SAM’S TAKE: The much-hyped “Rings” falls short

In the 13 years since “The Ring” was released, horror movies have changed dramatically. Instead of relying on high studio budgets and recognizable franchise names, horror films rely on cheap budgets and terrifying concepts. If “Rings” is evident of anything, it’s that Hollywood hasn’t caught up. The third film in the series, released after years of development hell, is a mess of cliches and wasted potential.

The plot of “Rings” is difficult to describe, but to summarize it’s basically a bunch of stolen nonsense. The film starts as an interesting take on the Ring concept, following a couple who are roped into an experiment to understand how the tape works. Yet, 20 minutes in it becomes a retread of the first film’s investigation plotline with a dash of last year’s “Don’t Breath” to add some spice to the third act.

While the experiment angle is an interesting concept, it’s ultimately dropped, just like many other plotlines within the film. This is reflective of the quality of writing, which is bland at best and laughable at worst. To add insult to injury, the actors are stiff and lifeless, making the dialogue all the more unbearable.

The film also lacks decent scares; instead of creating a sense of unnerving dread, the filmmakers opt for cheap, ineffective jump scares. The camerawork is also uninspired, feeling like a straight-to-dvd production, destroying any tension or horror the film could have had.

The worst part about “Rings” is how uneventful it is, the film never aspires to be anything noteworthy. Nothing is ever done well, yet it’s never terrible enough to be entertaining, it simply meanders in mediocrity for an hour and a half.

This is truly a shame since there is potential to revamp the Ring concept for the modern day. While the film lightly touches on this, it instead decides to retread ideas not only from the Ring franchise, but also from recent horror films.

Instead of taking any risks, “Rings” is a forgettable experience that is a waste of anyone’s time. Never good enough to be interesting, and never bad enough to be entertaining, it’s a movie I’m not sure I’ll remember by the end of the week.

Rating: Avoid like the Ring tape itself, just don’t try to spread it to stay alive.