Robert Ring

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Contributing Writer
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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: The Descent (2005)

Descent poster
Submitted by Robert Ring on Fri, 2012-05-04 13:28

The Descent could be seen as a textbook guide to instilling horror in viewers. However, to view this film in such a way would be to consider it a mere genre exercise when instead it is a jarring metaphor for the pain of exploring our darkest thoughts. The horror here, which is accomplished as perfectly as it likely could have been, does not exist solely to frighten but to evoke the terror of such a journey into the subconscious. Specifically, the film follows one character's descent into an unexplored cave system, which almost inherently becomes a metaphorical descent into the unexplored recesses of her own mind. The Descent is merciless, but more importantly, it never falters from its attempt to tell the story of a character's confrontation of the hidden aspects of her psychology. (read more...)

Review: The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)

Texas Chain Saw Massacre poster
Submitted by Robert Ring on Sat, 2010-10-30 22:44

Texas Chainsaw Massacre Month. I was a late bloomer in my appreciation of horror cinema. Aside from sporadic outings to see mass-market horror films, I did not discover the true joys of the genre until I was in college. As I journeyed through classics like Alien, Halloween, and Rosemary's Baby, I was occasionally frightened or unsettled in various ways, but it was all enjoyable horror, the kind that can be intense but that ultimately leaves the psyche unscarred. Then I saw The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. As I watched this film, a deep-seated, almost unidentifiable anxiety began to build within me from the opening scenes - scenes which contain very little horror. Then, as I watched the characters experience physical and psychological torment later in the film, that building anxiety exploded into outright dismay. I was so disturbed by this movie that it would be six years before I watched it again, and even then it retained a potent effect. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is not so much creative in its approach to instilling horror as it is merciless, breaking down viewers' defenses before hitting them on all sides with unimaginable terror. This is one of the most horrifying films ever made.(read more...)

Review: Spirits of the Dead (1968)

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

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

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

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...)

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