The Ring Two (Film Review)

2005 Universal
Directed by: Hideo Nakata; Written by: Ehren Kruger
Starring: Naomi Watts, Simon Baker, David Dorfman, Elizabeth Perkins, and Sissy Spacek
MPAA Rating: PG-13; Running Time: 110 Minutes
The Nicsperiment Score: 3/10

Rachel Keller and her son Aidan have moved to Astoria, Oregon from Seattle, Washington, after the horrific events of 2002's The Ring. In order to save her son's life, Rachel duplicated and circulated a cursed video tape, where the viewer will die in a week if they don't show the tape to someone else. Unfortunately, the demonic being, Samara, who powers the curse, seems to have followed the Kellers to Astoria. Before long, she's possessed Aidan. Can Rachel save her son?
2002's American version of The Ring is one of my favorite horror films. The Ring first explores suburban folklore and domestic fears before veering into atmospheric, Lovecraftian terror. Director, Gore Verbinski, gives that film a unique and terrifying visual stamp that's still being echoed to this day. The film works not only because of Gore's unforgettable visuals, but because it only shows and tells just enough, leaving much to the viewer's imagination. In other words, The Ring is the poster child "don't make a sequel to this" horror film. However, Universal Pictures smelled $, and unfortunately, The Ring Two exists.
2005's The Ring Two gets so many things wrong outside of merely existing. For one, the director is the wrong choice. Hideo Nakata directed the original Japanese version of The Ring Ringu,, and wanted his American debut to be something other than horror. Unlike Verbinski's highly stylized film, Nakata's original film's visuals are more mundane, so that the supernatural feels more out of place and unexpected. That works for that one film. Here, he tries some weird difference splitting between his original style and Verbinksi's so that The Ring Two is an unsatisfying visual mess. Nakata's heart also doesn't seem to be in the film's story. His writer, Ehren Kruger, who penned the original American film, and who was known then for twists, also doesn't seem focused or confident here. The first act seems to ape the first film before veering off into possession film territory and finally ending in a ripoff of 2002's Japanese horror film Dark Water, which is ironic, as that very film was remade in America that very year. It's not very good either, but it's better than this! And I just reviewed it here!
Rather tragically, Naomi Watts was lured back here after her terrific, starmaking performance in the first film. Watts, one of the brightest (and in my opinion, most beautiful) actresses of the early 00's (seriously, she looks like an angel in these two Ring films) gives her best here, which almost makes the film worse by comparison. For instance, she is convincingly terrified in a clumsy, incredibly goofy scene where her character and son are attacked in their car by awful-looking CGI deer. It would almost be better if she were lousy in the scene. The only pros here are the resounding echoes from the first film. The original premise of Samara is scary, and the idea of her still works until the film over-explains her (though thankfully, there is a little mystery left as to her paternal parentage). Hans Zimmer's original score for The Ring is evocative, haunting, and suitably terrifying, and his acolytes, Henning Lohner and Martin Tillman, further his original themes quite well for this sequel. The score is perhaps the only element here that consistently works.
The 2002 original film is thankfully not sullied by this awful sequel because it is possible and quite easy to pretend that The Ring Two does not exist. I've watched a lot of 2005 films this year for the 20th anniversary, and a lot of 2005 horror films this month. Last year, I watched nearly 200 1999 films, and the drop in quality in those six years is precipitously sharp. I think early 00s cinema still basks somewhat in the 90s afterglow. There are plenty of great films, the genre movies are fun, and all three Lord of the Rings movies are some of the greatest films ever made. Not so as the decade went on. There are still some great films, but I am starting to think that the further one moves from the 90s, the worse the average film becomes. The drop in quality between The Ring and The Ring Two is as good an argument for that sentiment as any.