Dreamworks PicturesOne of the absolute most important things about a great horror movie is how effective it is at visualizing the source of its horror. Whether it’s something as tangible as a slasher with an iconic costume or something more incorporeal and supernatural like a ghost or a cosmic entity, cinema is ultimately a visual art form; an interesting premise is all well and good, but figuring out how to make that premise visually striking and terrifyingly memorable is more than half the battle.The first time I ever saw The Ring, Gore Verbinski’s 2002 remake of the Japanese film Ring, I was seven years old watching a cable airing in 2005, the same year its sequel was set to release. My grandmother had fallen asleep with the TV on in the background and my curiosity inevitably emerged victorious over my creeping dread throughout the opening — through covered eyes I watched the entire thing, and for years two things from the film were burned into my mind: the chilling and incoherent images from the central VHS tape, and the haunting look of Samara Morgan, the movie’s forever iconic ghost girl. Daveigh Chase played the role when she was just 11, and although she recently passed on June 16 at only 35 years old, her presence can be felt all over multiple classic films of the early 2000s like A.I., Spirited Away, Lilo and Stitch, as well as the one that terrified a generation.Chase’s casting was a pretty massive departure from the original film and the book it was based on: each version of the story is caused by the murder of a girl with latent psychic abilities, whose pain and anguish and rage eventually manifests in the form of a cursed video tape. Samara’s original Japanese counterpart Sadako was 19 when she was pushed down the well that became her tomb, where she inexplicably lived for another 30 years before dying prior to the events of the movie. In contrast, Samara is just 8 years old when she meets her end at the hands of her parents in the American movie, driven to their wits’ end by her volatile telekinetic powers; it’s a change that has the obvious effect of making her story feel all the more tragic.And after all, Samara’s story is tragic, right? Chase’s performance makes it so easy for you to empathize with her, even though you only see her a handful of times before her trauma warps her into something malevolent and vengeful. When you first see the footage of her interview from Eola Psychiatric Hospital where she was held and studied, you can’t help but see a betrayed, sad little girl in front of you. Sure the way her jet black hair falls down her face is a little unnerving, and yes, she can’t help but bring mental anguish to everyone who comes into contact with her, but every time we see Samara as human, Chase reminds you that she was a child who was rejected by two people who promised to protect her.Despitely only showing up as human a few times on-screen, Chase makes a real impression. | Dreamworks PicturesBut outside of those heart-string tugging flashbacks, Samara is the stuff that nightmares are made of. The sopping wet white dress, the oily hair perpetually obscuring her face, her slightly bloated, discolored skin — everything about her appearance is a reminder of what she endured in that well, and in that regard it’s almost too easy to think of her as a righteous villain, someone merely seeking retribution for her trauma. And as good as that sounds, it’s not entirely the truth. Part of what gives The Ring its staying power all these years later is the complexity of that final reveal, how eagerly it preys on your (understandable) preconceived notions of a child’s innocence; Samara might have always been cruel and sadistic, and in no world does it justify what was done to her but it is shocking and unexpected enough to leave you thinking about it after the credits roll.She might not be Freddy Krueger or Michael Myers, but Samara’s horror bonafides are well established; The Ring and Daveigh Chase’s performance ended up winning her the 2003 MTV Movie Award for Best Movie Villain, led to a surge of J-horror remakes in America, and became such an iconic antagonist that she was parodied in Scary Movie 3, years later. There's absolutely no way The Ring would have been the success it was without the visual power of its key elements — as skin-crawling as the video tape is itself, it would be incomplete without Daveigh Chase’s Samara, crawling out of the television set and into the pantheon of horror movie icons.The Ring is available to rent on Prime Video and other digital platforms.