In recent times, horror movies seem to have become obsessed with gore and high body counts; criteria that appear to be a necessity to make your movie a hit.  What people seem to have forgotten though, is that the most memorable outings in this genre only required one key element - atmosphere.  If you can make the audience afraid of the basic premise and immerse them in a good story then you don't need billions of dollars to make a good movie.  'Ring' is one of a handful recent films that seems to have realised this and it all works because of a simple concept that is inventively filmed.

There is a rumour circulating amongst children that if you stay up late watching television, a mysterious woman will appear on the screen followed by a phone call to inform you that you will die in exactly one week.  The question is, is this a story created to stop kids watching too much television or is there some truth to this idle gossip?  When a schoolgirl dies with no reasonable explanation other than her friend's ranting about this so-called curse, reporter Reiko Asakawa (Matsushima) finds herself hot on the trail of a hard copy of this curious television broadcast.  Once she uncovers one though, she begins to realise that she has bitten off more than she can chew as she too is told that she has only one week left to live.  Turning to her ex-husband, Professor Ryuki Takayama (Sanada), the two set about trying to trace the origins of the images so that they can attempt to stop Asakawa's imminent death.

Horror has never exactly been my genre of choice but recently I have been broadening my horizons by viewing some of the classics and 'Ring' is certainly one film that falls into this category.  Devoid of the usual quota of heavy bloodshed, what makes this film succeed on so many levels is it's psychological approach that relies on tension and anticipation to produce the desired scare factor.  This is setup by director Nakata's uncanny eye for camera positioning as even though he employs all the standard techniques for the stereotypical frights, they never materialise at the expected points which really heightens the atmosphere.  All of the film's  ideas also take place in easy to relate to scenarios and are never over stylised which gives them a much greater sense of realism, so much so that you half expect to see the video appear on your own television set.

Characters within 'Ring' also exhibit far more realistic attributes than any of their American teenage counterparts seen in the 'Scream' style of horror flick.  Matsushima as Asakawa actually has a personality and its interesting to see how her character progresses through various states of fear.  At first, she displays a natural human curiousity before it evolves into mindless panic as both her life and the lives of her family are put under direct threat.  Sanada is then introduced into the fray which not only broadens our background knowledge of Asakawa but also gives her a convenient confidant and partner.  However, what really makes the characters work so well is that they never manage to make you lose site of the fact that the main purpose of film was always to explain the meaning behind the video.

Japan has always been one step ahead of the game when it comes to horror and it's good to see that 'Ring' continues this tradition.  This is psychological horror at it's best and really manages to keep the audience on their toes throughout.  Well worth watching.