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by nic wistreich | august, 2000

Ring 2

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Ring 2 takes off immediately from the end of Ring 1 and sees the video spread from infection to epidemic. It’s hard to tell the story without giving away the ending of Ring 1, but needless to say, like all good sequels, it’s much like the original in structure but bigger, with more deaths, paranormal phenomena, people freaking out and jump-out-yer-skin moments.

Ryuji’s girlfriend Mai Takano sets out to find the source of the tape and trace the survivors from the original film. The police are now interested, as is a doctor in a mental asylum, who has a couple of patients showing strong telepathic powers after seeing fragments of the video. Some are even able to kill people at will. Devising elaborate experiments to try and channel what the doctor believes to simply be excess mental energy, everything (of course) gets out of hand.

It must be said that while this film will make you jump, it descends into pretty murky fogs of confusion as the story gets more and more complex. Plus, there’s more of the mundane dialogue and acting from the original. Sure this is to be expected with all but the best horrors, but given the slow, steady pacing of the action, it stands out more than normal (plus of course you’ve got to read the dialogue).

Still, I’d say it was worth a viewing if you’re a horror fan, because the Japanese have a pretty unique way of filmmaking which, combined with their obsessions with pretty and vulnerable women, makes for a very interesting spine-chiller.

Dir: Hideo Nakata, Japan, 1999

Films
Last Orders
EMERGEANDSEE
The Hidden Fortress
Serendipity
Mulholland Drive
Back Against the Wall
The Bank
Dark Blue World
Beginners Luck
Gosford Park
Injustice
Promises
The Pledge
The Center of the World
The Man Who Wasn't There
Enigma
Baby Blues
The Score
The Circle
The Navigators
Mike Bassett:England Manager
George Washington
Pandaemonium
Shower
Unbreakable

Groove
The Man Who Cried
Crime and Punishment in Suburbia

The Way of The Gun

Green Desert

Three Below Zero

Requiem For A Dream

The King is Alive

Duets
The House Of Mirth
The Luzhin Defence
Timecode

One Day In September
There's Only One Jimmy Grimble
Miss Julie

Purely Belter
Ring 1
Ring 2
Dancer In The Dark

Angels of the Universe

The Exhibited

Billy Elliot

Books
The Guerilla Film Makers Handbook (2nd Edition)
The Filmmakers Handbook
Imagining Reality - the Faber Book of Documentary
Before You Shoot

Soundtracks
American Beauty

 

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