Ring 2 (1999)

Ring 2 came out one year after the most terrifying film of the year,Ring directed by the same director who's name I can't and don't want to announce. The film follows the main character's ex's girlfriend who is now very curious to find out how and why her boyfriend died,as she digs deeper into the case of Sadako,she finds out some secretive things kept away from the first film. When Ring came out,another film,just at the same time came out called Rasen but I did not watch that film so I skipped on to Ring 2,leaving it out. Ring 2 is a highly brilliant horror film and a great sequel to Ring,but it obviously was not as great and frightening as Ring,the film has a kind of sci-fi roll to the film which I did not like,in Ring,it was so creepy and silent,knowing that something would happen,this film did not have any creepy vibes or silent parts it was just really intense,like a lot,another thing in the film I hated was that they created a lot of silly information on Sadako,the ghost,like that she survived for thirty years after being thrown down the well,the acting in the film was obviously really good considering most of the original actors and actresses are back. The ending to the film was probably the best part in the whole film. Ring 2 is a good sequel but a few flaws can't make it like the original classic J-horror!

I thoroughly, thoroughly enjoyed Ringu after years of only having the Hollywood remake and its sequel to deal with. When the opportunity arose to finally view the original Japanese versions I turned the lights off and got ready for a scare-fest. What surprised me about Ringu was the fact it was different from The Ring (or should I say the Hollywood remake was different from the original film?) Ringu made a bit more sense than its Hollywood remake, it relied more on the Rosemary's Baby School of Scares and delivered a creepy, satisfying film. This sequel? Not so much.Perhaps it's the difference in cultures, but having seen (and enjoyed) the Hollywood sequel The Ring Two, and being intrigued by its concept of connection between Samara, Naomi Watts' character's son and water, I figured Ringu 2 would have some sense of familiarity. Instead, Sadako is relegated to almost nothing until the finale, the story (if you can call it that) hops all over the place and character motivations come out of nowhere (Sadako's father embraces death like a martyr after standing around doing nothing for the whole film), and while the main actor in Miki Nakatani has a great face for horror films (her scared face is thoroughly enjoyable!!) the connection to the mother established in the first film dissipates, and we don't even get to see what could have been the most harrowing scene in any horror movie ever (the implication Reiko copied the cursed video, got her son to make her father watch it, essentially making her kill her father), it's all glossed over and thoroughly unsatisfying. While the Hollywood sequel had crazy water effects and, yes, CGI deer, at least it still had the backbone of the mother-son relationship. While this is technically the third film in the Japanese series, made only a year after the original two, it feels like it's already running out of fuel and I walk into the final film with what are quite possibly the lowest expectations I've ever experienced for a horror sequel, and that's saying something.

Just recently, I was the 376th person on the IMDb to review the 1998 Japanese horror classic "Ringu"; a day later, and I am now #78 to review the sequel to that film, "Ringu 2" (1999). This disparity in numbers surprises me, as it's hard for me to believe that any viewer who saw the original film would not want to know more about Sadako, the lank-haired ghost girl who kills via videotape. However, although we DO learn more about this fascinating character in "Ringu 2," and get some plot points cleared up, this sequel proved something of an anticlimax for me, and raised more questions than it explained. The original "Ringu" is a truly scary film, with great, ominous atmosphere and at least one classic horror sequence (that TV crawl-through). The sequel picks up precisely where the original left off, but is somehow not as creepy, centering on one of the minor characters of the original (the very pretty Miki Nakatani) and on police and scientific investigations into the Sadako phenomenon. The movie indulges in strangeness for the sake of strangeness, logic be damned, with the Sadako curse now affecting even those who haven't "gone to the videotape," and features psychic manifestations and assorted spectral mishegas thicker than a bowl of soba noodles. It's a case of atmosphere over coherent content, but man, what atmosphere! Still, I dare anyone to explain those final 15 minutes to me, as we go back into that darn well. The movie is a fascinating one, although it sure does leave one scratching the ol' noggin. Guess we'll have to proceed on to "Ringu 0" for some additional explication...

In very unusual fashion, the film adaptation of the sequel of Japanese smash hit novel, "Ringu", began production and was released at the same time as "Ringu"'s own film adaptation. As the novel, this film was called "Rasen" (the spiral) and while it kept the characters from "Ringu", it followed Kôji Suzuki's novel more closely than the first. However, this move didn't bring the results the producers were expecting as while "Ringu" became a bigger hit than the novel, "Rasen" soon was destined to oblivion. As a result of this, the produces decided to reunite the crew from the first "Ringu" and shot a sequel that followed a new story based on the first film's plot instead of Suzuki's novel. "Ringu 2" was the name of the sequel and director Hideo Nakata did the miracle one more time."Ringu 2" picks up where "Ringu" ends, with Mai Takano (Miki Nakatani) discovering the dead body of her boyfriend Ryuji Takayama (Hiroyuki Sanada), death under mysterious causes related to the video that Ryuji and his ex-wife Reiko (Nanako Matsushima) were investigating. Mai decides to investigate what exactly happened to her boyfriend and starts looking for clues about the cursed video. Troubles arise when she discovers why Reiko went into hiding: her son Yoichi (Rikiya Otaka) is beginning to develop the same psychic powers that Sadako, the girl who supposedly created the video, used to display. Sadako's curse is not finished yet.Reunited with most of the crew from "Ringu", Hideo Nakata returns to complete the tale of the cursed video expanding what he experimented on the first to truly make an improvement over it. While he keeps the subtle, almost minimalist style of the first film, the bigger budget allows Nakata to try new things and play with suspense in exciting different ways. Moving away from "Rasen", "Ringu 2" is like better executed "Ringu", and it almost feels as if Nakata was really happy with the chance to give a proper ending to his own "Ringu". While it lacks an "iconic scene" like the first one's famous ending, "Ringu 2" is a better balanced and overall improved example of Nakata's particular (and very influential) style of the New Wave of Asian horror.Written by Nakata himself and Hiroshi Takahashi, "Ringu 2" acts like an extended epilogue for "Ringu", with the character of Mai Takano trying to find the missing pieces of the puzzle that Ryuji and Reiko tried to complete, and finally facing the evil supernatural force that Sadako was revealed to be in the first film. Like in the first movie, the film bases a lot of its power in the relationships between characters, and while the bond between Yoichi and Mai may not be as strong as the one with his mother in "Ringu", it is very well-developed thanks to a cleverly written screenplay. Avoiding the mistakes of "Rasen" (that tried to give a proper scientific explanation to the Ring curse), "Ringu 2" keeps its mystery as the driving force of the film, and delivers a conclusion that, while probably less shocking than the first one, it's no less satisfactory.To be fair, Miki Nakatani does a remarkable job filling the shoes of Nanako Matsushima as main character, and probably a better job than her, as Nakatani shows a freshness and charm that Nanako never showed (in this aspect, Naomi Watts was also better than her in the American remake). Most of the cast from the first "Ringu" returns, which gives the film a nice continuity. Nanako Matsushima feels more comfortable as a supporting character than carrying the entire film, and the same is true for Hiroyuko Sanada (who plays Ryuji) and the late Yoichi Numata (again as Takashi Yamamura). Newcomers to the series like Yûrei Yanagi and Fumiyo Kohinata deliver a good job that fully completes a well-rounded cast."Ringu 2" is far from a perfect film, but in many ways it is a complete improvement over the influential first part. Still, as "Ringu 2" is basically an extension of the first film's ending, it's definitely pointless to watch it without having seen the first movie, as it's plot is completely dependent of the first one, and it can't stand on its own without the knowledge of the events of "Ringu". Another minor quibble, is that the film moves to a very slow pace (even slower than the first one did), so those expecting a scary experience like the first one will probably be disappointed. "Ringu 2" plays heavy on atmosphere, even more than the first ever did, so it's slow pace is actually beneficial in this aspect.Probably it won't become a classic as the first part did, but judging it as part of the "Ringu" series, this film is definitely a winner. Overall an improvement over the first one, "Ringu 2" is definitely a film to see on a dark night with no lights on. Fans of the series (specially those disappointed by "Rasen" or "The Ring Two"), this is the sequel we demanded. 8/10