The Ring

A horror film with no weapons and very little violence, The Ring nevertheless will creep you out good. A Hollywood-ized English-language version of the 1998 Japanese original, this flick boasts a brilliant premise: Everyone who watches a certain nightmarish black-and-white videotape dies seven days later. Naomi Watts, the talented blonde actress from David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive, plays a Seattle newspaper reporter who watches the tape and tries to get to the bottom of the mystery while racing to save herself before her week ends. The explanation is a complicated and richly layered supernatural puzzle. Although the Japanese version is reportedly superior, this movie contains some genuinely frightening moments. Director Gore Verbinski (The Mexican) admirably displays an artsy, moody style, and it doesn’t hurt that experienced character actors such as Brian Cox and Jane Alexander appear in supporting roles.