I really appreciate "The Ring" for its well-written story and shocking, but largely gore-free imagery. The film's blue-gray gloom and rain-soaked settings, along with the accompanying music, setup the story and scares beautifully. Naomi Watts is very good, her character uses her investigative skills as a reporter to unravel the mystery of the killer video tape. And yes, the video tape is creepy and it's the centerpiece of the film. The images on the tape are at first stumbled upon by chance and are later sought out by the characters. Many of the images are also flashed sort of subliminally throughout the movie.

There are many who praise "The Ring" for being extremely scary, but I think its more suspenseful than anything else. The main characters are basically racing the clock trying to beat death. The ending is satisfying especially after a rewatch. Watching it again also revealed subtle moments sprinkled throughout the movie that I didn't catch the first time I viewed it.

The only thing in the movie that didn't really work was the son Aidan, who was a strange looking and weird kid but just didn't seem like the possible offspring of the two main characters. It's too bad there aren't more smart, stunning horror films like "The Ring".