Receiving the news of only having a certain amount of time to live usually results from a fatal disease. However, the film Rings gives a pitiful attempt at delivering the crippling news through incorporating a modern twist. The inevitable arrival of death presented in the film gets its origin from a haunted video that continually takes the lives of unlucky viewers within seven days.

Julia, a girl whose sappy love for her boyfriend proves disturbingly unhealthy, portrays the role of a martyr in the film as she “graciously” sacrifices her life for her boyfriend, Holt, who is intrigued by the urban legend.

Director F. Javier Gutiérrez makes numerous pathetic unrealistic attempts at producing fear by having electronics bleed, and characters cough up hairballs like an aging cat. It also features clichéd repetition as marks from the “other side” appear on Julia’s body mysteriously, and possessed little girls hide their faces and contort their bodies in a demonic way.

Overall, Rings left the impression of laughter and mockery instead of anxiety and fright. Viewers found themselves constantly checking their phones, as the plot line of seven days seemed to feel more like seven years.