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20 out of 23 people found the following review useful:

The Story Is A Ringer, but the scares don't really linger

Author: rgkarim from United States
3 February 2017

Seven days! A simple phrase that struck terror in our hearts oh so many years ago. Certainly, you know I'm talking of The Ring, the horror movie about a death delivering video tape certain to scare you to death. Samara's tale has fallen on to the backburner for some time, but like the cursed video, the series has resurfaced to the modern world to once more have you cowering at your screens. Will Rings live up to the potential? Robbie K here, once more sharing his opinions on yet another film. Let's get started.

LIKES: • Decent acting • Nice blend into the modern era • Strong story for a horror

Summary: Okay, this movie is certainly not going to win awards for best performance, but Rings' cast has some skill in their performances of college kids plagued by an evil spirit. Matilda Anna Ingrid Lutz and Alex Roe are the leads of this tale, doing a great job of balancing romance and detective work, finally a power couple who wasn't annoying. And Johnny Galecki trades one nerd role for another, though this time his scientific qualities had a little darker twist to the mix. Overall, the cast gets a pat on the back for establishing some good characters to hook on to. Yet the major things this reviewer liked involved the story components of the movie. Rings has jumped into the modern area, dropping the outdated VHS tapes for modern day MP4 files. It will help bridge the generation gaps, and add a new element that the other installments were missing. And the story was much stronger than I anticipated. Rings has more mystery to it, trying to find the answers to the elusive mystery of Samara's origins. Where it fits in the grand scheme of things is a little up in the air, but at least there is some character development and drama to spice things up. And as for the ending, it too is a little ambiguous, providing some delightfully dark closure, but still leaving it open for future installments. Not the strongest finish, but also not bad.

DISLIKES: • Scare Factor at A Low • Some plot elements lackluster • Not the same Ring

Summary: Rings story may be on target, but the scare factor still didn't reach the same levels that the first movie was able to achieve. This installment resorted to jump out scare moments, mainly trying to make you jump with sudden loud noises and hallucinations appearing from out of nowhere. Many of these moments weren't well timed, and to be honest many of the objects just weren't scary. Think of the first film and how creepy everything was, the unknown always teasing you until something sprung out of nowhere. All that was very diluted in this installment. Even though they finally show you how she kills her victims, the team didn't quite make it as horrifying as I thought it would be (think ghost rider's soul stare without the flashy fire). Rings was lacking this element, and had more of a mystery theme to it than an actual horror. In addition, there were also some plot elements that didn't shine as much as they wanted. For this reviewer, there is still some questions they still haven't fully answered that you have to draw yourself. The bottom line of the dislikes is that Rings didn't quite hit the same level the first movie had all those years ago.

The VERDICT:

In conclusion, Ring is not so much a horror movie in this round, but a mystery film about uncovering the origins of Samara. While the cast is decent, the story is mostly thought out, and we have some answer, it still didn't feel like the Ring series we've come to know. If you are looking for a movie to scare the pants off of you, sorry this isn't the film to do it. And you can probably guess, but yours truly doesn't recommend this one for the theater and implores you to wait until it hits home rental stands. Only people who might enjoy this one in theater are those who care about the story element of the movie, but I still think you can wait for home (I mean we have been waiting twelve years for this one right?).

My scores are:

Drama/Horror: 6.5 Movie Overall: 5.0

9 out of 11 people found the following review useful:

"Rings" is both enjoyable and frustrating.

Author: Dave McClain (dave-mcclain@hotmail.com) from United States
3 February 2017

You may be aware that the release of 2017's "Rings" (PG-13, 1:57) came a dozen years after the previous American sequel in the "Ring" franchise, or even that the very first "Ring" film was Japanese, but most people aren't aware of how the story began and how far-reaching it has become. The story of people dying seven days after watching the strange images on a mysterious videotape was first told in a trilogy of books by Japanese author Koji Suzuki in the 1990s. The first novel in "The Ring Trilogy" was simply titled "Rings" and was published in 1991. In Japan, it inspired two manga adaptations, a 1995 film ("Ring: Kanzenban"), a TV series ("Ring: The Final Chapter"), another movie version (1998's "Ring", also known as "Ringu") and a sequel (1999's "Ringu 2"), followed by two remakes of the 1998 film, one from South Korea ("The Ring Virus" in 1999) and the other from the U.S. ("The Ring" in 2002). The American version made over five times what it cost so, naturally, there was a sequel. The profits for "The Ring Two" (released in 2005) "only" tripled its budget and was also rated much lower than the previous film by both critics and audiences. The success of "The Ring" led to the American remakes of other Japanese horror films such as "The Grudge" (and its sequel), "Dark Water" and "Pulse", but the diminishing "Ring" returns and reviews probably contributed to the 12 year gap between "The Ring Two" and "Rings".

Updating the story for a new decade means that, rather on VHS tape, the deadly video at the center of the story is now being stored as a digital file and is viewable on a variety of devices, making the clip all the more ubiquitous – and dangerous. Remaining the same, however, is the origin of the video (a murdered girl named Samara reaching out for vengeance from beyond the grave) plus the way in which the video's curse is carried forward (the viewer receiving a phone call with a creepy female voice on the other end seeing strange things that are not there and then dying exactly seven days after watching the video, unless he or she copies the video and dupes some other poor schmuck into watching it before the week is out). We see the culmination of this pattern play out in the first scene on an airplane flight during which a handsome young man explains his nervousness to an incredulous female passenger by explaining, just as the plane is about to land, that he only has to "make it" through a few more minutes.

Julia and Holt (Matilda Lutz and Alex Roe) are just two teenagers in love… who are about to find themselves deep in a well of malevolence. Holt is heading off to college, while Julia stays back in their hometown to take care of her ailing mother. Texts, phone calls and Skype sessions keep the relationship going… until Holt suddenly and inexplicably stops answering Julia's calls. Desperate, Julia jumps in her car and drives to Holt's college where he is nowhere to be found and where those who know him either don't know where he is or won't say. Julia knows that Holt has been getting extra credit by working on a project for Gabriel, his biology professor (Johnny Galecki), but the prof denies knowing who Holt is, so Julia follows him to another floor of the classroom building to see what's up. She finds herself in a room full of students, video screens and digital clocks which are labeled with various students' names and which are counting down from various points in time. Julia follows a panicked student named Skye (Aimee Teegarden). Skye admits that she knows where Holt is but, before explaining further says, "I have to show you something first". Skye takes Julia home and Julia sees texts from Holt on Skye's phone. Julia learns about the cursed video and that Holt watched it – almost exactly seven full days earlier – so she watches it in order to save Holt, which starts her own proverbial clock ticking. But the video Julia sees is a little different from the previous versions. There are even more disturbing, surreal and seemingly random images in Julia's video – and her experience is different from everyone else's. With Holt's help, Julia follows the clues in her video and the visions that she starts seeing so she can unravel the mystery, save her own life and maybe finally give Samara's spirit some peace. This quest ends up in a small town, where they meet a secretive B&B owner (Jill Jane Clements) and the caretaker (Vincent D'Onofrio) of the grounds of a former church, as they learn of the disappearance of another young girl 30 years earlier, all of which adds background to the version of this saga that began in "The Ring".

"Rings" is both enjoyable and frustrating. Updating the technology involved with watching, copying and sharing the infamous Samara video opens up more possibilities for story-telling, while delving deeper into Samara's sad history adds interesting background – and also takes the tale of the tape in some cool new directions. On the other hand, the script's lack of exposition makes the movie hard to follow… and the acting is somewhat lacking. The ending brings most of it together well, but getting there will put you through the… wringer. "B"

8 out of 10 people found the following review useful:

Ten Years Too Late

Author: Brandon Zarzyczny from Williamsport, PA
3 February 2017

The movie was better than it had any right to be, but it didn't try to do anything new. I actually enjoyed the mystery aspect of the film, but it kind of failed as a scary movie, as it wasn't scary at all and was filled with cheap fake jump scares. The acting from the two main people isn't bad, but you can tell they got the parts just because they were pretty. This movie seems much more of a sequel to the original movie The Ring, forgetting most of the nonsense from The Ring 2. Rings also seems to take more inspiration from the original Japanese films, where a lot more is learned about Samara's birth parents.

From the trailers, I thought that this movie might have a lot more stuff with social media, but other than a few things, this movie could have taken place a decade ago. The only thing to show that the film's in the present is that they copy & paste video files, and they use smart phones as flashlights. Overall, the film isn't horrible, but it also isn't very good, I definitely wouldn't recommend it.

If you want to see my full review in video form you can check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JstAEbfzXwI

11 out of 19 people found the following review useful:

Rings for a new Generation

Author: brandonsparkes12 from Canada
3 February 2017

First of all don't listen to the critics.

As a fan of the first two I was looking forward to this movie ever since it was announced. The delays and the re-shoots had me worried but the final outcome of this movie left me satisfied other than the unnecessary opening sequence.

I wouldn't call this a horror movie but instead a mystery thriller. Samara lacked screen time but the movie delivered a good mystery that often left me guessing until the end. Some would argue that it was a tad bit predictable but even then the movie was still better than some recent horror movies that came out the last few years. The entire premise of this movie was interesting once we were introduced to the 7th floor things got really interesting without spoiling it for anyone.

As I mentioned before it felt to me that Samara wasn't seen enough in this movie taking away some of the horror elements. The movie often relied too much on jump scares and failed to create the same eerie atmosphere as the first.

So in the end I highly recommend this movie. It's a good popcorn flick to check out on the weekend. Leave your expectations at the door and try not to read into it too much prior to seeing it because the trailers gave away a lot of the good scenes. In the end, you won't be disappointed.

3 out of 4 people found the following review useful:

Interesting Tale, But not a purely scary flick

Author: jcmoore2010 from Houston, Texas
3 February 2017

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

This is the tale we all know from the first two films. Watch a tape and you die in 7 days. That's where this starts out and we follow along with the characters as the story unfolds. Except for the little twist in the plot. The tape changes with the lead character having seen it she receives a mark on her hand on the first day instead of the 5th. The new tape is played and no one watches but the main heroine. This story is a little different with churches, burning bodies, etc. So she and her boyfriend are off to find out why the story is different, searching to set Zamora free. The eventually find out who is Zamora's real mother and father and are able to set her to rest by burning her bones. Only problem, the heroine has been marked and for a reason. As she pulls the fish line out of her mouth, her boyfriend begins to decode the markings. At the same time, she realizes her mark has turned to loose skin that comes off and she has Zamora like skin underneath. Meanwhile, the video of the new film that was digitized and put on computer begins copying itself and sending to all email addresses that are stored in the email program. As her boyfriend tries to stop it, he realizes that the marking spells something ominous, it spells rebirth, and his girlfriend has become Zamora for a new generation.

4 out of 6 people found the following review useful:

Scare is gone, but the story is good!

Author: Larsii90 from Oslo, Norway
4 February 2017

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Alright, diving right into this. I am a fan of the first two movies, and I have waited for years for this sequel. I knew it wouldn't live up to the original or the first sequel, especially without Naomi Watts in it, so I wasn't expecting that. I advise you to do the same. I'll start with the negative and end with the positive:

First, it is apparent that the gap of 12 years(!!) between the last sequel and this is a weakness, as the jump from VHS to digital is a little too stretched and offers no real explanation. That being said, the way the tape was brought into modern digital time was pretty cool, and way more dangerous and easily spread than before (good for you, Samara).

Second: the leads were, as expected, way weaker leads than Rachel and Aidan. No real backstory or character development, which didn't make us care if they lived or died. We really rooted for Rachel in the first two The Ring movies, but not really in this one. Their acting is fine, but fades compared to Naomi Watts terrorized portrayal of Rachel.

Third: Rings relies too much on cheap jump scares and horror clichés. Its opening scene could have been really cool, but it just fails to deliver the scares and is a little too over the top, especially for a beginning. It is not really connected to the main plot either, The movie is also not scary, if you are into horror and watch a lot of them. Maybe it would scare us 10 years ago, but not today. Also, the clues along the way for the lead, Julia to solve the mystery is too conveniently laid out for her.

Positive:

First: Rings actually offers some fresh ideas to the franchise. Its not only about Samara spreading the tape to kill more people. There's now new clips within the tape, more digging into Samara's backstory, and a new motivation for Samara to spread her curse. The story is easy to follow, but new and interesting.

Second: The makers brought Samara into the present digital age pretty nicely, with a digital tape, smart phones, and computers. It also tells us how strong Samara's powers have developed, and it seems like there's no limit to her curse – which is kinda scary. The visuals are also very good.

Third: There are some cool new scenes we haven't seen before in the first two movies (although not scary enough), and a good twist that sets up for possible new sequels. If not, it would be a good ending to the franchise.

Final thoughts: as a stand alone horror movie, it is not very good. Plenty of horror movies does this genre better. As a follow up to The Ring and Ring 2, if you like those movies and the story, it isn't too bad. For someone like me, I enjoyed it. I am open to another sequel, but I hope they get Naomi Watts back. She is the only one that can actually save us. Or maybe an adult Aidan!

4 out of 6 people found the following review useful:

The Return of the Ring

Author: amlu from Sweden
3 February 2017

"The Ring" was my first horror film experience, and despite only having seen it once, it left a mark on me with its unique imagery. I've never seen anything like it since, and I would consider Samara a horror icon. With that in mind, I liked how the film never overused her, but held back just enough, keeping her looming in the background of things. You could feel her presence oozing out of something as common in this day and age as a .MOV file.

Despite one too many jump scares (almost none of them related to Samara), the film maintains a strong atmosphere and narrative while keeping it visually stunning from beginning to end. This is a welcome return, very much the "Aliens" of the Ring filmography.

6 out of 10 people found the following review useful:

"Rings" is both enjoyable and frustrating.

Author: Dave McClain (dave-mcclain@hotmail.com) from United States
4 February 2017

You may be aware that the release of 2017's "Rings" (PG-13, 1:57) came a dozen years after the previous American sequel in the "Ring" franchise, or even that the very first "Ring" film was Japanese, but most people aren't aware of how the story began and how far-reaching it has become. The story of people dying seven days after watching the strange images on a mysterious videotape was first told in a trilogy of books by Japanese author Koji Suzuki in the 1990s. The first novel in "The Ring Trilogy" was simply titled "Rings" and was published in 1991. In Japan, it inspired two manga adaptations, a 1995 film ("Ring: Kanzenban"), a TV series ("Ring: The Final Chapter"), another movie version (1998's "Ring", also known as "Ringu") and a sequel (1999's "Ringu 2"), followed by two remakes of the 1998 film, one from South Korea ("The Ring Virus" in 1999) and the other from the U.S. ("The Ring" in 2002). The American version made over five times what it cost so, naturally, there was a sequel. The profits for "The Ring Two" (released in 2005) "only" tripled its budget and was also rated much lower than the previous film by both critics and audiences. The success of "The Ring" led to the American remakes of other Japanese horror films such as "The Grudge" (and its sequel), "Dark Water" and "Pulse", but the diminishing "Ring" returns and reviews probably contributed to the 12 year gap between "The Ring Two" and "Rings".

Updating the story for a new decade means that, rather on VHS tape, the deadly video at the center of the story is now being stored as a digital file and is viewable on a variety of devices, making the clip all the more ubiquitous – and dangerous. Remaining the same, however, is the origin of the video (a murdered girl named Samara reaching out for vengeance from beyond the grave) plus the way in which the video's curse is carried forward (the viewer receiving a phone call with a creepy female voice on the other end seeing strange things that are not there and then dying exactly seven days after watching the video, unless he or she copies the video and dupes some other poor schmuck into watching it before the week is out). We see the culmination of this pattern play out in the first scene on an airplane flight during which a handsome young man explains his nervousness to an incredulous female passenger by explaining, just as the plane is about to land, that he only has to "make it" through a few more minutes.

Julia and Holt (Matilda Lutz and Alex Roe) are just two teenagers in love… who are about to find themselves deep in a well of malevolence. Holt is heading off to college, while Julia stays back in their hometown to take care of her ailing mother. Texts, phone calls and Skype sessions keep the relationship going… until Holt suddenly and inexplicably stops answering Julia's calls. Desperate, Julia jumps in her car and drives to Holt's college where he is nowhere to be found and where those who know him either don't know where he is or won't say. Julia knows that Holt has been getting extra credit by working on a project for Gabriel, his biology professor (Johnny Galecki), but the prof denies knowing who Holt is, so Julia follows him to another floor of the classroom building to see what's up. She finds herself in a room full of students, video screens and digital clocks which are labeled with various students' names and which are counting down from various points in time. Julia follows a panicked student named Skye (Aimee Teegarden). Skye admits that she knows where Holt is but, before explaining further says, "I have to show you something first". Skye takes Julia home and Julia sees texts from Holt on Skye's phone. Julia learns about the cursed video and that Holt watched it – almost exactly seven full days earlier – so she watches it in order to save Holt, which starts her own proverbial clock ticking. But the video Julia sees is a little different from the previous versions. There are even more disturbing, surreal and seemingly random images in Julia's video – and her experience is different from everyone else's. With Holt's help, Julia follows the clues in her video and the visions that she starts seeing so she can unravel the mystery, save her own life and maybe finally give Samara's spirit some peace. This quest ends up in a small town, where they meet a secretive B&B owner (Jill Jane Clements) and the caretaker (Vincent D'Onofrio) of the grounds of a former church, as they learn of the disappearance of another young girl 30 years earlier, all of which adds background to the version of this saga that began in "The Ring".

"Rings" is both enjoyable and frustrating. Updating the technology involved with watching, copying and sharing the infamous Samara video opens up more possibilities for story-telling, while delving deeper into Samara's sad history adds interesting background – and also takes the tale of the tape in some cool new directions. On the other hand, the script's lack of exposition makes the movie hard to follow… and the acting is somewhat lacking. The ending brings most of it together well, but getting there will put you through the… wringer. "B"

1 out of 1 people found the following review useful:

Decent Enough

Author: vengeance20 from United Kingdom
8 February 2017

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

After watching both the Japanese & US Ring Films I had to make plans to see this! Though it was meant for a 4th November, 2016 release date, we get it in February only just 3 months later.

The films premise is much the same as the other 2 films, watch the tape, get a call from a creepy voiced girl saying you have 7 days, then the 'making-a-copy-of-the-tape-&-giving-it-to-someone-else-to- escape-the-curse' trick, it's pretty much it. Aside from a few changes & differences here & there & the overall story-line!

I found this film to be pretty decent! It had some scary visuals going on. Some really cool sequences like the opening with the plane & the power line scene, it was pretty cool & entertaining at points! I mean the film did slightly drag & there were boring parts which the first 2 films & series in general had going on, but it was a creepy film with some great scenes in it!

Though I prefer slashers, I did like this supernatural theme in this film & the dark sinister tone which came with it! It was great! But wasn't my kind of film as I again like bloody films, but this was a entertaining & something I wanted to watch for a while since hearing about it!

I overall give this a 6/10, it was alright, but somewhat better than the first 2 by a couple of inches as it had some interesting sequences in it! Like I said above, it did drag at points but it was a great watch overall!

1 out of 1 people found the following review useful:

Not sure if I would put a ring on it.

Author: Claudio Pinto from Portugal
7 February 2017

When the movie started everything felt awkward and cringeworthy. The scenes were not really that well followed by one another and neither were the happenings. Also, at first I really did not think the acting was good and the lines were very poor and something you would have seen in thousands of other movies.

However, after the break, the story started to make more sense and there actually started to be a connection to the "original" story. And that was when I started thinking that maybe I might "put a ring" on this film after all.

Even though the lines and the acting were not that good, the ending was surprisingly kind of satisfactory: it was not that much predictable and it was open ended which is great.

Lastly, at times it felt there was a mixture of so many other movies, such as Final Destination or more recently Don't Breathe, and I guess I have some mixed feelings about that. But overall it is a 5 for me, and even though this saga may be going a bit too outworn now, I would like to see a sequel to this movie.

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