Rings - Liked It

Stars:  Matilda Anna Ingrid Lutz, Alex Roe, Johnny Galecki
Run Time: 1 hour, 42 minutes

The Movie

It’s 15 years after The Ring was released and we are brought another movie that uses the “killer video.” If you have never seen or heard of The Ring is basically about a VHS tape that when watched, the girl comes from the TV and takes your soul back with her in seven days. The only way to stop it is to make a copy of the tape. Rings starts off with a young man on a plane who is counting down the minutes until his seven days are up. Being the intro, Samara (the girl from the video) is able to come on the plane and kill him. We are then flash forwarded to a couple years later, with Gabriel (Johnny Galecki) perusing a flea market and finding the VHS player along with the tape. After watching the tape and getting the phone call, he decides to turn it into a psychological experiment on campus with his students, one including Holt (Alex Roe). Holt’s girlfriend, Julia (Matilda Lutz) begins to worry when Holt stops answering her calls and texts and drives up to the school to see what’s going one. 

First she meets Gabriel who brushes her off saying he doesn’t know Holt. Then she meets Skye (Aimee Teegarden) who has about a half hour left before Samara is supposed to come get her. She goes back to Skye’s place and Skye tries to get her to watch the video – because apparently since it’s digitized now, you have to both copy it AND get someone to watch it before the seven day deadline. Needless to say, Julia only watches it to “tail” Holt and save his life. After watching it though, something weird happens. She is unable to make a copy because the one she watched is different than the rest. It shows

her different pictures and she starts to see visions from Samara, ultimately pleading for Julia to set her soul free.

​Julia and Holt then go on a journey, much like the one in the original film, to find Samara’s body and set her soul free. Rings sheds more light   on   what   happened   to 

Samara and why she has grown evil. We find out about her birth parents (not the ones that put her in the well) and ultimately what she is trying to get out of this “killer video.”

​Likeds Its & Hated Its

• I don't really understand how Julia could have a vision before she even watched the video, but I still like that dream scene because it was hella creepy.
• I liked the scene in Skye’s apartment how Samara climbs out of the flat screen even though it’s facing the floor.
• I liked the story and how it both incorporated the original movie, but is showing a different story and more about Samara and what she went through.
• I hated the ending and wished they didn’t set up for more.
• I wasn’t too fond of the phone and the cicada scene near the end of the movie. 

​Rating

I remember watching the original movie and not thinking it was very scary, but I watched it years after the release and on a small TV in my living room. So, not very scary circumstances and I wasn't a huge fan of the movie (mostly because of that scene on the ferry). Rings I still didn't find that scary, yes there were some jump moments and a lot of creepy moments (especially when Julia was having all her visions). Still, I thought the story itself was good and I liked the way it focused more on Samara's life other than her death in the well. If you liked the original movie, there is plenty of aspects that came over to Rings from it. The video itself doesn't change (other than Julia's version) and the idea of the seven days and the taking of souls is still there. I am going to give this movie a "Liked It" and would recommend it. 
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