seen yet and I am sure that this version will the be the first time Western audiences are exposed to this sort of psychological horror.