Written by David Loucka, Jacob Aaron Estes and Akiva Goldsman
Starring Matilda Lutz, Alex Roe, Johnny Galecki, Vincent D’Onofrio and Bonnie Morgan
Hello, friends. It’s me – the Blood Red Rose. You know what they say? Behind every successful Collective is a creative and nagging Queen to help drive production.
So while the Collective is busy bringing in new recruits and transcribing further tales of terror, I figured I would help out in the realm of horror movie reviews.
One fact that is quite funny about yours truly is that while I love the horror genre, I also prefer classic horror. I’m not a fan of the torture porn variety being churned out these days. Not my thing. That in mind, I bring you my summations, which I will call “Horror Reviews for Wimps.” For this session, let’s discuss “Rings.”
You likely already know the deal from the first movie, the sequel, or if you’re really hardcore, you’ll be familiar with the predecessor “Ringu” from Japan that inspired this franchise. Given that we are a throwback-obsessed society, why not have yet another movie? Sure.
“Rings” starts out strong with a tense plane scene with creepy special effects and a cool concept picking up where the story left off with that blonde chick and her troubled kid. In other words, this story has nothing to do with the characters from the first two movies.
So the cycle continues. Watch the tape, copy the tape, make someone else watch it, and you don’t die. Except we find ourselves in a strange situation in “Rings.”
Our female protagonist is dating some douchey bro-guy who goes off to college and gets himself involved in some sort of secret society, run by Leonard from “Big Bang Theory” no less, of people who are obsessed with studying this cursed tape. The professor calls it “The Samara Enigma” and of course, tricks college students into thinking they are participating in an extra credit project. What? Okay.
Without giving away more spoilers, “Rings” was decent. The special effects are pretty cool and there are definitely plot points that make it stick out from the other movies, but it’s pretty predictable, plot wise. The strongest points about the movie are the score, which has a very Hitchcock-vibe, and the effects are pretty rad. It’s worth a Redbox rental, basically.
I give it 3 Stars out of 5. Be sure to watch the movie and comment on what YOU thought about it.
3/5
The Collective Speaks:
Splatter Factor: 1/5 ***As can be expected for a PG13 horror, actual bloodshed is for naught. However there are some gruesome images involving vomiting of hair (?), rotted flesh and the classic Ring distorted faces.***
One would say that third time is a charm, but then others would ask if three times is truly necessary.. it is this latter query we present for your consideration. Samara is an enigma to us as, try as we might, we have yet to encounter her in our shadowflights. Yet she remains ever busy both in America and Asia (where she is known as Sadako). We personally feel as though she should spend more time in the netherrealm, lest her exposure needlessly desensitize the mortal masses to her… charms. History shows our advice shall go unheeded…
Author Brad Acevedo 