Horror virgin, Gore Verbinski (Mousehunt, The Mexican), resurrects a Japanese cult movie and gives it the Hollywood makeover in this Blair Witchesque scream fest.

In predictable teen movie fashion, it centres around an urban myth about a bizarre video which kills anyone who watches it. When it ends, you get a phone call telling you that you have seven days left to live.

One of the victims has a journalist aunt, Rachel Kellar (Naomi Watts), who investigates her niece's mysterious death, and ends up watching the video herself. She is pulled into an eerie world of frightening flashbacks and disturbing occurrences which she can't seem to escape from until she knows the truth.

The idea itself is an original mix of both art house and studio picture, but draws on the images and concepts of Horror classics gone by to send a chill to the bone. It also features the debut of hauntingly captivating David Dorfman (Aidan Keller), who displays the same intenseness of Haley Joel Osmund in the Sixth Sense, and the foreboding stone well, a la Silence of the Lambs.

The result is an almost clinical finish, with little character development and a confusing, yet unexpected ending.

The Ring may not be a hit with hard core horror fans, due to the lack of a superhuman masked killing machine, or a chainsaw. But the meaning is much more psychological and perplexing than that. The jumpy shots, ear cringing soundtrack and slow unravelling of the plot will have you jumping when your phone rings for days.

Haili-Leanne McHugh

The Ring (15)Gore Verbinski, 2002, USA (115MINS) Naomi Watts, Martin Henderson, David Dorfman, Brian Cox. General release, from 21 Feb.