The Ring (2002) |
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General | Extras | ||
Category | Horror |
Main Menu Audio & Animation Scene Selection Anim & Audio Featurette-Don't Watch This Featurette-Look Here Easter Egg |
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Rating | |||
Year Of Production | 2002 | ||
Running Time | 110:33 (Case: 109) | ||
RSDL / Flipper | RSDL (57:16) | Cast & Crew | |
Start Up | Language Select Then Menu | ||
Region Coding | 2,4 | Directed By | Gore Verbinski |
Studio
Distributor |
Universal Pictures Home Video |
Starring |
Naomi Watts Martin Henderson David Dorfman Richard Lineback Daveigh Chase Jane Alexander Brian Cox |
Case | ? | ||
RPI | $34.95 | Music | Hans Zimmer |
Video | Audio | ||
Pan & Scan/Full Frame | None |
English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) French Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s) German Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s) |
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Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 1.78:1 | ||
16x9 Enhancement |
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Video Format | 576i (PAL) | ||
Original Aspect Ratio | 1.85:1 | Miscellaneous | |
Jacket Pictures | No | ||
Subtitles |
English French German Dutch Bulgarian Arabic French Titling German Titling |
Smoking | Yes |
Annoying Product Placement | No | ||
Action In or After Credits | No |
If you are reading this review, thinking that it is something to do with Lord of the Rings, then I recommend that you stop reading now. Press Back on your browser. Get out, while you still can.
Have you had a check-up recently? Heart nice and strong? No irregular pulse, or heart murmur?
This is, simply put, the most effective horror film I have ever seen. I have no intention of outlining the plot to you, because I want you to be as scared as I was. Make sure you watch it by yourself late at night, preferably when it's raining, in a cold blacked-out room lit only by the sepulchral glow of the TV. But make sure you have a current will first...
This DVD is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, 16x9 enhanced. The intended ratio was 1.85:1, so this is very close. There are no obvious framing errors.
The image is exquisitely clear, and quite sharp throughout. Shadow detail is limited, but this looks to be a deliberate choice. There is no accidental low-level noise or film grain.
Colour has been manipulated in some way. I don't know how it has been done, but most of the colour has been leached from the image, yet the individual colours look fairly faithful. It is quite effective in adding to the atmosphere. There are no colour-related artefacts.
There are no accidental film artefacts, and no noise in the image that isn't deliberate. There is aliasing (see 6:07 for the only heavy example). There's no moire, and no MPEG artefacts.
There are subtitles in six languages, but I only checked the English subtitles — they are adequately accurate, well-timed, and easy to read, although sometimes they subtitled something that was very quiet before I could hear it.
The disc is single-sided and dual layered. The layer change comes at 57:16, at a cut. If you know where it is, you can discern it, but it is not too obvious.
Sharpness | |
Shadow Detail | |
Colour | |
Grain/Pixelization | |
Film-To-Video Artefacts | |
Film Artefacts | |
Overall |
The soundtrack is provided in English, French and German. All of them are Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtracks, and that is a very good thing. This film uses sound to help scare you to death.
The dialogue is clear and comprehensible. There are no obvious audio sync problems.
Hans Zimmer's score is another contributor to scaring the daylights out of you, and it is very effective at achieving this task.
The surrounds are quiet during the periods when the director is sneaking up behind you, then they burst into life as part of the exercise in seeing how much they can scare you. Without 5.1 sound this film loses a lot. The subwoofer is barely called upon until about 15 minutes in, at which point it rumbles to life, and spends most of the rest of the film increasing tension with rumbles and other ominous noises.
Dialogue | |
Audio Sync | |
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts | |
Surround Channel Use | |
Subwoofer | |
Overall |
The menu is animated with backing sound. It's well-themed to the movie.
This appears to be (there is nothing to identify it) a reel of deleted or extended scenes.
This is a well-made trailer for Catch Me If You Can.
This disc contains the same Easter Egg as the R1. To see it: (SPOILER ALERT: highlight with mouse to read) on the main menu, press Right, Down, Down, and the cursor will disappear. Press Enter and a hidden video segment will play. It looks strangely familiar, once you've seen the movie.
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
In Region 1 this film is available in both wide-screen and full-screen (reportedly pan-and-scan) versions. The Region 1 wide-screen version is quite similar to this one, but with the addition of a dts soundtrack, and no German. Although a dts soundtrack might be nice, this Dolby Digital soundtrack does a marvellous job of scaring the daylights out of the viewer.
The Ring is a superb horror movie, given a beautiful transfer to DVD.
The video quality is extremely good.
The audio quality is excellent.
The extras are limited, but they add to the ambience.
Video | |
Audio | |
Extras | |
Plot | |
Overall |
Review Equipment | |
DVD | Pioneer DV-S733A, using Component output |
Display | Sony VPH-G70 CRT Projector, QuadScan Elite scaler (Tripler), ScreenTechnics 110. Calibrated with Video Essentials. This display device is 16x9 capable. |
Audio Decoder | Built in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Video Essentials. |
Amplification | Denon AVC-A1SE |
Speakers | Front Left, Centre, Right: Krix Euphonix; Rears: Krix KDX-M; Subwoofer: Krix Seismix 5 |