Today’s Prayer Focus

MOVIE REVIEW

The Ring Two

MPA Rating: PG-13-Rating (MPA)

for violence/terror, disturbing images, thematic elements and some language.

Reviewed by: Douglas Downs
STAFF WRITER

Moral Rating:	Offensive
Moviemaking Quality:
Primary Audience:	Teens Adults
Genre:	Horror Thriller Sequel
Length:
Year of Release:	2005
USA Release:	March 18, 2005 (wide)

Relevant Issues

ghosts in the Bible

demons in the Bible

Satan / Devil

Is Satan a real person that influences our world today? Is he affecting you? Answer

DEMON POSSESSION and Influence—Can Christians be demon possessed? In what ways can Satan and his demons influence believers? Answer

death

final judgment

FEAR, Anxiety and Worry—What does the Bible say? Answer

Featuring	Naomi Watts, Simon Baker, Sissy Spacek, Elizabeth Perkins, David Dorfman
Director	Hideo Nakata
Producer	Laurie MacDonald, Walter F. Parkes, Mark Sourian
Distributor	DreamWorks Pictures, aka DreamWorks Studios, a production label of Amblin Partners

“Fear comes full circle.”

Here’s what the distributor says about their film: “The story picks up six months after the horrifying events that terrorized Rachel Keller and her son Aidan in Seattle. To escape her haunting memories, Rachel takes Aidan and moves to the small coastal community of Astoria, Oregon, to start fresh. However, Rachel’s resolve quickly turns to dread when evidence at a local crime scene-including an unmarked videotape-seems eerily familiar. Rachel realizes that the vengeful Samara is back and more determined than ever to continue her relentless cycle of terror and death.”

It is true that God created the world and everything in it in six days. It is NOT true that if you watch a certain videotape the result is death in seven days.

Japanese film director Hideo Nakata created the original Asian blockbuster “Ringu”. The studios then hired Gore Verbenski (“Pirates of the Caribbean”) to adapt it for American audiences. The original “The Ring” was a creepy, but delightful thriller for fans of this genre. It was rated PG-13, and that has opened the door for many more scary flics to squeeze into the new liberal ratings boundaries. Alas, Mr. Verbenski is currently busy with Nicolas Cage and a movie called “The Weatherman”. No problem… Hideo Nakata was available to direct the sequel. Unfortunately, lightening will not strike twice for this creative director.

Many new horror films have tried to copy the suspense of “The Ring”. I was very disappointed to see this round of cinematic seconds borrow so much from “The Grudge”. I hate to disappoint you, but I saw this movie with lots of teens and young adults. They were quickly bored and even booed the presentation at the end.

I loved the original for all of its eerie jump moments. Yes, I’ll admit that I was scaaaaared. This time the jump moments were too predictable, but they did help keep you from dozing off. There were some frames recycled from the original. You remember the burning tree and the girl crawling out of the well. Mr. Nakata did leave the dancing ladder out this time. I understand that you needed to include those elements from the tape in the plot. I just couldn’t stop that feeling of “Been there. Done that.”

Namoi Watts returns as newshound Rachael Keller. She has moved out of the Seattle area to a quieter Pacific Northwest town in Oregon. David Dorfman also returns as her son Aidan. I know that Rachel thought that she left that videotape behind her. The unpaid “fright-fees” have found her in Oregon. Proving once again.you can run from a videotape, but you cannot hide!

This killer video deal is as deadly as ever. Yes, once again, there are people stupid enough to watch the tape. Yes, there are plenty of scenes with the creepy dark-haired girl named Samara.

Quicker than you can say “The Sixth Sense”, Aidan has strong connection with this ghost. Just like being stalked by a “bad date”, Samara invades his dreams, turns up late at night in his room, and leaves burned handprints on his back. Let me tell you this, mom is not too happy with this girl. Rachael is now on a mission to kill the tape before it kills her son.

There is a back-story this time for poor Samara. You see, Mommy Dearest fans, it isn’t all her fault. Her mom, played by Sissy Spacek in a wig, attempted to murder her several times. She finally succeeded when she, you guessed it, dropped her in the well. That will do it every time. Samara now must crawl out of the murky depths and haunt our TV sets. Yes, the well has run dry on this story.

Yes, you can definitely add this film to your skip list. Don’t take my word for it. Only 26% of the National Film Critics liked it. Personally, I wish the filmmakers had spent more time on the plot and less time on the cheesy special effects.

Violence: Heavy / Profanity: Heavy / Sex/nudity: Minor

Positive
Neutral
Negative
Young people
Non-viewer comments

Positive

Positive—Having seen only the original Ringu, I have just experienced the double feature of Ring one and two, which was absolutely fantastic. Not being a fan of horror movies, cold sweat broke out at the previews, but I went anyway. And I don’t regret it! After seen the American version, which was different in subtle details, “Ring Two” begins where “The Ring” one ends. The mother and her son had just copied the tape and fled to a different place. But soon, far too soon, kids start to die having the same distorted faces. But this time, it is not only that Samara wants to be heart, she wants to LIVE, and had chosen the boy to do so. The only way to prevent this is also the only thing she is not prepared to do.

The speed of this movie is thrilling, and before you recover from the last shock, the next one is waiting. In contrary to the first Ring, which was scary, but had not much of a story, this one is more mysterious…
My Ratings: Very Offensive/4

Boby Jones, age 29

Positive—First of all, there’s violence (no kidding!) and Rachel says the f-word very loudly and quite clearly at the most intense part of the movie. That bugged me, because there wasn’t much cursing except for that ONE word. I’m a huge Ring fan, so I couldn’t wait until the sequel came out. And it was good—much better than the reviews it got. Still, nothing like the original. You just learn too much about what’s happening to the people, and it’s so much creepier when you don’t know and are terrified, like in the first movie. The first movie’s a classic. This one, well… just a good sequel.
My Ratings: Offensive/4

Dana, age 19

Neutral

Neutral—comments: The movie did have good directing and acting but the plot was standard demon possessed child (note to the reviewer—don’t use secular critics to support your view—the fact that secular critics don’t like something is a good reason to go see it—e.g., “The Passion of the Christ”).

Anyway, what disturbed me (and I am surprised no one has commented on it) is the subplot of infanticide. Rachel is even mentioned as having suffered from PPD (Post Partum Depression) which several women over the past few years have used as a justification for murdering their children (in real life). Now here is a movie in which a mother must kill her child “in order to save it!” I shudder to think about emotional disturbed women seeing this movie.
My Ratings: Offensive/3

David, age 37

Neutral—Nowhere near as good as the original. They spent way too much time and money on special effects, and less on story or plot. I’d wait for the DVD.
My Ratings: Average/2

Adam Renkovish, age 22

Negative

Negative—I saw this movie opening day. I was looking forward to it. I really enjoyed the first Ring. I found it to be an intense, engrossing mystery with an intensity level not usually found in the genre. This sequel was a huge let down. It was as if the makers of this movie hadn’t even seen the first one. It left me asking more questions with each “answer” it was supposedly giving. A real let down.

I will say it was fairly clean, as far as language (light, with the exception of the f-bomb used in the climax that reeked of “80’s catchphrase”) and sexuality (only a minor alluding to sex in the opening scene. That’s it.) It really wasn’t very violent either (although some of the implied violence was fairly disturbing). Unfortunately, it wasn’t a very good movie either. If you a fan of the first one, wait for DVD. If you weren’t, then skip this one altogether.
My Ratings: Offensive/3

Quincy, age 33

Negative—This movie was very disappointing. I am a huge fan of the first film, because it was original, and it did not depend on gore and shock-value to bring the audience in. The blue/green coloring, the “not-so-Hollywood” looks of the stars, and the location of the movie itself made “The Ring” (2002) stand out from so many horror/suspense films today.

But, “The Ring 2” is really “straight-to-video” in my opinion. I heard Richard Roeper say that the director assumed American audiences would be really scared of “lots of water.” I could not agree more. I mean every scene is water, water, and more water. To end on a lackluster note for a sub-par movie, “I wanted my money back.”
My Ratings: Offensive/1

Jeremy Cutlip, age 26

Negative—Well, what a waste of time!! This movie is not even close to the first one, which I felt was a very well done suspense movie. This movie uses the f-word, which was completely unnecessary. I was just in shock of the absurd plot. I expected so much more. It was very predictable. I say, don’t waste your time or your money. If you insist on seeing this film, wait until it hits the dollar theaters.
My Ratings: Offensive/2

Nikki, age 25

Negative—I went and watched this movie with my family and found out quickly that this movie was not going to be uplifting. I find “The Ring Two” another way for the Devil to corrupt the world. I also witnessed a lot of younger kids without their parents attending this movie. I do not think this movie was for anyone, particularly for younger kids. If you are those who are particular about watching specific movies, you should avoid this one. Very, very immoral.
My Ratings: 1

Bryan Rasmussen, age 19

Negative—I saw the original “Ring” and was very disturbed by it. My child saw the “Ring Two” with a friend with out my permission, so I wanted to see it too so I could discuss it with him. It is not a healthy visual for any Christian to have.

I don’t believe we should allow blatantly evil images into our thoughts, and these movies do just that. I didn’t find it entertaining at all. Just terrifyng. I would not recommend this movie for children at all. I would highly advise any Christians to think twice before viewing this type of movie.
My Ratings: Offensive / 3

susan, age 43

Comments from young people

Positive—The Ring Two was a pretty good movie. I thought it was better than the first one, but that didn’t take much. Neither of them were very scary at all, except at the end of Ring Two when it gets very intense with Samara and Rachel in the well.

The profanities in this film are minimal. At the end in the well scene Rachel uses the phrase, “I’m not your f****** mommy!” This is fortunately the only “F” word used in the movie. There a lot better horror movies out there that you’d be better off seeing. It was morally okay, but the film quality wasn’t the best, and I think they could have made it a lot better/scarier.
My Ratings: Better than Average/3½

Matt, age 14

Positive—This was a great film! There were TONS of teens there when I saw it. This movie said only 2 profanities J**us and g*d D*mn. There was not much language, but at the end Samara was climbing out of the well trying to catch Rachel, but Rachel climbs out in time, and runs around to the other side of the well, pushes it shut and says “I’m not your F***ing mommy. Overall, this movie is a GREAT sequel! I recommend it to any horror movie fan 10 or over, as long as they don’t get scared easily.
My Ratings: Better than Average/5

Alex Durden, age 11

Positive—…The movie is at least 3X as scary as the first one. The Ring (1) had sections that were frightening, but this one had scares in nearly every scene. Plus, it finishes the story. The original ends by finishing the movie, but leaves plenty of questions unanswered. This adds on and completes it. All the other reviewers complained about plot, but the first movie took care of that by setting up the story line. Do you expect a completely new plot in this or something?

I don’t understand—The movie takes off where the last one ended and continues in the same manner as the last. The movie is out there for scare factor, not Academy Awards. It is immensely entertaining. The spiritual content is a bit edgy, but if you are returning to the theater for this sequel, you’re asking for it. My biggest conflict was thinking about if Jesus would be enjoying a movie about demonic activity. Otherwise, I definitely recommend this movie.
My Ratings: Average/5

Greg, age 16

Negative[Did not view “The Ring Two”]…I saw the first movie The Ring last year. I am a very visual person and was completely freaked out at the way they showed the dead bodies after the little girl came out of the TV. Stupid, I know, but I didn’t sleep for three days after seeing that. As a Christian, I did not find it offensive, but extremely demonic in many ways. Needless to say, I hated the movie and will never see it or the second one ever again.

Kate, age 16

Comments from non-viewers

Negative—I have seen many horror movies over the years, and I am a fan of suspenseful, dramatic, well produced, realistic and superbly acted horror movies. “The Ring” was all of these, except it did not have an ending.

I did not see “The Ring Two” nor will I. I only saw “The Ring” to view it with my 12 year old daughter, who was not able to see it with me, and I am now glad. This was a very disturbing movie that should have been rated above PG-13, because it is very demonic and leaves the ending or possibility of future evil and death up to the imagination of the viewer. The premise of these movies is extremely evil and is too much for impressionable, young, spiritual minds. Parents should intensely screen these type of movies.

1 Cor 10:23 (NIV) says “Everything is permissible—but not everything is benificial.” These films are, in my opinion, a case of not beneficial to the healthy spiritual development of our children. If you want them to see these films, I challenge you to watch it first, pray about it, then make a mature, adult, spirit-filled decision for your child.

Scott, age 43