The Ring
The Ring stars beautiful rising star Naomi Watts as a reporter whose niece has passed away for mysterious reasons. Once she finds out her niece's boyfriend dies at the same exact time, her interest is piqued and starts to investigate. It leads to a cabin and the discovery of a videotape. She's told that whoever watches it gets a phone call proclaiming she has seven days to live. Well, she watches it and sure enough, she gets the much-feared phone call. It then becomes a race as she tries to prevent her death, dragging along her ex-husband and their child, who both see the tape.

The movie frankly is a bit creepy. The clues it provides along the way don't seem to make any sense at the time, but director Gore Verbinski (Mousehunt, The Mexican) gives us hope that it will at some point in the movie. It's all very compelling. My only problem is the extended ending. It could have ended at two separate points, leaving with us the wonder of what just happened and making us imagine what might happen. But the "third" ending spells it all out, that even though it explains a few other things, it would have been much better to leave it in the dark. Nevertheless, all turn in a fine performance, led by Watts, who was also excellent in Mulholland Drive, and while not gory as recent horror films have been, the scary parts are all in your head, where they should be. 3 stars