The Ring Two (US)

TCamen

Saw 'The Ring Two' (US) today. It really is as terrible as rottentomatoes is claiming, and then some. It's one of the worst movies I've seen in AGES, and that's saying a lot. Original 'Ringu' director Nakata re-hashes a lot of the mother/daughter crap from his 'Dark Water' and spreads it on thick.

'The Ring Two' is boring, full of terrible dialogue, ridiculous plotting and lapses in logic, uninteresting 'action' sequences, and worst of all, it's completely devoid of anything approaching a half-decent scare.
Many people left the cinema, and there was zero atmosphere of tension/fear from the crowd at any stage.

It's quite impossible to convey the sheer disappointment of 'The Ring Two' in words. It's like a cheap, dumb rip-off movie of 'The Ring' with a terrible alternative plot to boot. Remember the parody Ring bits in 'Scary Movie 3' ? They're better than anything 'The Ring Two' has to offer. Naomi Watts tried her best with the material, but a decent performance alone can't hope to rescue this excuse of a movie.

Utter tripe. :mad:

Repli

I watched the original japanese Ring 2 on channel 4 last night and thought it was pretty good.. don't think I'll go to this one tho..

Goodshape

How does the US film compare to the Japanese Ring 2 storywise?

tinkerbell

So is it really that bad? I watched the first 5 minutes of it on UIP, and it looked good. I loved the first movie. Is there any chance that I may like it! Otherwise there ain't much point in going to see it, ahhh. Damn, I was hoping it'd be good!

TCamen

I taped the Japanese Ring 2 and Ring 0 off scifi a while ago, but I was waiting to see the US Ring 2 before watching the original. Needless to say I wasn't much in the mood for MORE Ring movies last night after that crap yesterday afternoon.

I really enjoyed 'The Ring' (US) when it first came out, so I'm not trying to be unnecessarily hard on the sequel, but like others who saw/heard all the negative reviews in the US, I assumed that "OK, it's not gonna be great, but I'll enjoy it". Unfortunately that mindset just wasn't able to compensate for the sheer multitude of things that 'The Ring Two' does wrong -- the script is rubbish, the direction doesn't stand up to the original (Japanese or US 'Ring/Ringu') and it's completely unscary.

Looking around last night, Daveigh Chase who played Samara in 'The Ring' (US) declined to appear in the sequel (good idea in retrospect!) but it certainly explains the shoddy attempt at using CGI to replicate her face, it's just DIRE looking.

Also, the screenwriter wrote a short movie that's been included in the re-release of 'The Ring' in America last month. It's called 'Rings', and features the two actors from the first few minutes of 'The Ring Two'. The plot sounds stronger for this short movie than 'The Ring Two', which is just a mess of half-assed meta-psychological crap that only serves to destroy all the good things about 'The Ring' in 2 hours.

Anyway below is the plot for 'Rings' (courtest of IMDB)

"Rings" features Ryan Merriman as Jake, a high-schooler who becomes obsessed with the videotape and its strange new following. It seems as if the infamous videotape has become a cult following, with many people watching it, seeing how long they can stand to live after watching it and then finally passing it on to the next person, who does the same. They post their experiences online at a public website. People believe that it is a window that shows us either heaven or hell, and that the experience should be cherished and not feared. However, once Jake is introduced to the tape by one of these cults, he starts to unravel as he sees strange things and experiences horrors that no one should ever have to bear. The cult that supposedly had his back and his "tail" (meaning the person who he passes the tape on to) turn their backs on him, wanting to finally have a perspective on what happens on day seven. Also appearing in this short is Emily Van Camp, who plays Jake's classmate Emily. Both Merriman and Van Camp are featured in the upcoming sequel.
This short does a great job of linking the two "Ring" films together. It is shot in a different style that works very well for it, making it both creepy and visually appealing. The script is well-done as is the direction by Jonathan Liebsman. The acting is fine as well. And just in case you were curious, Samara does make an appearance here. And just because this film is short doesn't mean it isn't scary. There are several creepy moments that echo the first film and many jump scares as well. The atmosphere also adds to the intensity.

BlitzKrieg

just came back...

i think it falters in that it tried to get too far from the original ring movie and fell on its face. Most who have seen the US Ring agree that the urben legend and revealing mystery elements of the first film were its strongest aspects and the

revealing of samara through the T.V was one of the films weakest elements

Ring 2 is an attempt to develope on certain aspects of the original curse that in truth no one cared about. The video was the star and in this film it is quickly lost to a plot that resembles the director's other horror piece Dark Water far too much. Coupled with horrible CGI and poor pacing the film is a disapointment. The topic of Possesion by demonic forces is an area of horror that the west has covered far too well and Ring 2 fails to come close to its peers. The film should have stuck with the horror genre it originally succeeded in curses and the modern world.

fade2black

BlitzKrieg wrote:

just came back...

i think it falters in that it tried to get too far from the original ring movie and fell on its face. Most who have seen the US Ring agree that the urben legend and revealing mystery elements of the first film were its strongest aspects and the

revealing of samara through the T.V was one of the films weakest elements

Ring 2 is an attempt to develope on certain aspects of the original curse that in truth no one cared about. The video was the star and in this film it is quickly lost to a plot that resembles the director's other horror piece Dark Water far too much. Coupled with horrible CGI and poor pacing the film is a disapointment. The topic of Possesion by demonic forces is an area of horror that the west has covered far too well and Ring 2 fails to come close to its peers. The film should have stuck with the horror genre it originally succeeded in curses and the modern world.

I agree with this, after watching two it occured to me that they really got lost in trying to expand her story and ending up complicating things and basically making a mockery of their previous efforts. Also, what is the connection between the video and the "story"? Who makes the phone calls regarding the 7 days? I really enjoyed the first ring movie but agree with the above, part two is awful and a perfect example of cashing in with a sequel.

Repli

DO NOT GO TO SEE THIS
Omg its the worst pile of crap excuse for a movie ive ever seen, and like the other guy i thought the original US ring was fairly decent, this was just plain RUBBISH. No plot ???? NOTHING scary about it - every time a scary scene is coming up, theres a build up to it and you know exactly when its going to happen, and usually whats going to happen. The ONLY thing i liked about the movie was

When the deers were attacking the car, i said to my gf "oh deer oh deer"

LOL

Basq

Repli wrote:

When the deers were attacking the car, i said to my gf "oh deer oh deer"

LOL

Whew.... bet you're a riot at parties, Repli!



(just kidding!)

Makaveli

Wtf is the story with animals attacking in the American versions of these films? Horses in the first one, and now deer in this one.

I haven't seen this btw.

BlitzKrieg

supposable the deers in this one is a tribute of some sort to the Omen...but using crappy cgi deers doesnt seem much like a good sign of respect...

Blondie81

Biggest load of crap I've seen in a long time!

lizanne

Blondie81 wrote:

Biggest load of crap I've seen in a long time!

i agree my boyfriend had to wake me up in the middle of the cinema at the end of it,i was expecting a much better film,ive seen the 3 japanese rings and i dont think the japenese ring 2 storylines even like this 1, the only bit i remember being even like the japenese 1 was samara climbing up the well. :mad:

lizanne

Repli wrote:

DO NOT GO TO SEE THIS
Omg its the worst pile of crap excuse for a movie ive ever seen, and like the other guy i thought the original US ring was fairly decent, this was just plain RUBBISH. No plot ???? NOTHING scary about it - every time a scary scene is coming up, theres a build up to it and you know exactly when its going to happen, and usually whats going to happen. The ONLY thing i liked about the movie was

When the deers were attacking the car, i said to my gf "oh deer oh deer"

LOL

he he good 1 though that bit freaked the **** out of me

BlitzKrieg

Blondie81 wrote:

Biggest load of crap I've seen in a long time!

just be glad you havnt seen Alone in the Dark yet...film actually causes physical pain.

GuanYin

Absolutely awful awful.

Apart from anything else, Rachel has to take the award for the dumbest bimbo in the history of horror films.

They've just moved to escape the tape, she burns the video and all of a sudden her son goes a bit weird, scratches the wall, is sick etc...and she STILL leaves him alone with yer man and forces him into the bath etc etc. FFS.

How come the kid was able to sit at home for however long mommy was away after disappearing from a crime scene? Oh and had Rachel never heard of a leagal system. Social services comes in and says "you can't see your kid" and she just accepts it and walks off?

After all those problems with the film, it doesn't help that not one actor in the film rises anything above average and to be honest, the most terrifying aspect of the whole debacle is that the scriptwriters may be free to write again.

MariaRyan

Strong words, i know but this is coming from a girl who is actually a bit scared of the dark, so this should have, theoretically stunned me.
It didn't

Maria

seamus

Throughout the entire thing I was thinking it was trying to be a made-for-TV Thriller, but it didn't even make it to that level. Note to Directors: Sudden loud noises and screaming women don't make for a scary scene, you actually have to include something scary.

Awful storyline, awful script, awful boring, awful movie. Don't go and see it.

Repli

I can't believe there is even replies to this! Just take it from me - NOBODY go to see this - it is absolutely the worst and most boring way to spend 2 hours of your life

OY

WOW! I am pretty amazed at the remarks TBH. I thought it would be ok but not this bad! Not seen it yet. I quite liked the first one, it was pretty frightening although i was disappointed with the ending.

But now i will not even try to see this one... thanks!

elvis2002

seen it today, Believe the Hype, its terrible, as bad as the Villiage, and that was bad.