El aro 2

A great sequel to Ringu (one of the best horror films EVER), it continues from where it left off and goes on the explain a lot of things from Ringu, but if you haven't seen the original you'll probably be as confused as hell!

The film follows Mai, Ryujii's student from the first film, and her studies on the tape, trying to find out what happened to him. She realises Yoichi, his and Reiko's son is psychic like Sadoko and tries to stop him becoming like her and goes back to where Sadako was born to find out more about her and her mother.

It has quite a few scary bits, at points I felt more scared than during Ringu, and the last 20 minutes or so a very tense. Sadako is of course as creepy as ever, and there's plenty to make you jump. A worthy sequel :)

Go watch Ring 0 now!

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.

I recently rewatched Ringu 2 (1999) on Tubi. The storyline picks up where the first film left off, with the cursed tape still circulating and potentially causing a mass crisis. Meanwhile, the mother and son from the first film are in hiding, and the little boy begins to develop supernatural powers. Society starts searching for the mother and son to solve the outbreak from the tape that could end mankind.

This film was directed by Hideo Nakata (Dark Water) and stars Miki Nakatani (Ringu), Hitomi Satô (Ringu), Kyoko Fukada (The Teacher), Fumiyo Kohinata (Outrage), and Rikiya Otaka (Ringu).

I'm not sure I loved the direction they took with the storyline and overall premise for this sequel. The opening refresher is well done, but the way they portrayed the widespread outbreak was just okay, and the film got bogged down there. However, the last 30 minutes, when they finally return to the well, are exceptionally well done. The corpses are excellent, and the overall conclusion is well executed. There is a lot to like here, even if it isn't as good as its predecessor.

In conclusion, Ringu 2 is a significant step down from the first film but still has enough worthwhile content to make it a must-see. I would score this a 7/10 and strongly recommend.

Ring 2

Mourning the inexplicable death of her teacher and friend, Ryuji (Hiroyuki Sanada), Mai Takano (Miki Nakatani) attempts to track down Ryuji's ex-wife, Reiko Asakawa (Nanako Matsushima), who has disappeared from Tokyo with her son Yoichi (Rikiya Otaka). The police, who are investigating the death of Reiko's father, are also looking for her, while Okazaki (Yûrei Yanagi), a work colleague of Reiko's, is continuing from her research on an urban legend involving a videotape that kills whoever watches it. Mai and Okazaki's searches lead them both to a mental institute where Masami (Hitomi Sato), who was witness to Sadako's appearance in her best friend Tomoko's house, is being treated by a doctor (Fumiyo Kohinata) who favours some unorthodox medical procedures. Mai eventually manages to track the Asakawas down, but Yoichi is beginning to exhibit some strange behaviour. Can they escape the clutches of Sadako once more?

On the exact same day that the insanely successful horror masterwork 'Ring' was released, its sequel, 'The Spiral', seemed to come and go without any fanfare whatsoever. As I haven't viewed a single scene from the original second instalment (written and directed by Jôji Iida), it's impossible for me to say if it was deserving enough of its incredibly poor critical and public reception to be completely erased from the continuity of the series (although some who saw it commented that they would rather have watched Sadako's cursed videotape instead). But, in any case, here we are with the replacement, 'Ring 2', which has caused producer Takashige Ichise to rethink his strategy concerning the next follow-up, and reunited most of the cast and crew from the original 'Ring'. This approach creates mostly pros in 'Ring 2', but also some cons as well.

An adaptation of a Kôji Suzuki novel, 'Ring' had a breakneck pace because of its "race-against-time" plotting, and 'Ring 2' picks up from this by beginning just days after the events of the first film, allowing the audience to observe the aftermath of the terror that Sadako and her tape wreaked on so many people. But 'Ring 2' isn't based on a book like 'The Spiral' was, and screenwriter Hiroshi Takashi has nothing to build on but the first film. Wisely, Takashi chooses to go off in a new direction with the story instead of merely rehashing what has come before. But 'Ring 2', which hit the ground running, soon slows to a jog. Takashi answers a few too many questions lingering from the first 'Ring', and while he counters this by raising almost as many (especially with the "weird science" sections in the final act), one may feel robbed of some of the first film's mystery. However, there's a very interesting subplot involving a schoolgirl named Kanae (played by Kyôko Fukada) who owns a copy of the tape that Okazaki wants to study, and this provides a truly hair-raising sequence, similar to the climax of the first film, where interview footage of a young woman somehow refuses to be erased from the videotape it is on. 'Ring 2' is a nice mix of the best elements of its predecessor and some intriguing new material, but it's also a slightly uneasy one too.

With director Hideo Nakata ('Chaos') back on board, it's to be supposed that 'Ring 2' would end up as unsettling as the first film, and the director almost meets this dizzyingly high expectation, but he doesn't want to indulge himself here as much as he did the first time around. Nakata unnecessarily restrains himself on all fronts, with the sound design here being less potent, the cinematography not as innovative, and composer Kenji Kawai's music cues not as chilling as his work on the first film. That said, alongside a thrilling third act, Nakata does offer the audience a host of truly disturbing images, such as a melted, burnt-to-a-crisp videotape in a bathtub, Sadako's reconstructed facial features, and again, the distorted photos of those unlucky enough to have been "marked" by Sadako. But, dare I say it, Nakata seems to have become a tiny bit unenthusiastic with 'Ring 2', and this mutes some of the terror that he summoned up so effortlessly in the first film.

As in 'The Spiral', pop star Miki Nakatani, who was essentially a cameo in 'Ring' (despite being billed second), is elevated to the lead here. While certainly a competent actress (and has the "surprised/shocked/scared" expression nailed), it's difficult to empathise as much with the character of Mai as it is to with Reiko in the first film. Not only due to the step down from Nanako Matsushima's solid performance, but also as events seem to drop into Mai's lap at random. Maybe Nakatani is not to blame; Mai isn't a particularly strong heroine. But, lest I forget, the film is surprisingly as much about the supporting characters as it is about Mai. Especially the denouement, which promises a whole new cycle of horror by leaving the door wide open for another sequel. I can safely say that 'Ring 2' is a creepy, worthy follow up to the first film. But Nakata and co. might like to try a little harder if they decide to make a third (or fourth?) instalment.

~ 8/10 ~

Even though Sadako had been around for a long time (there were Suzuki Koji's source books and two previous TV movies), it was the theatrical version of Ring that made her huge. So, of course, there has to be a sequel (which, oddly enough, wasn't based on the next book in Koji's series; different filmmakers had already adapted that as Spiral). It's a daunting task to make an effective sequel to one of the all-time creepiest movies, but the filmmakers pull it off. Unfortunately, a lot of stupidity gets in the way of the scares.

A lot of plot in this one. The movie opens a week after the first one ends. Reiko's dad has just died, and she and her son have gone into hiding. Mai, who found Ryuji's body at the end of Ring, is investigating her boss'/boyfriend's death. She thinks Reiko and her son hold the key to this mystery. So she teams with one of Reiko's co-workers (who's still working on the story of the cursed videotape) to try and track Reiko down. At this point, there's already enough plot for a movie, and I haven't even mentioned the return trip to Sadako's old home, the doctor who thinks he can get rid of Sadako, the burial of Sadako's physical body, the girl the co-worker betrays (and literally comes back to haunt him), and the weird, scary "exorcism of Sadako" finale. Plot, plot, plot.

Before I tear this movie a new one, let me say one thing: minute for minute, this one has more scares than the first one. In fact, the filmmakers have realized that Sadako has become so commonplace (a Sadako doppleganger appears in almost every Japanese horror movie made after the first Ring) that they need only show her trademark hair to invoke fear. And it works. But the massive, ridiculous plot nearly kills this movie. While it tries to explain the occurances of the first movie, it raises more questions than it answers (why does everyone suddenly have psychic ability?; why are people who haven't even seen the tape haunted by Sadako?; how does that girl see the tape if all the copies have been destroyed?) Still, with all of these potholes, the movie still works. It's also nice to see almost the entire cast of the first film reprise their roles (even the dead ones). An effective thriller, even though it doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Fans of the first one won't be disappointed.