Second scary movie of all time is ... drumroll
By Cody Andrus
The Shining is the best horror film of all time. The hotel, the creepy twins: "Come play with us, Danny." And of course the classic Jack Nicholson moment: "Here’s Johnny!"
But coming in right behind it? I'm going to make some enemies on this one. Perhaps even close friends who roll their eyes when I tell them this. It's The Ring. No, not Ring Two. (Like Aladdin 2 ... it didn't count but never blame them for trying.) I'm talking about the original, VHS tape-cursing nightmare of The Ring. If you’re not putting it up on your very top tier, well, you watched it wrong.
First of all, The Ring gave us bendy scary girls, which was not a thing before this movie. Pre-Ring, we had no scary female children who's necks crackle and bodies move like pulverized marionettes, climbing out of wells to terrorize the living. We have the character of Samara to thank for that. Horror movies had monsters, but they weren’t dislocated and disjointed is all I'm saying.
The premise is simple yet terrifying: You watch a cursed VHS tape, then get a call telling you you’ve got seven days left. (VHS were plastic movie bricks on shelves inside Blockbuster stores.) The tape has these surreal images that would look right at home in a nightmare art exhibit. There's the sense of dread when ... the phone rings loudly. (Damn, here we go again. Umm, phones were different then. They were loud and on walls or counters.) Who’s calling you? Is it a telemarketer? Or your doom? Bah!
The Ring also does horror without bloodbaths or cheap jump scares. It’s a slow building sense of dread the way it feels when someone is creeping up behind you. Naomi Watts’ character, Rachel, is both brave and just the right amount of 'freaked out'. She’s investigating a curse, uncovering tragic backstories, and trying not to die all at once. You feel for her, you root for her, and then ... Samara crawls out of her TV. You’re welcome, modern horror.
