She Never Sleeps, But You Will

The Ring Two (Nakata, 2005)

(R) When writing the screenplay for The Ring Two, Ehren Kruger, who also wrote the film's predecessor, must have known that he would have trouble replicating the success of the first film. The Ring worked because its concept of a killer videotape was fresh and innovative, bolstered by enigmatic, eerie imagery. But in a sequel, the tape itself could no longer be counted on to provide an unsettling mystery. It is, then, understandable that the writer would attempt to refashion the plot.

After a prologue that echoes that of The Ring, the film opens with a traditional horror sequel beginning. Rachel Keller (Naomi Watts, who is just about adequate) and her son Aidan (David Dorfman) have moved to a new town, determined to Start Over and Leave Their Horrors Behind™. Soon, however, Rachel discovers a suspected homicide that seems strangely familiar, and begins to suspect that It's Happening Again™. Around this point the film abruptly shifts gears, as Rachel begins to suspect that the evil Samara is possessing Aidan.

The problem with this storyline is that it is, by now, utterly stale and banal. The plot proceeds to be shockingly unoriginal, cribbing elements from sources ranging from classic possesed-child films such as The Exorcist to director Hideo Nakata's own Dark Water (which was, incidentally, his follow-up to Ringu). Meanwhile, Rachel investigates Samara's past, in a plot that manages to be simultaneously uninsteresting (especially since this was already explored in the first film) and utterly illogical. In other words, the idea of the tape -- you know, the entire premise of the first film -- is basically dropped, as the film is content to simply be yet another dull tale of ghostly possession.

All this is disappointing, but would perhaps be forgiveable if the film were well-made. It's not. The dialogue is cringe-inducing, sometimes laughably so (look out for a climactic line near the end that just may prove to be an oft-quoted camp classic). The so-called plot is utterly disjointed, with most scenes seeming totally pointless and bizarre. Director Nakata doesn't do much to help. The long, talky stretches of the film take place in Medium Close-up Hell. Nakata shoots the often-absurd shocks that punctuate these scenes with a flashy, MTV-like sensibility. It's as if he doesn't trust the images themselves to be sufficiently unsettling -- and he's probably right.

Perhaps it is foolish to expect The Ring Two to be anything but a failure; it's difficult to imagine a sequel to The Ring really working at all. But it's dismaying to see how much the filmmakers seem to have misunderstood what worked in the original film. Gone is the quiet moodiness, the unnerving imagery, the unforgettable moments of simple fright. The Ring Two proves to be precisely the opposite of The Ring -- a crushingly unoriginal horror flick that settles for cheap thrills.