on the ring remake

[Don Brown]

>But the movie feels and looks actually too "clean" to me, there's no sense
>of dread in it,

I agree that there was way too much exposition, and the effectiveness of 
the Sadako/Samara character was damaged because of it. They certainly 
shouldn't have given her any lines. On the other hand, it still had some 
good spooky scenes, such as the jittery horse on the ferry and the 
discovery of Sadako's victims. But yeah, it was too slick, which is a big 
reason why most American horror films of late don't have the same impact as 
ones from ten or twenty years ago.

>Verbinsky is "yes man" in the industry, a director with no personality; i
>mean from a who made "the mexican" & the "pirates", what can you expect?

I'm not sure the comparison is a fair one: Verbinski and Nakata work with 
drastically different budgets and resources, and their films are tailored 
to markets with somewhat dissimilar tastes and demands. Plus, let's not get 
caught up in auteur theory assumptions; the perceived flaws of both films 
rest as much in the writing as in the direction. In its defence, 
Verbinski's version of The Ring could have been a lot worse, and in some 
ways I think it improved on the original. 
As for Nakata, let's hope he finds a way out of Hollywood development hell 
soon. He'll be returning to the genre he's had the most success in with his 
forthcoming entry in the recently announced J Horror Theater series, which 
may not be such a good thing. I think someone mentioned to me that these 
days he's more interested in making melodramas like Last Scene.

Don Brown

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