The whole mess that surrounds the videotape itself is another gaping hole in the puzzle. What is the meaning behind it? How did a video tape that has been sitting on a shelf in an out-of-the-way resort ever become an urban legend in the first place? There are also all those less obvious, but just as disturbing, questions that seem to totally discredit some of the characters. If Mrs. Morgan wanted a child so badly, then why did she kill her so brutally? Why, after putting up with years of ongoing torment from his ghostly daughter, does Mr. Morgan decide not to help Rachael (the heroine of the movie) and instead kill himself? Why does Rachael completely dismiss the clearly disturbing pictures Aidan drew when his teacher shows them to her? All these and so many more questions come flying out of every twist and turn the film takes. The movie is absolutely unable to tie up its creepy ideas with any level of reasoning and leaves the viewers with so many logistical questions that they immediately forget about the number of times the movie made them flinch and dig their nails into their chair. William Arnold, P-I movie critic, writes, "the film never makes the kind of narrative sense that even a ghost story requires, and it leaves the viewer slightly let down and scrambling to put all its disparate pieces together- (5). The Ring should come with a warning: Watch your step! Gaping plot holes ahead!.
A superior suspense-ghost story should have a reliable story line that continuously entice and stimulates its audience. The premise of The Ring is one of the best in recent months (a supernatural video tape, the contents of which are lethal to anyone who watches it) and the tagline ("Before you die, you see the ring.") is so intriguing viewers cannot resist the urge to want to watch it, but its lack of constantly escalating intensity and suspense cripples any chance it has at becoming a classic suspense-ghost story.
