Robert Ring

Robert Ring's picture
Staff Writer

Robert Ring was born in Memphis, Tennessee. He now lives somewhere else with his wife and daughter and runs The Sci-Fi Block, a science fiction film review site.

Robert is a lover of literature in all mediums but is particularly interested in film and poetry. He was a late bloomer into the world of horror, beginning with his renting of Night of the Living Dead on a whim in college, but nevertheless has acquired a solid knowledge and understanding of horror on a broad scope. When asked what his favorite movie is, his first response is usually prolonged verbal indecision, followed by the mentioning of Night of the Living Dead, 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Royal Tenenbaums, and Jules and Jim in no particular order, and finally a rambling which can involve almost anything, at which point the interrogator usually tries to lead the conversation elsewhere.

In a nutshell, Robert appreciates most the movies that take wild risks. Even if the risk doesn't quite work, to him the effort is commendable. Perhaps that explains his attraction to horror and science fiction.

Robert can be contacted via his website (see above).

Posts by Robert Ring

Review: Spirits of the Dead (1968)

Spirits of the Dead
Submitted by Robert Ring on Tue, 2009-10-27 00:52
Shocktober Classics 2009: Staff Screams

If you're familiar with the works of Edgar Allan Poe, you know that amongst his most prominent themes is that of the past's ability to terrorize you. The three loosely adapted Poe stories in Spirits of the Dead - "Metzengerstein," "William Wilson," and "Never Bet the Devil your Head" - are about exactly that. Though they are each helmed by a different director, the continuity and quality that flow through them are perfectly consistent, creating an experience that is well-told, layered, and haunting. (read more...)

Review: The Old Dark House (1932)

The Old Dark House 1932 poster
Submitted by Robert Ring on Tue, 2009-10-20 10:38
Shocktober Classics 2009: Staff Screams

In the horror genre, when a house stands out as a primary component, it is often going to be haunted.  In The Old Dark House, however, director James Whale uses a house in a different, more rewarding way: as a metaphor for the psyche.  Things like seldom-visited rooms, locked closets, and at-odds inhabitants provide rich ground for such use. The fact that these elements succeed in achieving a level creepiness on par with that of your average haunted house film says something rather unsettling about the way our heads work.  The Old Dark House is a house-as-head movie that examines repression, fear, and the role of the new, constructed with the adeptness one would expect from the great James Whale.(read more...)

Review: The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953)

Beast from 20,000 Fathoms poster
Submitted by Robert Ring on Thu, 2009-10-15 02:00
Shocktober Classics 2009: Staff Screams

You know those guys that make videos and fake movie trailers out of bits and pieces of other movies?  I wish someone would do that with the films Ray Harryhausen has worked on.  Here is a guy so good at visual effects that most of the directors he worked for counted on him alone to carry the team to victory.  If you took the best parts of the movies he worked on and spliced them together in some sort of coherent way, you would get a really cool video.  If we're going to sit our butts down for a film-length runtime, though (even one as short as those of the 1950s), there has to be more to it than special effects, no matter how good the monster looks. The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms yet again proves that there are limits even to what a visual effects master like Harryhausen can do for a movie.(read more...)

Review: The Beyond (1981)

The Beyond poster
Submitted by Robert Ring on Fri, 2009-10-09 01:01
Shocktober Classics 2009: Staff Screams

The Beyond can be difficult for people to "get," often feeling like a linear narrative that is thrown together without any sense of "how" or "why," but in reality the events' lack of logic is exactly what makes them horrifying. Combine this purposeful lack of logic with deceptively adept pacing, and you have a true horror masterpiece.(read more...)

Review: The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake (1959)

Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake poster
Submitted by Robert Ring on Tue, 2009-03-10 09:39
Reader's Choice

This is the hardest type of movie to write about: one that has no particularly good or bad aspects.  The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake is simply there.  The only bad thing about it is it doesn't do what it aims at particularly well.  The only good thing about it is it has some elements that may have been frightening when the film was first released but that are not anymore.  If you're on a mission to see every horror film there is, watch it.  If you aim to watch only good movies and ones that are enjoyable awful, skip it.  It treads the middle path of monotony.
(read more...)

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