Nerds That Geek Movie Review: ‘Rings’

Written by Scott Edwards

​I will admit that I am a sucker for Urban Legends, not because of how they put some fear in the back of your mind, but because of the story behind them. While some of these stories have been grossly exaggerated over the years, like a killer with a hook hand, the things that took place in the past are just fascinating to me. Wanting to know more about these stories and where they came from, I find myself glued to my internet to try and find out what caused these stories to become so popular. Even if there is a little truth behind these stories, they have become a fixture in our society, so the more you know about them, the better off we will be.
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Rummaging around at a swamp meet, Gabriel is able to spot something that he has not seen in years, an old VCR. While his girlfriend Skye does not seem as enthused over it as much as he does, the thought of a vintage way to watch movies is something he cannot get over. Getting home and fixing the old piece of technology, Gabriel finds that there is an old tape lodged inside that says, ‘Watch Me’. Trying to get the old tape to play, Gabriel finds out that he has stumbled upon an old legend that has gone dormant for the past couple of years.

Sending off her boyfriend Holt to college, Julia is beside herself when she has not been able to get ahold of him for almost a week. Getting a strange call from an unknown woman who says that the girl cannot be stopped, Julia is forced to travel to the campus to find out what happened to Holt. Arriving at the campus and finding a strange keep inside of his room, Julia sees that there is a lecture that his favorite professor is hosting, and she attends it to try and find some answers. While Gabriel is silent in disclosing any information about his student who was part of a project, Julia knows that he is lying and decides to take her investigation to the next level.

Following Gabriel back to his off-campus base of operations, Julia finds out that Gabriel is obsessed with the afterlife and what really happens when we die. Entering the lab, Julia sees strange images on the screen in front of her that do not make any sense. Leaving before she is spotted, she runs into Skye who has a proposal for her, to watch something on her computer. But seeing that Holt is texting the strange woman, Julia is told not to watch the tape and is witness to the wrath of Samara. Meeting up with her boyfriend and finding out the mystery behind the tape, Julia is brought into a life changing event that will lead to figuring out what happened in a small town with plenty of secrets.

I see what this movie was trying to do; bring a franchise back to life after ten years, but it really did fall short. With too many gaps in the storyline, mainly why a biology professor would be obsessed with what is on the other side, to not seeing Julia helping out her mother, the movie did however push through to the digital age. Seeing how easy it was to make a copy of the killer tape with the use of computers and adding a tape within the tape was kind of fun. I liked that the mystery was solved, and how Julia was able to fight off of the old blind man who was trying to keep Samara hidden from the world. With a killer tape, outdated technology being used, a mystery, a cool professor with a beard, a blind man, a small town and a little girl that will never rest again, this is an alright movie that will keep you wondering what it will take to keep the little girl from trying to kill the entire world. Stay Scared.

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