I never thought I’d be defending a big Hollywood film, from DreamWorks no less, but I felt that Rosenbaum’s review of The Ring [October 18] exemplifies why a lot of readers dislike the provocateur critic. First off, let me say that I found the story silly, yet I found the imagery in the film as haunting and disturbing as any in the history of horror film, and some of its images rank alongside Bela Lugosi’s hand opening his coffin in Dracula and the shadow of Nosferatu creeping up the stairs in the silent classic. It is the imagery that captures the imagination of nightmares and childhood fears of monsters in the closet. But of course that is what Mr. Rosenbaum finds weak in the film. He calls the film “moodless.” Of course in his eyes, what does the audience know about mood and effective imagery? We wouldn’t know an arresting image from a painting of dogs playing poker. He’s a scholar. We’re idiots.
