The Ring Two

[horrorview]

The Ring Two (2005)
Directed by- Hideo Nakatat
Starring- Naomi Watts, David Dorfman, Sissy Spacek


The tagline for The Ring Two, Fear Comes Full Circle, not only alludes to the shape of the film’s titular image, but also because this sequel to Gore Verbinski’s 2002 hit remake of the Japanese classic is helmed by the man responsible for that film, director Hideo Nakata. So now that the director of Ringu is finally getting to put his stamp on the Americanized version of his original vision, what are the results?

Eh…decidedly mixed.

The Ring Two opens with a pair of high school kids sitting in front of a television set. The boy is nervously trying to force a skittish girl to watch this videotape that he has seen, and, as he succeeds, he leaves the room in a panic, and waits it out in his kitchen. The young man is eyeing the clock, and, as it nears 11:00 pm, the phone rings. The boy reluctantly picks it up, expecting to hear the whispery voice of a child telling him his time is up, but is instead greeted by one of his friends who turned him on to this latest thrill game. The boy is congratulated for making it to the seventh day, but, as he accepts his kudos, he notices something is wrong; terribly wrong. The kitchen begins to flood around him, bruises appear on his arms. He rushes into the living room to see that, while the tape is indeed playing, the girl has her eyes covered. She didn’t watch it at all. His time is up. And, with that, the spirit of Samara, the vengeful spirit of an unwanted child, emerges from the television set, and claims her latest victim.

Meanwhile, Rachel (Watts) and her son Aidan (Dorfman) have relocated to quiet Astoria, Oregon, where mom now works for a small paper, and son has developed an interest in photography. All is well, and the two seem to be enjoying their simple new lives, but the guilt behind the reason they are still even breathing is taking its toll, for at the end of the previous film, Rachel and Aidan made a single copy of the videotape to save their own lives. Little did they know that the tape would not only spread beyond its initial victim, but would become a “sport” amongst thrill seeking teens right here in her new small town.

Rachel hears of the death of the young boy, and rushes to the scene of the incident to see the body. She’s seen this before. The disfigured face, frozen in fear; Samara is back, and she’s found her. Worse than that, she’s found Rachel’s son. Now it’s up to Rachel to find all of the missing links in Samara’s tragic life, so she can piece together the solution that will rid her of this spirit once and for all.

And so begins another chapter in The Ring saga, but, instead of the gripping urgency of the first film’s seven day countdown to death, we are presented with a fairly pedestrian possession plot, in which Samara attempts to take over the body of Aidan so that Rachel can be her mother. It’s handled well, and Nakata definitely knows how to keep the tension flowing throughout, but tension is no substitute for scares, and The Ring Two is lacking in that department. Sure, Samara looks creepy, and there are a few moments where things seem primed to explode into horror nirvana, but it never quite happens, and we’re left with nothing more or less than a moderately entertaining psychological horror of the “I See Dead People” variety.

For fans of this series, the recent re-release of The Ring features a sixteen minute short film called “Rings”, which chronicles the events that lead up to this film’s opening, and takes a deeper look at the “game” that people have made of watching the Samara tape. It hints that this game has become something of an underground phenomenon, and is a brilliant premise that simply mops the floor with the comparatively lazy plot of The Ring Two.

Still, I did enjoy this film, although not nearly as much as I expected to. I was hoping that Nakata would be able to inject a little of the Japanese flair for the horrific into this film, and be able to reclaim the series as his own, but instead it seems as though the director has gone out of his way to make this film as palatable to American audiences as possible, marking a moderately entertaining, but ultimately disappointing return to the series he helped to create.

[shakespeare]

I have to admit I was very disappointed with the sequel.

[icehog3]

Thank you for the review, my Brother, you just saved me $19.00....I'll wait for Blockbuster, or for you to send it to me in another Bad Movie Pass (or al least a "Mediocre Movie Pass"?).....hog

[WillyGT]

Yeah i also went with to see it and really came back disappointed. As horrorview said "the director has gone out of his way to make this film as palatable to American audiences as possible, marking a moderately entertaining, but ultimately disappointing return to the series he helped to create." Havent seen the short film "rings" but i will still give it a shot.

[horrorview]

Definitely check out RINGS, WillyGT. It's really good. The only bad thing I can say about it is that it's too short! LOL. I wish they made a feature length film out of that concept.

[Arleban]

I did enjoy the first in that... ahem....


[SIZE=7]SPOILER AHOY![/SIZE]




Finding the body of Samara did nothing to end the haunting and killing. She was just evil. Beautiful...just perfect!

[SIZE=7]Spoiler behind![/SIZE]


This is another movie where greed got the better of leaving it over with (Highlander). I was already contemplating not going to see it and this pretty much confirms it.

[MiamiE]

im not even going to waste my $20 on this movie. i made the mistake for the first one and never again. what a WASTE

[jgrimball]

THREE WORDS DESCRIBE THIS MOVIE:

PIECE OF $***!!!!!!!!!!

[The Prince]

I am still looking forward to renting the DVD.

[LiteHedded]

I really enjoyed the first one but the sequal was just awful.
not scary at all