So this is the second helping where fright meets might in the existence of Seattle’s favorite terrorized mother-son combo, huh? In 2002’s The Ring, says Frank, audiences were treated to the chilling accounts of an ominous videotape that claims the lives of its unsuspecting viewers. Now three years later filmmakers want to recapture the nail-biting theatrics in The Ring Two, the lackluster follow-up to the original creepy suspense thriller.

1 hour 51 minutes. DreamWorks 2005. Starring: Naomi Watts, David Dorfman, Simon Baker, Kelly Stables, Sissy Spacek, Gary Cole. Directed by: Hideo Nakata.

Actually, The Ring is the westernized remake of the highly regarded Japanese flick Ringu.

Director Hideo Nakata was at the helm for both Japanese versions of Ringu. Interestingly, the Asian helmer finds himself overseeing The Ring Two, a hopelessly mediocre offering that surprisingly doesn’t match the sophisticated intensity of its predecessor. Nakata and screenwriter Ehren Kruger (who wrote for the first film) curiously don’t have a feel for the macabre material that was masterful in the previous edition. For the most part, sequels are designed to elaborate on the further adventures of its inspiration.

With the novelty of a strange tape’s mysterious hold and the power that it represented in the first film, The Ring Two never justifies its continuation for why we should care about this same recycled concept as awkwardly hatched in this latest entry.



Journalist Rachel Keller (Naomi Watts) and her young son Aidan (David Dorfman) have left the confines of Seattle and now find themselves picking up their lives in a new venue somewhere in an Oregon sleepy town. Despite leaving behind a nightmarish ordeal that bewildered them mercilessly, the Kellers look for a brand new start. Still, this doesn’t stop the bothersome ghostly entity Samara Morgan from harassing them in their newest destination. There had been some unfortunate souls already exposed to the vicious videotape that activated the devilish diva of destruction’s sinister spell.

Not only is Rachel unable to avoid the confrontational boo-factor that the tortured spirit Samara has in store for her but she has to face the grim reality that the ghoulish gal is trying to invade her son’s fragile psyche. In other words, Samara wants to “possess” Aidan and take over the boy’s identity as a means to rattle his mother’s vulnerable cage. Of course this is the impression that Aidan has through a series of unsettling dreams. The revelation of Aidan’s inner fears has Rachel scurrying for immediate solutions that would eradicate the spunky spirit once and for all.

Nakata makes his American film debut with The Ring Two. Strangely, the foreign filmmaker is never able to quite get a grip on the tension-filled scenes. The images are hauntingly effective in key sequences but the goose bump effects resonate erratically thanks to Kruger’s incomplete plotting based on the relentlessly choppy scripting. The movie’s momentum is invested in a mundane chiller that provides sluggish results as far as sustaining this film’s unchallenged imagination is concerned.

The weirdness in the first Ring installment was a fascinating look at how well this horror show was received in all its gloomy galore. However, The Ring Two merely coasts on its own shadowy reputation from the edginess of the film’s prior blueprint. Whether resorting to the dependable bath tube scene for its compelling pause or mustering up the essence of dark claustrophobic wells, Nakata’s numbing narrative desperately conjures up a pseudo-cynical thriller that is transparent in its somber state of mind.

The film’s performances are strikingly uneventful for a suspense piece that’s supposed to produce a riveting verve. Watts appears disinterested in what her character’s exploration is in this colorless creepfest. Dorfman isn’t exactly one of the more memorable child actors that you’ll find in the skin-crawling genre. Let’s just say that Dakota Fanning (Boogeyman) or Haley Joel Osment (The Sixth Sense) won’t lose sleep when being compared to Dorfman’s turn in this toothless chiller. Supporting players in Oscar-winning Sissy Spacek and Gary Cole are wasted in the thick of things.

The Ring Two has its jumpy and jolting moments. But a few scattered glimpses of twitches here or there does not a potent scarefest make as a whole. Saddled with a dreary pacing and the need to fulfill its sequel-itis tendencies, this particular Ring is tainted jewelry in search of its missing sparkle.

Frank Ochieng

(c) Frank Ochieng 2005