History Film / RingOfTerror

* AcceptableTargets: Fat people (InUniverse, and presumably out as well); Tiny and Rag Doll, despite being part of the group of friends, are actually a target of the others' laughter, and it's never clear if the others are laughing with them or at them.

* OverlyLongGag: see AcceptableTargets.

* AbusiveParents: Moffett's family certainly sounded like one. When he has a heart-to-heart with his friend about his childhood fear of corpses in the dark... he describes how he was scared to sleep with his diseased grandfather in the house. His mother, rather than try to comfort him when he started crying, just barked at him to shut up or his dead granddad would wake up as a zombie and spank him.

->''I Feared Not''\\
--Epitaph of Lewis Moffett

A 1962 "Horror"/"Suspense" movie, about the [[ScareEmStraight dangers of college fraternity hazing rituals]], which is pretty much notable only for its appearance on ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' (along with an episode of the FilmSerial ''Film/ThePhantomCreeps'').

* StuffedIntoTheFridge: A rare male, non-romantic variant. An acquaintance of Lewis is killed in an off-screen car accident; when Lewis and his buddy attend the visitation (they alone), a stray breeze blows out the candles, revealing Lewis' fear of the dark. As [[Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000 Crow T. Robot]] points out, it seems the only reason this "character" existed was to die, for the sole purpose of establishing Lewis' phobia; the facts that this character never even appears on camera and that he was horribly mangled in a car wreck ("He must have been going over a hundred miles an hour!") adds a [[DroppedABridgeOnHim disturbingly mean vibe]] to it.

* DawsonCasting: Exaggerated with the "22"-year-old Lewis; actor George Mather was twice that age. The other students don't look to be much younger themselves.
--> '''Servo''': Son, can you get that-? Oh, right. I'm a ''college student''.

* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep / EmbarrassingNickname: The overweight guy is called Tiny which is only mildly embarrassing, but the overweight woman is called Rag Doll for some unknown but cringe-worthy reason. Their real names are never mentioned.
* FramingDevice: The creepy caretaker.

* StuffedIntoTheFridge: A rare male, non-romantic variant. An acquaintance of Lewis is killed in a car accident; when Lewis and his buddy attend the visitation (they alone), a stray breeze blows out the candles, revealing Lewis' fear of the dark. As [[Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000 Crow T. Robot]] points out, it seems the only reason this "character" existed was to die, and that only to establish Lewis' phobia; being horribly mangled in a car wreck ("He must have been going over a hundred miles an hour!") adds a [[DroppedABridgeOnHim disturbingly mean vibe]] to it.

* StuffedIntoTheFridge: A rare male, non-romantic variant. An acquaintance of Lewis is killed in a car accident; when Lewis and his buddy attend the visitation (they alone), a stray breeze blows out the candles, revealing Lewis' fear of the dark. As [[Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000 Crow T. Robot]] points out, it seems the only reason this "character" existed was to die, and that only to establish Lewis' phobia; being horribly mangled in a car wreck ("He must have been going over a hundred miles an hour!") adds a [[DroppedABridgeOnHim disturbingly mean vibe]] to it.

* AcceptableTargets: Fat people. InUniverse, and presumably out as well.
* CatScare: Subverted, in that it's the cat scare that actually does Lewis in.
** Played straight with a tree branch.

* EmbarrassingNickname: The overweight guy is called Tiny which is only mildly embarrassing but the overweight woman is called Rag Doll for some unknown but cringe worthy reason. Their real names are never mentioned.

* SatelliteLoveInterest: Pretty much all of them, but Lewis' girlfriend stands out (mainly because she's given the most attention in the film).
* VomitDiscretionShot: Plenty of 'em during the autopsy.
** Gypsy has one during the [[Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000 MST3K]] autopsy segment.
* [[DawsonCasting ..."Youth"]] [[YouthIsWastedOnTheDumb Is Wasted On The Dumb]]: [[ScareEmStraight College hazing]] [[AndThatsTerrible is bad]].

A 1962 "Horror"/"Suspense" movie, about the [[ScareEmStraight dangers of college fraternity hazing rituals]], which is pretty much notable only for its appearance on ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' (along with an episode of the FilmSerial ''ThePhantomCreeps'').

[[caption-width-right:320:And [[TheRing seven days after seeing it, you will die]].]]

* EmbarrassingNickname: The overweight guy is called Tiny which is only mildly embarrassing but the overweight woman is called Rag Doll for some unknown but cringe worthy reason.

A 1962 "Horror"/"Suspense" movie, about the [[ScareEmStraight dangers of college fraternity hazing rituals]], which is pretty much notable only for its appearance on ''MysteryScienceTheater3000'' (along with an episode of the FilmSerial ''ThePhantomCreeps'').

** Gypsy has one during the MST3K autopsy segment.

* ShallowLoveInterest: Pretty much all of them, but Lewis' girlfriend stands out (mainly because she's given the most attention in the film).

[[ContrivedCoincidence Coincidentally enough]], the leaders of the fraternity Lewis wants to join have decided to base Lewis' InitiationCeremony around his supposed bravado: Late at night, Lewis must sneak into the masoleum where the body from the autopsy has been interned, and return with the corpse's ring. Unfortunately for Lewis, a [[CatScare screeching cat]] and a dead hand hanging up on his coat prove too much for him, and the middle-aged guy with the weak ticker -- I mean, the ''fit young man'' promptly dies of a heart attack.

Lewis Moffett is a 42-year-old -- er, fresh-faced young medical student who wows his [[strike:fellow nursing home residents]] college classmates with his [[FearlessFool amazing fearlessness]]. He watches an autopsy unflinchingly even as the others are fainting and getting sick, and he effortlessly kills a garter snake which threatens his [[AutoErotica nookie time]] with the girlfriend. But Lewis is harboring a Dark Secret: his bravery is [[MilesGloriosus a complete fraud]]. See, when Lewis was a little boy, he was forced to sleep in the same house with his just-deceased grandfather's casket, and as a result developed a secret fear of the dark and/or dead bodies.

* DawsonCasting: Exaggerated with the "22"-year-old Lewis; actor George Mather was twice that age.

* ShallowLoveInterest