 Ring 2 takes off immediately from the end of Ring 1 and sees the video spread from infection to epidemic. It’s hard to tell the story without giving away the ending of Ring 1, but needless to say, like all good sequels, it’s much like the original in structure but bigger, with more deaths, paranormal phenomena, people freaking out and jump-out-yer-skin moments. Ryuji’s girlfriend Mai Takano sets out to find the source of the tape and trace the survivors from the original film. The police are now interested, as is a doctor in a mental asylum, who has a couple of patients showing strong telepathic powers after seeing fragments of the video. Some are even able to kill people at will. Devising elaborate experiments to try and channel what the doctor believes to simply be excess mental energy, everything (of course) gets out of hand. It must be said that while this film will make you jump, it descends into pretty murky fogs of confusion as the story gets more and more complex. Plus, there’s more of the mundane dialogue and acting from the original. Sure this is to be expected with all but the best horrors, but given the slow, steady pacing of the action, it stands out more than normal (plus of course you’ve got to read the dialogue). Still, I’d say it was worth a viewing if you’re a horror fan, because the Japanese have a pretty unique way of filmmaking which, combined with their obsessions with pretty and vulnerable women, makes for a very interesting spine-chiller. Dir: Hideo Nakata, Japan, 1999 | 
