Monday, December 4, 2006

Hideo Nakata's Ringu 2

Ringu 2 continues the ring series in a manner not insulting to first outing. But unfortunately it never reaches the original watermark. Nakata's uses alot of the tricks we see fancier versions of in the first america remakes. Strange flickers on tv's and weird little effects while watching video tapes. The first films non reliance on special effects made it more base and scary which this film moves away from.

The story this time centers around Mai the girlfriend of the ex-husband of the main character of the first film(whew) and her investigations into his mysterious death. Mai goes to the first film's main character Reiko's place of work trying to find her. She finds out that she has gone missing and at the same time learns about they mysterious video tape that kills. From this point on the flim plays out similar to the original with Mai and a male companion from the tv station going around investigating the tape and the missing Reiko.

The film does not betray the feeling of the original though it attempts to use more special effects to cause scares in the audience. Ringu 2 continues that slow build technique masterfully used in the first film though it fails to be quite so successful in this film. Echoes of the the 1960 film Jigoku (which predates Bloodfeast and has hardcore gore) continue in this film and actor Yoichi Numata from Jigoku stars in a small role.

I think this film boils down to one scene that if your fan of the first film is so good that you really just cant miss this one. It gives us a little peek at a scene from the videotape and its real life counterpart. Its a really cool scene in a decent film. For Asian horror fans I would reccommend this film it wont destroy you, but I think you'll enjoy it.

3/5 "Not as good. But still worth it for fans"


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