Director F. Javier Gutierrez
Genre Drama | Horror
Cast Matilda Anna Ingrid Lutz, Alex Roe, Johnny Galecki, Vincent D'Onofrio
Rating PG-13
Release Date February 3rd, 2017
“A young woman finds herself on the receiving end of a terrifying curse that threatens to take her life in 7 days.”
Based on the original Japanese remake The Ring (2002), Rings is the third film in the series based on a mysterious and chilling videotape that kills anyone unlikely enough to watch it. What started as an urban legend coming to life has evolved into much more. Rings is directed by F. Javier Gutiérrez, who has only one previous directing credit of the crime/drama Before The Fall (2008). The film credits 3 writers for the screenplay and the story, as well as Japanese writer Kōji Suzuki, who wrote the mystery horror novel the films are based on, The Ring (Ringu), which was originally published in 1991. Following in the footsteps of a very popular first film as well as a dynamic and extensive marketing campaign, Rings had people excited for its release. The cast includes Matilda Anna Ingrid Lutz, Alex Roe, Johnny Galecki, and Vincent D'Onofrio.
Rings, which is terribly written, poorly acted, and severely lacking originality, is not only a bad horror movie, it is a slap in the face to the entire genre. I walked into the theater with average to slightly above average expectations due to a fantastic first film, and a mediocre but entertaining second film. What I got for the price of a movie ticket was something that you would expect from a direct to Blu-ray/DVD release. Rings is not at all scary, simple as that. The scariest aspect of the movie is the tape itself which we have all seen. Granted they add a few new parts to it but it's far from enough. They attempted a few poorly executed jump scares but I didn’t move in my seat once. By the end of the film I was convinced that they tried to borrow ideas from horror films like It Follows, Don't Breathe, and Final Destination, except they failed miserably. I honestly found the writing to be offensive, every few minutes the characters were spoon feeding viewers plot developments like we couldn't figure it out for ourselves ("Hey look it’s a door, perhaps we should open it to see what's inside? Shucks, the door is locked"). That is beyond frustrating. I was concerned about the inexperienced director and I had good reason to be, he had no idea what he was doing. Samara is creepy but she is severely underutilized in the film. Apparently creativity was not in the budget for this movie. Probably because they overspent on marketing, which will more than likely be the sole reason they make money on this disaster. Nice job guys, you got me!
Horror movies are notorious for bad acting, that's just the nature of the beast. I get that. But there is quite a difference between bad acting, and terribly uninspired, and downright cringe worthy acting. Combine that with a script that could have been written by a 5th grader, and you have yourself a real gem of a horror film (yeah that is definitely sarcasm). Vincent D'Onofrio is one of the more well-known names in the cast and his performance was fine, he seemed to do his best with what he was given to work with. Not great, but okay. Johnny Galecki, best known as Leonard from The Big Bang Theory, plays a rough around the edges and supposedly badass biology professor. Typecast much? I mean, biology professor I get, but this guy is the opposite of rough around the edges. Now on to what really got under my skin- the lead roles played by Matilda Lutz and Alex Roe. I'm going to go right out and say it, Lutz is a talentless actress that is just plain bad on screen. The one thing she has going for her is her physical appearance, which honestly begins to suffer because of how bad of an actress she is. According to her short online bio she is also a model, perhaps that is the correct career choice for her. Maybe it's inexperience on her part without anything relevant on her resume, combined with a clueless director, but she was not good. Roe was pretty bad himself, offering up a dry character with little to no depth. I will say that I may be unfairly taking my frustrations out on the cast and I apologize for that, because the real culprits here are undoubtedly the director and the 3 writers, who seem to have put together this film as some sort of sick joke.
My girlfriend claims that she was so petrified of the first film when she saw it in theaters that she walked out halfway through, and still had nightmares for a week. Now THAT is the impact a real horror movie is supposed to have! Well, I was excited (again, sarcasm) to tell her that she could go see Rings and sleep like a baby that very night, because it is about as scary as an episode of Seinfeld. If a friend offers you a free ticket to go see this piece of trash I would tell them you would rather stay home and watch Zombeavers. I'm actually slightly angry that in some way this film sullies the good name of the first film, which I must re-watch as soon as possible to get this bad taste out of my mouth. I will go one step further and say that I am angry and feel that someone from the team behind the making of this film owes me a sincere apology. I would have asked the theater for a refund but this isn't on them. Perhaps they will fire everyone involved and have a chance at redemption with the fourth film? That would be nice but I won't be holding my breath. Take it from me and do your best Colin Kaepernick during the National Anthem impression, and sit this one out.
