Ring: Collectors Set (Widescreen Edition)

This review is for the RINGS extra disc that comes with the newly released edition of THE RING. If you're reading this, you've probably already seen and liked the movie, or at least heard enough about it.

The primary attraction of this disc is a short film entitled "Rings," which shows us how the deadly video is spread amongst a group of teenagers, and acts as a lead-in sequence to the second film. It's well-made, although fans of the original film who thought the remake spelled things out too much will probably feel the same about this.

The rest of the features are mostly ones that should have been included on the original, disappointingly bare-bones release: trailers for the movie and the sequel currently in theaters, pure form videos of the "cursed" imagery from these two films and the Japanese original, brief interview clips with Naomi Watts, Martin Henderson, Brian Cox, David Dorfman, Gore Verbinski and the producer, and a very short exploration of the nature of urban legends.

If you loved the film and haven't bought it yet at all, it's worth spending a little extra to get this release. If you have bought the original DVD, I'd advise simply renting this one. Though the short film is good, neither it nor the other materials are really essential.

The five stars are for the film and this package on its own merits. I offer no stars for Dreamworks' attempt to get us to buy the same product twice.

I had seen it before but I wanted to own it, and the second disc clinched my buying it. I though it was one of the scariest movies ever made (it makes my top ten for horror flicks) and Naomi is very good in this (not to mention easy on the eyes). Special effects are interesting and the filming technicques and sound have been used in other films ever since. The "rings" short film was a preasent suprise (especially if you remember the beginning of Ring II). It had some good bonus stuff. Nothing too elaborate but worth watching.

The main draw of this set of movies is of course the extra video short that is supposed to connect The Ring with The Ring Two. It opens with the explanation that by now tons of people have seen Samara's video and that there are groups of people who watch it to try to connect with the other side. The short stars the teenage boy that viewers see in the beginning of The Ring Two. The short is certainly eery and the visual effects are nothing short of amazing and imaginative, but the premise of the story borders on ridiculous. On the back of the box it says that you learn more about Samara from the video, but in reality it merely follows the teenage boy through his 7 days. Buy this if you are a big The Ring fan (or just want the free ticket to The Ring Two), but otherwise it is nothing very new.