The Ring Opening Scene

The Ring Opening
The movie starts with a Teenage Girl pouring a drink and about to go upstairs, before she makes her way to the stairs, she hears the TV turning on randomly. She goes into to investigate and she thinks it is her friend messing with the remote but before she can finish her sentence, she fines the remote on the chair. In confusion she turns off the TV and starts making her way upstairs. The TV then turns on again. The girl stares at it with disbelief then suddenly run towards it and pulls out the plug. She then hears a sudden noise behind her she goes into the kitchen and finds out the fridge door is open, she runs to close it and then hears another sound coming form up stairs. She slowly goes upstairs and makes her way up to the hallway where she finds a door with its handle slowly dripping liquid. Grabbing the handle she swings to door open and stares at a TV with an image of an eerie well on it she screams and her face morphs into a disturbing shape.

How does the scene make the audience scared?

The camera follows the actions of the girl throughout the scene to make the audience feel what the character is feeling. She is wondering what is making them noises as is the viewer.
When she looks at the TV and screams the sudden camera zoom to show the horrific face is meant to startle the audience and breaks the tension that has been building since the start.