[An old, previously missing post]

THE RING TWO (U.S. / 2005)

The Ring Two is, obviously, a sequel of The Ring, which was released in 2002 as a remake of a Japanese film called Ringu (1998), a film which has also mutated all over the east-Asian seaboard. The Ring Two is not a remake of Ringu 2 (1999), but it is directed by the guy who made both Ringu and Ringu 2. Got it? No need really, and your brain can also rest in piece while youre watching the film, which is actually not quite the disaster it is made out to be. Naomi Watts and her son have now moved away from Seattle (where the killer videotape copy did quite a bit of damage) to a small town in Oregon. Apparently, one copy of the tape is still alive, and shows up near two teenagers about to @#%$ (how original!) in the films peculiar opening sequence. It does get better though as director Hideo Nakatas unearthly camera begins to glide up, down, and sideways; also, for the most part, the reliance on atmospheric dread is a welcome sight. The tape eventually gets burned (I could swear I heard some eerie sounds coming from the vhs industry), but this allows for the vengeful Samara (you know, the one with the hair) to take center-stage. However -- other than a wonderful sequence involving angry reindeers -- its onwards and downwards from there as the script by Ehren Kruger tries to channel The Exorcist (1973) and The Omen (1976) through The Shinning (1980), eventually settling on "Carrie" -- Sissy Spacek, that is. She is part of a late episode involving maternal impulses which couldve been introduced earlier. But it's all a set-up for the ultimate denouement. In an obvious attempt to pump-up this bloodless PG film into a PG-13 one, we hear Watts (giving a professional performance) scream: "Im not your @#%$ mommy," as she closes an opening. Hopefully, "The Ring Three" will struggle to come out of it.

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*Available on DVD in the U.S. (Universal).