*Note: I obviously know that The Ring is based off of Ringu, but since there are plenty of notable differences between Samara and Sadako, I am ignoring that for this post.*
Little girls have typically been described at “sugar and spice and everything nice”. Overall, they are usually pretty nonthreatening, although, every once in a while, little girl villains (LGV) (who are actually little girls…I’m looking at you, Orphan) come up who are actually interesting and scary. Two little girls who embody what it is needed to be considered a viable threat (though in two different ways, as well as with varying degrees of scariness) are Alessa from the Silent Hill movie and Samara from The Ring.
Silent Hill: Alessa as a created evil
In Silent Hill, Alessa is bullied at school, hated by the town, and molested by the school janitor. The only support she has is her mother, who isn’t exactly the paradigm of strength. After the townspeople, led by her aunt, try to burn her alive in an attempt to eradicate sin, she gives into the darkness and becomes evil. It is important, however, to realize that she isn’t 100% evil, as she helps Rose get to Sharon (although one could argue that Alessa did that for her own good) and she protects Dahlia in the day to day life in limbo, since none of the monsters that torment the townspeople bother Dahlia. One scene that is interesting to look at when talking about Alessa protecting Dahlia is Anna’s death.
Anna stands on the church steps, pelting Dahlia with rocks, until Red Pyramid (aka Pyramid Head) comes and tears her skin off. Her death is extremely brutal and could be Alessa’s reaction of getting revenge for her abuse of Dahlia. It’s probably the most brutal death we’ve seen in the movie up to that point (and then the ending comes and blows it away). What if Anna’s death is especially brutal (when RP could have just stabbed her) because she was being mean to Dahlia?
“Mother is God in the eyes of a child”.
I think there’s a lot of ways you could look at Anna’s death (RP is just a really cruel monster, death done simply for effect, etc.), but I think that keeping Alessa’s love for her mother in mind, it’s interesting to think about.
The biggest question regarding Alessa’s level of evil is: who exactly merges with Sharon at the end? The dark part of Alessa is supposed to be read as a demonic force that has taken on her characteristics. Thus, it has dual identities. If it is the Alessa part that merges, it would seem that Alessa is either too far gone into evil to be good, or she is looking for a second childhood with a caring mother and a safe space. If it is only the demonic force that merged with Sharon, then we have a better idea of the mindset of Alessa.
The Ring: Samara as a pure evil
In contrast to Alessa’s questions of morality and descent, Samara from The Ring is a straightforward villain. Samara just seems to be pure evil. While there are glimpses of the little girl side, such as when she asks to see Anna during her institutional interview, the interview ends with her responding to the question “You don’t want to hurt anyone, do you?” with “But I do and I’m sorry. It won’t stop.”
Ultimately, what makes Samara so much scarier than Alessa (besides the fact that Samara is explicitly doing things to the characters whereas Alessa’s direct involvement isn’t revealed until the end), in my opinion, is that there is no cheating the system. She expects you to watch the tape, make a copy, and spread it to someone else. She doesn’t care that you found her bones in the bottom of the well, she doesn’t care if you scream and cry, regardless of who you are and what you do, there is only one way to “win”. Alessa wanting revenge and using Rose to get that shows human emotion, even if it’s negative. Samara’s relentless drive is void of emotion and any humanity, making her uncanny (which is also shown through the actual video and the x-ray images that she produces).
Another component is the lack of real origin story given. Just that the Morgans left, and when they came back, they had a child. The unknown is supposedly always scarier; this works perfectly to Samara’s advantage. She could literally be the product of anything, and the uncertainty is terrifying.
In the end…
While Samara is scarier than Alessa, I wouldn’t necessarily say that Alessa is an ineffective villain. The idea that she is in charge of, and has created all the monsters in that world is scary. And while her body seems to physically age, I think it’s not too big a stretch to say that her mind is still very much like a child’s. The realization at the end of SH that Rose and “Sharon” are still in this limbo state reinforces her as a “villain” (even if she only became one due to circumstances around her), especially if we run with the idea that “Sharon” has merged with what truly is a part of Alessa, and not just the pure demonic force.
Samara has feelings of the uncanny working for her, as well as a real dis-attachment to human emotion. Also, the idea of our entertainment killing us is one that many people find frightening. There can’t be too many debates about the humanity of Samara (although there can always be some); she lays out the rules and then waits to see which of the 2 outcomes happen.
In the end, both characters are good uses of LGV, and both are effective in their own way. One shows how pain can be created by others, allowing the villain to double as a victim, while the other just uses pure, uncomplicated evil to scare us.
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