Stylish but barely mediocre overall

Best movie ever!

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

Apart from being miles above the pedestrian, even ridiculous "Ring 2" (by much-hyped and overrated Japanese director Nakata) in terms of style, wit, and execution, this savvy, snappy little short introduces a whole new set of ideas to the Ring "myth" that could've given Nakata's clinker the shot of fresh blood it so desperately needed - mainly, the intriguing concept of the tape as a sort of "psycho virus" you have to pass on within 7 days in order to save your own life. This premise - which opens up all kinds of possibilities and suggests a whole bunch of analogies - could have been the basis for a terrific sequel. It's a shame and a pity the producers opted for the easy way out instead. What did they do to Ehren Kruger to make him drop this for the absurd piece of drivel that became "Ring 2"? Hollywood works in mysterious ways, indeed.

It's far better! Scrap the soporific main feature and go for this beauty of a short film. Well, actually the sequel does make this look superb, but what we have here is an innovative 14-minute short that has an engrossingly taut layout and actually foreshadows the opening of "The Ring Two".So, after the opening death scene in "The Ring Two". This one goes back a week earlier and follows the teenage boy Jake who joins a small circle of teens, who are interested in the cursed videotape. Where they convince Jake to watch the video to save one of them. Then we watch Jake go through the mind-boggling experience, where he records and films the details. But when it starts to get the better of him he soon realises that this is no easy walk in the park and he's finding it hard to get somebody to watch his tape.The way the story opens up is an neat idea involving this urban legend of the cursed unmarked videotape becoming somewhat of an underground thrill ride for curious and extreme on lookers who just want to test out this dangerously bizarre mind trip. There are cult groups that have experienced this sensation, where they have recorded accounts that pop up on the Internet. It even touches on the idea if these images are something more, like an opening into another dimension than just illusion. Somehow this one packs a lot of realistic excitement, hair raising frights and very surreal visions within the limited time and it's still rather fulfilling in its subject matter. The atmosphere is highly cold and depressingly ominous with such intense performances. There's just much more substance and terrifying images here compared to its bigger brother. Even the filming techniques are extremely sharper with CGI that's more crisper, atmospheric camera-work and rapid-fire editing that fitted into the twitchy / on edge mood it was going for. The brisk pace never lets up or gives you a chance to get comfortable, because you get caught up in the frantic mess the main character falls into.A hauntingly gripping and very well executed short.

I think that the Idea behind this cult that is forming right in front of our very eyes, that cult being Samara basically and what happened to her, very interesting and since buying the collectors edition DVD's I must have watched RINGS at least ten times and I enjoyed it the tenth time just as much as the first time.Rings makes the perfect join between THE RING and RING TWO. Lots of people complain about the unexplained bits of the story, personally I think that makes this brilliant cult film ten time better then it already is. As far as I'm concerned these films are some of if not the best pieces of film making to date, not forgetting the original RINGU of course which was also great considering the low budget.POSSIBLE SPOILERS PAST THIS POINT.I think Hideao Nakatta (Apologies for the spelling) has created one of the best Horror characters in Samara and her life, short as it was, would make a great film by itself. (Mabey I should have kept that Idea to myself) The classic art of symbolism which the Japanese do so well has been done to perfection with this story. The way they have shown Samara's connection with water has almost made it a character in its self. I think that these films have a lot more in them then most people care to reallies and if you really think about everything thats happened up to now has had a reason. Finally, at the centre of all this is of course the tape, which in its self is pretty creepy, but everything you saw on that tape the first time it's shown to us has now been explained in some way or another.These films are truly amazing.

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.