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Ringu 2

by Shrub 5/15/05

This is obviously more like it. A much more fitting continuation of the story than the craptastic letdown of the U.S. sequel to The Ring, The Ring Two. I waited to watch this version until I got to see U.S. version as that’s how I watched the original The Ring/Ringu and I didn’t want to lessen my enjoyment of a potentially inferior American remake. Well as documented in my Ring Two review, I don’t think that would have been possible. That’s enough about that one.

Ringu 2 sticks more with the characters from the first film and the book by Koji Suzuki, but goes off in another direction. The story follows the dead professor Ryuji Takayama’s “assistant” Mai Takano on her search for the cause of his bizarre death. Of course we have policemen and reporters looking for answers to the same questions and even a scientist, a colleague of Ryuji, who is working on unraveling some threads himself. Mai is the first to locate the missing Reiko and Yoichi Asakawa who had gone into hiding with a speechless Yoichi seemingly traumatized and now displaying some disturbing powers of his own. Mai befriends Yoichi and, along with the scientist, uses his supernatural connection to Sadako’s world (or energy if you prefer the scientist’s explanation) to try and put an end to the curse.

Ringu 2, while not quite on the level of greatness of the original, is a fitting follow-up as it employs many of the same techniques successfully. It is a slow burn with the gooseflesh mounting until the conclusion where we go back to the infamous well (this is one sequence the remake tried to replicate, and while it was the best part of that movie, this one is still much more chilling). Once again, the slow pace, the lingering and unanswered questions, the glimpses of fear, and the perfect subtle soundtrack touches (kind of like just running a light finger across the hairs on the back of your neck when you least expect it) make this, like the first, a highly engrossing experience.

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