■ Movie review
‘Ring 2 ’ director lacks
original ideas in weak
but twisty horror seauel
BY RYAN NYBURG
PULSE EDITOR
When "The Ring" opened in 2002, it
came as welcome respite from the hell
of crappy ghost movies with idiotic
twist endings that "The Sixth Sense"
unleashed on America. Unfortunately,
the film ended up unleashing a hell of
its own in the form of Japanese horror
film remakes, i.e. crappy ghost movies
with idiotic twist endings.
But while the original will probably
take its place as one of the few good
horror films of the new millennium, the
sequel might miss out on the honor roll.
Apparently taking the high road and
hiring Hideo Nakata, the director of the
original Japanese "Ringu" series, may
not have been the wisest aesthetic
choice, as "The Ring Two" hardly
matches its predecessor. Taking place
shortly after the original, the film fol
lows Rachel Keller and her young son
Aidan (Naomi Watts and David Dorf
man) as they recoverfrom the events in
the original, moving to Astoria (the Hol
lywood of Oregon, I swear) and starting
a new life. In fact, the film seems very
insistent upon the fact that they are
starting a new life, so much so that the
characters say as much on numerous
occasions. This is only the beginning of
the script problems that plague the film
throughout its running time.
The main plotthrusthasthe dreaded
Samara and her cursed videotapes
showing up, with Samara apparently
intent on possessing little Aidan. Cue
the standard child-possesed-by
demons plot points, with just enough
twists to keep things diverting long
enough forthe audience to forget
about it and not realize how little sense
much of the story makes. It's a shame
to see such a promising horrorfran
chise get bogged down in the most ba
sic cliches. (You know you're in trouble
when someone says "I know this
sounds crazy, but..." and someone
replies, "There has to be a rational ex
planation for all of this.")
Whereas the first film was sparse
and managed to move itself beyond
some of the usual horror trappings, the
sequel gets lazy and falls back on them,
depending on ideas from its predeces
sor. The film also wastes the first film's
inherent creepiness found in the Pacif
ic Northwest locations. Despite some
beautiful shots, they seem to belong to
a different movie.
The special effects are no great
feats either, with some blandly fake
RING TWO, page 10
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