Leofwine_draca Apparently, director Hideo Nakata was drafted in to shoot this sequel to 1998's RING when that film's original sequel, RASEN – shot back to back with the first – flopped with Japanese audiences. RING 2 is more of a straightforward successor to RING, logically following on from events portrayed in the first film and feeling exactly the same in terms of tone, lighting, and look. Heck, even most of the actors and actresses are back from the first film, so watching these two back-to-back would be akin to sitting through a three-hour film.For starters, RING 2 isn't as good as the first film. It lacks the surprise and the originality of that movie, and all of the shocks here are familiar to anyone who's seen the original film – and anyone who hasn't will be scratching their heads and wondering what the heck is going on here. The film is very talky and very slow, as with the original film in the series, and once again the overlaid English subtitles are extremely hard to make out, so some of the dialogue is missed. However, there's always plenty going on so there's never time to get bored, despite the slow pacing, and the return of many cast members from the first film is a real treat – especially Hiroyuki Sanada, who doesn't let his character's death in RING stop him from coming back here! The plot twists and turns in many directions and opens up new areas of the mythology, incorporating psychic powers and the mysterious channelling of psychic energy into water. I admit that I was engaged with the story and never found it lacking for a second.Thankfully, the horror in this film is just as creepy as ever. Nakata keeps a slow-burning tension that builds up until the first real shocks that occur about an hour into the production. My favourite scene of all is the bit where the reporter examines the videotape and discovers that something weird is happening to the head of the girl on film – things get more surreal as she becomes a creation of ghostly evil, and there's a fantastic use of a 'jumpy' special effect like the ones used in JACOB'S LADDER and THE HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL remake. Many creepy scenes from the first flick are repeated, like the grainy television set images and the excellent bit involving the woman combing her hair in a mirror. Things culminate in a nightmarish ending which returns things to the well – and what happens is as disturbing as ever. RING 2 doesn't top the experience of watching the first, and best, film in the series, but it proves to be a worthy sequel with plenty of scary bits to enjoy.

atinder 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.

TBJCSKCNRRQTreviews In more ways than one. When I saw "Ring 2" listed, I thought it would be the American they would air. And I certainly would not have guessed that I would wind up enjoying this anywhere near as much as I did. I had pretty much written off original(as opposed to remade ones... yes, I know) Asian horror films, sure that I wouldn't understand, and thus, not intending to pursue, them. Yet my eyes were just about glued to the screen, and it turned out to be one of the more engaging viewing experiences I've had recently. I haven't seen the first one, only the Verbinski version, so if you find any utter ignorance in this review, please chalk it up to that(and no, I don't have an excuse for the rest of my writing). The plot is well-written and develops nicely throughout. The pacing is good. The acting is great, even for the kid, which is arguably a bit unusual. The effects are all marvelous, nothing looked fake. The scares are well-done, and they work quite well. There is atmosphere and creepiness all over the place, herein. I'd still watch Gore's before this or the others in this particular series, but hey, I am a Westerner. And this still had me in a tight grip for the 90 minutes. I recommend this to fans of the genre and the people who made the movie. 7/10

ferbs54 Just recently, I was the 376th person on the IMDb to review the 1998 Japanese horror classic "Ringu"; a day later, and I am now #78 to review the sequel to that film, "Ringu 2" (1999). This disparity in numbers surprises me, as it's hard for me to believe that any viewer who saw the original film would not want to know more about Sadako, the lank-haired ghost girl who kills via videotape. However, although we DO learn more about this fascinating character in "Ringu 2," and get some plot points cleared up, this sequel proved something of an anticlimax for me, and raised more questions than it explained. The original "Ringu" is a truly scary film, with great, ominous atmosphere and at least one classic horror sequence (that TV crawl-through). The sequel picks up precisely where the original left off, but is somehow not as creepy, centering on one of the minor characters of the original (the very pretty Miki Nakatani) and on police and scientific investigations into the Sadako phenomenon. The movie indulges in strangeness for the sake of strangeness, logic be damned, with the Sadako curse now affecting even those who haven't "gone to the videotape," and features psychic manifestations and assorted spectral mishegas thicker than a bowl of soba noodles. It's a case of atmosphere over coherent content, but man, what atmosphere! Still, I dare anyone to explain those final 15 minutes to me, as we go back into that darn well. The movie is a fascinating one, although it sure does leave one scratching the ol' noggin. Guess we'll have to proceed on to "Ringu 0" for some additional explication...