The Ring

Movie review by Nell Minow, Common Sense Media
The Ring Poster Image

Common Sense says

age 16+

Remake of Japanese horror film is terrifying and creepy.

PG-13 2002 115 minutes
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Parents say

age 14+

Based on 60 reviews

Kids say

age 12+

Based on 287 reviews

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A Lot or a Little?

The parents' guide to what's in this movie.

What Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that The Ring is a 2002 remake of a Japanese film that is very, very scary. Four people and a horse die on-screen, with the potential for many more untimely demises throughout. The soundtrack is filled with the spitting of unending Seattle rain, echoing orchestral strains of doom and loud and relentless guttural sound effects, all adding to the scariness. A dead girl's face decomposes in a few seconds. Water seeps out of nowhere. Handprints appear and then disappear just as mysteriously. Blood is seen in the water. Several people have spontaneous nosebleeds. A man kills himself using electric cords and an overflowing bath tub. A dead girl is found wearing an expression of horror. A woman tumbles down a deep well, where she discovers a girl's dead body. On television, in a grainy black-and-white video, a long-dead girl emerges from a well looking gray and menacing, then climbs out of the TV set and causes the frightening death of an innocent man. A woman throws a bag over her daughter's head and tosses her down a well. Profanity includes "s--t," "prick," "bitch," and "damn."

Community Reviews

strict mother
strict mother Adult
June 10, 2021
age 12+

I am a strict mom on movies but this one was ok for the kids

This movie was really creepy. It was really good and I'm usually really strict with these kind of movies. I recently watched this with my 12 year old kid and he loved this movie. It had nothing bad in it, there was no sex/nudity, no F-words or any other extreme language, no drugs, no gore, but lots of terror. It was really scary for a PG-13 movie but it had nothing bad in it, just scary.
5 people found this helpful.
WesleyS.
WesleyS. Adult
March 13, 2021
age 14+

Okay for mature Teens

I think that this movie is good for mature teens that can handle scary stuff

This title has:

Great messages
Great role models
Too much violence
2 people found this helpful.
See all 60 parent reviews

What's the Story?

In THE RING, a remake of a Japanese horror film based on a series of books, urban legend meets scary movie reality when four teens die, as predicted, exactly seven days to the minute from when they watched an unmarked video in a remote mountain cabin. Rachel (Naomi Watts), the aunt of one of the teenagers, is a savvy and skeptical journalist whose curiosity is sparked by tales of the tape. After finding and watching the source of the mystery, she receives a phone call announcing that she has seven days to live. From there, it is a race to solve the clues and answer the riddle of the video, with the stakes greatly raised when two of the people closest to her, including her young son, watch the deadly tape.

Is It Any Good?

Director Gore Verbinski does an excellent job of letting our imaginations find portent and peril in the most mundane of actions, such as picking up groceries at the local corner store. Watts is a relief as she plays through the gamut of Rachel's emotions with truly credible, but not overwrought, gusto. While the adults are busy solving the riddle of the tape, the heart-stopping pair of the Ring's children usher in the deeper dimension of fear. Rachel's son, Aiden (a stony-eyed David Dorfman), is the medium and interpreter for the terrifying Samara (Daveigh Chase), who is at the heart of the mystery.

The Ring dips deep in the well of oft-used scary images, which paradoxically results in a movie that is both architecturally firm but, with little new to add, empty of true revelation.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about the decision that Rachel makes at the end of The Ring and the ramifications of her actions. Did she make the right decision? Why, or why not?

  • Discuss the way that different characters deal with the untimely death of a loved one.

  • For fans who have seen the original Japanese tale, how does this movie compare? If you have seen the sequels, how does this one stack up?

  • What is the appeal of scary movies?

Movie Details

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