I have decided to research thrillers further, ones with incorporated ideas about technology

in them similar to mine.

The Ring

A young journalist must investigate a mysterious videotape which seems to cause the death
of anyone in a week of viewing it.

General information

Rated: PG-13 for thematic elements, disturbing images, language and some drug references.
This is low enough for a wide target audience. My film will be of similar element and
therefore I have decided to give it also a PG-13 certificate.

Running Time:1 hr. 49 min.

In Theaters: Feb 21, 2003 Wide

US Box Office: £128.6M

Distributor: DreamWorks SKG

Directed By: Gore Verbinski

Written By: Ehren Kruger, Scott Frank

Review

Just in time for Halloween comes one of the creepiest films in years, “The Ring.” Filled with
spooky special effects, “The Ring” will have you cringing in your seat and watching parts of
the movie through the slits between your fingers placed firmly over your eyes.

Featuring a superb cast that's firing on all cylinders, the movie has quite a few moments of
genuine spine-tingling thrills. Not since “The Sixth Sense” has a film built up the horror and
suspense so effectively.

Directed by Gore Verbinski and starring Naomi Watts, Martin Henderson, Brian Cox and
David Dorfman, this 2002 DreamWorks film is a remake of one of the biggest Japanese box
office hits ever. The story centres an urban legend that claims if you watch this mysterious
videotape, you'll die within seven days. That's right, seven days.

Newspaper reporter Rachel Keller (Naomi Watts) learns about the infamous tape while
attending her niece's funeral. Overhearing a few of her niece's friends discussing what may
have caused her death, Rachel does what any good reporter would do - she searches out
the video, determined to find the source of this legend. Locating the tape in a remote
 vacation resort that offers individual cabins and not much to do besides watch videos,
Rachel pops the VHS tape into the recorder. The tape shows images that are disturbing,
violent, and at the end of watching it, the phone rings and a female voice tells her she has
just seven days left to live.

Rachel starts to freak out a little bit more with each passing hour as the supposed
countdown to the end of her life ticks down. What at first was simply a search for the story
behind the film turns into a matter of life and death when her young son, Aidan (David
Dorfman), watches the film and gets a call of his own from the would-be Grim Reaper?
Joining her in her race against time is her ex, Noah (Martin Henderson), the father of her
son and, fortunately, an expert on analysing videos.

“The Ring” is not for wimps. There were scenes so startlingly vivid and distressing they linger
with you long after the movie is over. The entire cast does a remarkable job of building the
terror so that it infects the audience safe in their cushy theatre seats. You're literally racing
with Rachel and Noah as they rush to uncover the story behind the tape before the clock
winds down, and that's a nod to the skill Watts and Henderson display bringing these
characters to life.

It's about time moviegoers had a film with a good 'scream' factor. This film delivers the
scares in such shocking ways shrieks are bound to escape from a good portion of the
audience.

Overall Grade: B+

From this review I can learn that what make a thriller are not small scary moments that
cause the reader to jump, but the actual plot. I have to make the plot of my thriller movie a
good one and also a believable one as this reviewer states that the distresses “linger with
you long after the movie is over”. This suggests that the movie is relevant and is realistic
enough to make the viewer believe that the goings on in the movie could indeed happen to
them in their everyday life.

Budget:

The Ring (2002) is a Dreamworks backed remake of the terrifying Japanese genre classic. Based on the novel
by Kôji Suzuki and subsequent movie by Hideo Nakata, this US version features a production budget 44 times
that of the Japanese original! Starring Naomi Watts and Martin Henderson, this film made a handsome $129m in
the US and a further $120m at the worldwide box office in 2002. Not only did this ensure that a full trilogy would
be released, but it also led to a rather undignified Hollywood scramble to snap up the rights to similar Japanese
horror classics such as The Grudge, Dark Water and The Eye.

CASTING:
Naomi Watts ... Rachel

Martin Henderson ... Noah

David Dorfman ... Aidan

Brian Cox ... Richard Morgan

Jane Alexander ... Dr. Grasnik

Lindsay Frost ... Ruth

Amber Tamblyn ... Katie

Rachael Bella ... Becca

Daveigh Chase ... Samara

Shannon Cochran ... Anna Morgan

Sandra Thigpen ... Teacher

Richard Lineback ... Innkeeper

Sasha Barrese ... Girl Teen #1

 Tess Hall ... Girl Teen #2

Adam Brody ... Male Teen #1

All of which are a good looking, young, cast whereby appeal to the younger teenage
generation is inevitable. The protagonists of the film are a man and woman of 20-30 years if
age. This applies the movie to both males and females. They are a couple which also appeals
to the younger target audience because teenagers have a particular interest in the
exploration of the opposite sex. I have decided to change from having an all-male cast to
changing to a mostly male cast however with one female of which will be intimately
involved with the protagonist in my movie. This will add more tension to the movie as it will
not only be the main character (the boy) overcoming obstacles but also the girl together
with him as they will come across obstacles as a couple with which they have to surpass. It
will engage the target audience and maybe even widen it to an elder age range as adults are
attracted to films with potential for intimacy such as “The Ring”.