Watch it, and die.

That’s the basic premise behind this horror thriller, one of the few scary movies out there that carries a PG-13 rating.

See, there’s this videotape, and anyone who watches it gets a phone call as soon as they’re done. A voice says, “You have seven days.” And seven days later, you’re deader than David Caruso’s movie career.

So what’s behind these weird deaths? To find out, the mother of a teenager who apparently watched the tape (along with several other ill-fated friends) asks her sister Rachel (Naomi Watts), a newspaper reporter, to look into the matter. Rachel has a little boy named Aidan (David Dorfman, looking a lot like a Culkin brother), who was close to the suddenly deceased teen.

Rachel’s travails take her to the stereotypical isolated cabin, where the group of teens stayed, and she discovers the tape. And watches it, of course, as I’m sure we all would. Does she also have seven days? Will she die of fright? And what of her cherubic, quiet son? And how about the neo-hippie, Bohemian ex-lover Noah, whose expertise in video production she needs?

Rachel and Noah – who also watches the tape, against Rachel’s wishes – find out more and more about the tape’s origins and especially about the various specific images on the tape. You see, anyone who has taken a film class in college has seen student or arthouse film shorts that are steeped in abstract art. The images on the tape, very evocative and eerily mesmerizing, are all tied in together somehow – but how?

What begins as an investigation of a seemingly harmless urban legend spawns a hysterical, desperate search for survival. It’d be one thing if Rachel had just been able to find out who was behind the tape – you know, a kind of “I would have gotten away with it too, if it weren’t for that snooping reporter” thing – without actually watching the tape. But she HAS to watch it, and we have to watch along with her. There are some truly disturbing moments on the tape, and there were plenty of people shuddering in the movie theater.

The main problem with the movie is that it never makes one think it’s real.Sure, movies aren’t documentaries, but a movie is much more enjoyable when the audience really feels as if they’re in the movie, or at least feels as if the movie could be happening. But The Ring doesn’t quite hook its audience; instead, it feels disconnected, as if – surprise! – you’re watching a movie.

This is not to say that the characters are not endearing or well-developed, because they are. Rachel is an excellent heroine – she’s very smart, can think on her own, she’s inventive, curious, creative, and adventurous. (She’s also gorgeous, but that aspect isn’t played up at all, refreshingly.) And Aidan is a wonderful multilayered character – like many things in the movie, Aidan is not always what we see. Is he a just a quiet, smart kid? Does he know about The Ring?

Director Gore Verbinski does a great job in setting the mood; what Rachel feels, we do, although we still realize that what’s happening is happening on screen only. There’s excellent atmosphere, including a creepy scene with a little girl in an insane asylum; it’s all very lurid. Watching Rachel piece the mystery together, while racing the clock, is fascinating – but again, it’s like watching runners in a marathon on TV. You can see them sweat, and you can see them gasp, but you can’t feel the pain they’re going through, either physically or mentally.

The pacing of the movie is also above average – truly suspenseful moments are drawn out, and the real terror isn’t seen, but imagined. As with The Sixth Sense, the act of building tension in a scene can really make or break a horror/suspense movie. Lesser films show you everything, and that’s why they’re lesser films.

So what’s the bottom line? Is this a movie worth watching? Yes, it is. It’s not the full-blown horror classic it wants to be, but it doesn’t miss the mark by much. And the scenes on the infamous videotape have to be seen to be believed.

It is a movie that’ll haunt you for a few days or weeks? Probably not. It has a lot of evocative images, and it’s well acted, but it lacks a heart.

The Ring: ***