The Ring Two
Rings, videotapes, seven days . . . the horror continues. In "The Ring Two," Rachel Keller must not only solve more mysteries involved in the "videotape that kills you when you watch it," but she must also put Samara, the demon girl from the tape, to rest so that she'll no longer haunt her and her son.
Wanting to move on from the trauma they experienced in Seattle, Rachel (Naomi Watts) and her son, Aidan (David Dorfman), resettle in a small town in the mountains, just outside the city. Rachel takes a job at a small newspaper in town and hopes she'll be able to spend more time with Aidan. One day while at work, Rachel learns that a teenager was found dead, right in front of the television, with a distorted face. Fearing the worst, Rachel goes to the crime scene and investigates. The boy is dead as a result from the videotape. Rachel is horrified that Samara's evil work has spread so much. As she tries to stop the videotapes from being watched by others, she realizes that Aidan has become possessed by Samara. Rachel must save her son by investigating Samara's past and find a way to finally put the evil to rest.
Like the first film, "The Ring," "The Ring Two" portrays a thrilling journey to discover the tape's and Samara's secrets. Rachel visits the Morgan Ranch, where she was raised by her adoptive parents, and she also visits the agency that arranged for Samara's adoption, the establishment where Samara was born and finally, Rachel meets Samara's birth-mother in an institution for the mentally ill. The audience is excited to see the pieces of the puzzle start to fit together, which is what delighted, yet frightened them about the first movie.
This movie also uses the same symbolism from the first film. These visions of water, rings, burning trees, ladders and so on scared audiences in the first film, and even though an audience is familiar with these symbols from the first movie, they're reminded of why they were so terrified the first time. "The Ring Two" shows the audience that the same horrors they saw in the first film are still happening to these characters, and that alone is creepy. Some new symbols appear in the film as well and the audience must figure out what they mean. As an example, deer appear in the film, and when they approach Aidan, who by then is becoming possessed by Samara, they react very violently. This shows viewers that animals can sense evil even better than humans. Rachel didn't know Aidan was becoming possessed at the time, but the deer did. The deer are much like the horses in the first film. They can sense that evil, and they act violently out of fear and try to get away however they can.
The makeup on Samara is fantastic. Kelly Stables, the actress that plays Samara, had three artists putting makeup on her for nearly five hours, and she wore an authentic wig to bring Samara's trademark of long, dark hair to life. Stables's makeup gives her the appearance that she's really been drowned in a well for 20 years. Heavily wrinkled skin, protruding veins and sunken eyes make Samara a very scary character.
Although the film has its frightening moments, it's not nearly as scary as the first film. The first film was scarier because the story was new to us, and the audience didn't know what to expect. There was hardly any color in the first film. Everything was a dark, eery bluish-green color. No sunshine, no bright colors and no happy moments. This atmosphere was part of the reason why the first film was as scary as it was. The settings themselves were creepy, even if nothing scary was going on. In "The Ring Two," different lighting is used. There are bright lights and occasional sunshine. Colors are more vibrant. As far as the settings and lighting goes, the two films don't flow well together at all. Just the fact that there is sunshine in "The Ring Two" make it not as scary. I would like to have seen the cloudy, blue-green atmosphere and lighting that I saw in the first film, and I think I would have been shaking in my seat more if I had.
The CG deer are also disappointing. It's extremely obvious that the creatures are digital amongst the actors and the moving car, and the whole scenario of the deer attacking Rachel and Aidan looks very cheesy. True, real deer aren't easily trained, but I think a different, scarier animal could have been used other than deer.
The film has its spine-tingling moments and it's interesting to find out more about Samara's past, but combined with poor lighting choices and corny CG deer, "The Ring Two" doesn't bring nearly as many thrills and goosebumps as its older sibling.