Being a big fan of the original Ring this film was incredibly disappointing. The story follows Rachel and her son from the previous film as they move to Oregon to try and start a new life. What they don't know its that the tape still exists and is currently embarking on a tour of impressionable teens that Britney Spears would be proud of.
The first half of the film is good and I found myself wondering what everyone was complaining about. It was creepy in the subtle way the original was. I was however a bit concerned that it was heading in a bizarre Nightmare on Elm Street direction. Unfortunately it ended that way too. People talking in their dreams? People getting sucked into TV's? Urgggh.
There were some interesting parts to it. It was hinted that Samara's father wasn't human, something which was an integral part of the Japanese series. Also the part where people kept visiting Samara's birth mother from time to time could have been elaborated on as it was one of the few intriguing parts of the film. It was hinted also that Samara is part of a larger entity or one of several demon children born every now and again. At least thats what I got from it. And thats the problem. The most interesting parts of the film were too vague and never led anywhere. Instead they decided to focus and cheap visual thrills such as the horribly over the top TV confrontation at the end which did its best to ruin the entire film. A lot of the comments I heard about that was that it was just plain "stupid". I grudgingly agree.
A bit of an opportunity wasted then. I didn't have a problem with Samara popping up everywhere without the aid of the video as it was explained why that is. Its degeneration into a cheap Elm Street / Exorcist rip off is more what angers me especially when the producers had a more tantalising and creepy option right in front of them.
Hopefully the rumoured prequel will address these issues. In fact I heard it does and that several scenes were cut from this film in order that they be integrated into the next. It certainly would explain the slapdash nature of this one as Ring Two really suffers for it. Not bad overall but could have been so much better.
The first half of the film is good and I found myself wondering what everyone was complaining about. It was creepy in the subtle way the original was. I was however a bit concerned that it was heading in a bizarre Nightmare on Elm Street direction. Unfortunately it ended that way too. People talking in their dreams? People getting sucked into TV's? Urgggh.
There were some interesting parts to it. It was hinted that Samara's father wasn't human, something which was an integral part of the Japanese series. Also the part where people kept visiting Samara's birth mother from time to time could have been elaborated on as it was one of the few intriguing parts of the film. It was hinted also that Samara is part of a larger entity or one of several demon children born every now and again. At least thats what I got from it. And thats the problem. The most interesting parts of the film were too vague and never led anywhere. Instead they decided to focus and cheap visual thrills such as the horribly over the top TV confrontation at the end which did its best to ruin the entire film. A lot of the comments I heard about that was that it was just plain "stupid". I grudgingly agree.
A bit of an opportunity wasted then. I didn't have a problem with Samara popping up everywhere without the aid of the video as it was explained why that is. Its degeneration into a cheap Elm Street / Exorcist rip off is more what angers me especially when the producers had a more tantalising and creepy option right in front of them.
Hopefully the rumoured prequel will address these issues. In fact I heard it does and that several scenes were cut from this film in order that they be integrated into the next. It certainly would explain the slapdash nature of this one as Ring Two really suffers for it. Not bad overall but could have been so much better.