Similar Films

The Ring

 

 

Storyline

The Ring centres around a cursed videotape of dark, disturbing images. All witnesses of the tape are killed in horrific and odd circumstances exactly a week afterwards. An investigative journalist investigates the curse which murdered her niece but it is much more than originally seems.

Characters

The main characters consist of an investigative journalist and main protagonist called Rachel and a creepy and mysterious orphan ghost-girl called Samara. Rachel is a strong, intelligent, female character who investigates the curse and eventually saves the day. This consequently makes her a representation of the common "final girl" cliché used within horror films where a female character is the last to die or overcome the situation by outsmarting the enemy. She wears little or no make-up and dresses very casually throughout her time on-screen. Her behaviour is quite stereotypically masculine as she knows how to fend for herself and is very motivated and determined. Samara has a very haunting presence. Her hair is long, dark hair covers her face to conceal her facial expressions and sense of identity. Samara rarely talks during the film so therefore the audience does not know a considerable amount of information about her feelings, decreasing her sense of humanity. As she is just a child, Samara should be seen as innocent and lovely but her actions contradict this entirely.

 

Misé-en-scene/Cinematography

 

The misé-en-scene is very black and dark throughout the film. The colour palette does not include bright colours such as yellow or pink but rather blues, greys and black. However, it is very similar to a real life situation as the characters and settings are relatively normal and not fantasy-like. This makes the film a lot spookier for the audience as it appears that the situation could happen to anyone. The costumes of the main, human characters are relatively casual with usually jeans and jackets. This makes contributes to the illusion that the characters are ordinary people. Nonetheless Samara's costume is a long white nightgown isn't a casual outfit, maintaining the fact that she is not a normal character. Samara's make-up is very pale to give her an appearance which looks drained and spooky in comparison with Rachel's natural facial make-up with a tanned complexion. In one particular scene where a close up of Samara's face, she has is covered in bruises and has large under eye circles to make her look exceptionally haggard. Make-up is also used for special effect especially when the audience sees the odd, distorted faces of Samara's victims.

Response
The Ring was a high success with critics as well as with audiences. It made almost $250 million in box office takings alone. Rotten Tomatoes, the film review website, gave the film a very favourable score of 71% of 180 reviews.


 

The Shining

 

Storyline

The Shining centres around a man, his son and wife who become the caretakers of a secluded hotel. The son sees disturbing visions and hallucinations of the hotel's past using "The Shining". The father begins unsuccessfully writing a novel when he slowly becomes insane as a result of cabin fever and former guests of the hotel's ghosts.

 Characters

The main characters consist of a struggling, alcoholic novelist called Jack and his son Danny. Jack's character seems relatively normal to begin with however it becomes more sinister as the film continues. He is an extremely sympathetic character who toils with his short temper and alcoholism. Jack's facial expressions and behaviour portray as he slowly descends into insanity and the look in his eyes completely changes as the demons of the hotel take over. Danny is the son of Jack and Wendy (Jack's wife). He seems like the perfect child as he is intelligent, well behaved and loving. However, he can read minds and his behaviour sometimes becomes very odd as a result.  

 Misé-en-scene/Cinematography

The misé-en-scene differs from The Ring as it does not have a particularly have a dark filter throughout. A lot of the scary scenes have a relatively bright colour palate including the scene with the twin girls. However, the colour palate includes more eerie colours such as blue and black in tense moments near the conclusion of the film like the axe scene. Kubrick places a lot of small significant props within the film such as teddy bears and uses slightly canted camera angles to enhance the ideas that something is not quite right. The costumes are very much like The Ring in the sense that what the characters wear are normal everyday clothing to make it appear as the family are completely normal. Also, the facial make up of main characters is normal and minimal but in certain scenes make up such as blood and bodily cuts are highly used for a gruesome, gory effect. Also, the setting and items placed within the certain family rooms are particularly normal for a family home maintaining the normality within scenes create scariness as it seems the situation could happen to anyone in the target audience. These items include small household items such as books and washing baskets. The hotel rooms and corridors are a little more peculiar as they hold a less personal touch though they are relatively contemporary and typical for hotels of the time.

 

Response
 

The Shining has become a classic horror film however it had a slow success at the box office, taking around $45million. Newer generations of audiences have appreciated the film more than previous. Rotten Tomatoes awarded the movie a score of 92%.