I thought after watching the prequel to the "Ringu" saga, namely "Ringu 0", that its first sequel couldn't possibly take a more dramatic turn in mood, but I was definitely wrong. The title to this first sequel to "Ringu" is "Rasen", which translates to "Spiral", and that is indeed what this movie does -- spiral out of control, continually disconnecting itself from both the mood and plot of the original movie.
So thorough is this disconnect that it appears that someone wrote a touching drama about loss, redemption, and the terrible price one pays for it, and framed it on the back of the first successful film they could think of. No longer is this a psychological horror film. It may be thoughtful, but its not scary, and this is after all the reason I rented it -- to recapture a new story based on the same thoughtful horror of the original. The accursed Sadako has gone from evil murderer to a lustful muse in goth chick garb, who kills some who watch her video seven days later in the usual manner, but seduces at least one other in a sexual frenzy only moments after, apparently attempting to lick him to death.
I've heard from a few fans of the novels that this film is actually in line with the novel content, and thus my criticisms aren't inline with the overall mythos, but I feel no obligation to care about the novels in this case. I am a fan of the film, and that film was a horror film, not a psychadelic soap opera. If the books go in that direction, more power to them, but this is a review of the film, a sequel to a horror movie.
In many ways, this film attempts to be touching. And it would succeed, if it weren't so pathetically unlikely. But even if it did succeed, it doesn't matter because THIS is not HORROR, and thus this is NOT "Ringu" at least in the film genre. It almost immediately violates the suspension of disbelief built up from the first movie, and conveniently pretends the first movie was little more than a shocking introitus to a lovey dovey version of "The Island of Dr. Moreau", almost pretending the first movie didn't happen at all outside of a hellish dream world.
Its little wonder that it was one of the biggest tanks in Japanese cinematic history, and even less that most "Ringu" producers and fans alike also prefer to pretend this sequel never happened. Rent it only if you are a completist, and even then, consider whether its really worth it.
