Ring 2 (1999)

People are voting emotionally.

A Major Disappointment

It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Reiko takes Yoichi into hiding when her son begins to display frightening powers. Meanwhile, Mai Takano and the authorities begin a desperate search for them, as the mysterious Ring curse spreads. Ringu 2 unfortunately not only is an even more disappointing follow up to the very muddled first film from 1998 but it's also quite boring and pretty uninteresting to say the least and i was expecting a bit more effort to be honest but then again it's a horror sequel and most sequels either truly suck or somehow do well and shine once in a while kinda. (3/10)

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.

In this sequel to Ringu (1998), Mai Takano is trying to learn more about the death of her boyfriend, Ryuji. She soon hears stories about a videotape haunted by the spirit of a girl named Sadako, who died many years earlier. Supposedly, anyone watching the tape will die of fright exactly one week later. After some investigating, she learns that Ryuji's son, Youichi, is developing the same psychic powers that Sadako had when she was alive. Mai must now find some way to keep Yuuichi and herself from becoming Sadako's next victims Ringu was the first horror movie I brought on video,, I sat really close to TV and Ringu the scared the hell out me, so bad then i had to look for sequel.It was not that good as Ringu at all, it didn't have the same feel to It.There were some good creepy moments here and there however that was is about it, those scenes were not scary.This movie did have some really dull moment, which did bore me.The acting was not great but still good from most of the cast.Okay sequel but could of been much better., I going this movie a 5 out of 10.

In more ways than one. When I saw "Ring 2" listed, I thought it would be the American they would air. And I certainly would not have guessed that I would wind up enjoying this anywhere near as much as I did. I had pretty much written off original(as opposed to remade ones... yes, I know) Asian horror films, sure that I wouldn't understand, and thus, not intending to pursue, them. Yet my eyes were just about glued to the screen, and it turned out to be one of the more engaging viewing experiences I've had recently. I haven't seen the first one, only the Verbinski version, so if you find any utter ignorance in this review, please chalk it up to that(and no, I don't have an excuse for the rest of my writing). The plot is well-written and develops nicely throughout. The pacing is good. The acting is great, even for the kid, which is arguably a bit unusual. The effects are all marvelous, nothing looked fake. The scares are well-done, and they work quite well. There is atmosphere and creepiness all over the place, herein. I'd still watch Gore's before this or the others in this particular series, but hey, I am a Westerner. And this still had me in a tight grip for the 90 minutes. I recommend this to fans of the genre and the people who made the movie. 7/10