Starring
Matilda Lutz, Alex Roe, Johnny Galecki, Vincent D'Onofrio, Aimee
Teegarden, Bonnie Morgan. Directed by F. Javier Gutierrez. (2017, 102
min).
Seasoned horror fans might vividly recall the iconic
scene in 2002's The Ring, when
Noah Clay watches his TV in horror as malevolent child spirit Samara
Morgan climbs from the well where she died, shuffles closer and closer, then
crawls out through the screen. It was a memorable, chilling
twist that arguably turned what could have been a standard ghost
story into a modern American classic.
The
Ring was also responsible for Hollywood's brief infatuation with
adapting popular Japanese horror for American audiences. Some were
pretty good - most were pointless - but The Ring remains the
best of them by a wide margin. An inferior sequel, The Ring Two,
immediately followed, of course. Like so many other horror
franchises, the basic premise was really only effective the first
time, meaning Samara, that perpetually damp emo child of our
nightmares, joined such former luminaries as Michael Myers and
Pinhead...horror villains whose power to scare diminishes with each
sequel.
It
seems odd to be getting another one 12 years later. Usually,
horror sequels are made in quick succession to strike
while the iron is hot and their primary audience - teenagers - still
have a lot of discretionary income. But I suspect Rings isn't
necessarily intended for fans of the original, but those weaned on
such recent mallrat horror hits as Ouija and Lights Out.
In terms of quantity, Rings may offer more, but nothing really new. In the original, Samara was rarely actually seen, which made her big appearance during the climax especially terrifying. In Rings, Samara shows up early and often, popping out of a variety video screens (including cell phones...sign o' the times, I guess) to kill anyone
dumb unfortunate enough to have watched the
now-infamous videotape. In an opening scene that's both creatively
exciting and narratively ridiculous, she takes-out an entire airliner
because two of her victims happen to be on the same flight.
 |
| Cheap wall anchors can be dangerous. |
The
song remains the same, of course: Anyone viewing the tape
will die unless they personally make a copy for someone else to watch
within seven days, which a college professor and some of his students
foolishly do...on purpose. One of those kids is Holt (Alex Roe),
whose girlfriend, Julia (Matilda Lutz), saves him in the nick of time
by watching the tape herself. If that ain't love, I don't know
what is. But what she sees is slightly different than the video that
killed the others, prompting her and Holt to head to Samara's old
stomping grounds to find out where she was buried 30 years ago.
It's
at this point Rings turns more-or-less into a reboot of the
first film, with Julia and Holt trying to solve the mystery. However,
they aren't as interesting as Naomi Watts' character in the earlier
films...more like two meddling kids in the Scooby-Doo gang,
though Vincent D'Oonofrio arrives to liven things up a bit. If you're
unfamiliar with the original, some of this is interesting, often
pretty creepy, too. If nothing else, great effort was obviously put
into giving Rings the same look and feel of the original. The
same could be said for the fairly nifty - and suggestively
apocalyptic - twist ending.
But
that's only if the viewer is new to the franchise. For everyone else,
more is definitely less, and there's nothing here that equals the
dread of watching Samara climb from a television screen for the first
time in the original. Not only that, since we're already aware of her
nature, not even the ending provides any real surprises.
Rings
isn't a bad film, and a strong argument can be made that it's an
improvement on the second film. But as sequels go, it's completely
unnecessary. However, if the premise is completely new to you, the
movie kind-of works, and has enough obligatory jump scares to amuse
those too young to recall the glory days of J-horror.
EXTRA
KIBBLES
FEATURETTES:
"Terror
Comes Full Circle" - Behind the scenes and interviews;
"Scary
Scenes" - The cast discuss their favorite scenes from Rings;
"Resurrecting
the Dead: Bringing Samara Back"
DELETED/EXTENDED
SCENES
ALTERNATE
ENDING
DVD
& DIGITAL COPIES (including digital copies of The Ring &
The Ring Two)
KITTY CONSENSUS:
NOT BAD...LIKE CAT CHOW
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