The Ring Two

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The Ring Two
A promotional poster for The Ring Two, which recalls a scene from the first film.
Directed by	Hideo Nakata
Produced by	Walter F. Parkes Roy Lee Laurie MacDonald
Written by	Ehren Kruger
Starring	Naomi Watts David Dorfman Simon Baker Elizabeth Perkins Sissy Spacek Kelly Stables Daveigh Chase
Distributed by	DreamWorks SKG
Release date(s)	March 18, 2005
Running time	110 min.
Country	USA
Language	English
Budget	$60 million (est.)
Preceded by	The Ring
Followed by	The Ring 3
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

The Ring 2 redirects here. For the Japanese film, see Ringu 2.

The Ring Two is a 2005 American horror film, a sequel to The Ring (2002), which was a remake of the Japanese film Ringu (1998). The original director of Ringu, Hideo Nakata, directs The Ring Two.

This sequel is not based on any of the previous Japanese sequels to Ringu, and is an original storyline, continuing from The Ring.

The movie was filmed in Astoria, Oregon and Los Angeles, California. It was released on March 18, 2005, and opened with a strong US$35 million its first weekend, more than doubling the opening weekend of The Ring. However, many considered it to have come up a little short after The Grudge, another remake of a Japanese horror film, opened up with almost $40 million a few months before. Its final $75 million gross was far less than the originals $129 million total, and even less than 'The Grudge's' surprising $110 million dollar total.

Just before the release of this sequel, The Ring was re-released with an extra disc that had a fifteen minute short film, Rings, which tied the knot between The Ring and The Ring Two.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Unrated Edition 3 Sequel 4 External links 4.1 Online 4.2 Offline marketing sites which may return for sequel

[edit] Plot

The sequel takes place approximately six months after the events of the first movie. Rachel Keller (Naomi Watts) and her son Aidan (David Dorfman), hoping to put the distressing events they have endured behind them, have moved from Seattle to the quiet coastal community of Astoria, Oregon. Rachel begins a new job at the Daily Astorian, a local newspaper, working for Max Rourke (Simon Baker).

Before long, there is news of a teenage homicide in town. The details surrounding it sound all too familiar to Rachel, who decides to investigate. She finds the corpse of Jake, a young man who has watched the cursed videotape. Nearby is Jake's friend Emily, who is alive but badly traumatized by Samara's attack. Rachel finds that Jake's face, like that of the other victims, has an expression of horror. As Rachel is about to leave, an apparition of Samara reaches out to Rachel, saying "I found you" before disappearing.

Rachel finds and destroys the tape. At the exact same time, and likely in response to the destruction, the television at Rachel's house turns on to the well, and Samara appears to Aidan. He starts to develop hypothermia, and is covered with bruises. Later, Rachel's house shakes and rattles in a manner similar to the actions of a poltergeist. At a local fair, Aidan can see Samara in a mirror, drawing closer. As they leave the fair, the car is repeatedly attacked by stags, drawn for some reason to Aidan.

Aidan is hospitalized. The staff, particularly psychiatrist Dr. Emma Temple (Elizabeth Perkins), suspect Munchausen by proxy on Rachel's part and won't allow her to be near him. Desperate for answers, Rachel travels to Seattle to dig deeper into Samara's past and origins. She discovers that Samara was not Richard and Anna Morgan's biological child (confirming her strong suspicions in the first movie). She tracks down Samara's birth mother, Evelyn (Sissy Spacek), who tried to drown Samara as an infant and has been living in a mental institution ever since. Meanwhile, Dr. Temple meets with Aidan, who is behaving very differently, possessed by Samara. When Dr. Temple refuses to let Aidan see Rachel, he/Samara inflicts some kind of horrific psychic assault on her. Desperate to end it, Dr. Temple grabs an empty syringe and injects air into her veins, thus killing herself by gas embolism.

Evelyn insists that Samara had no father, other than an entity from the sea (a likely nod to the original Japanese Ringu) and advises Rachel to "be a good mother" and "listen to her baby" when she seeks advice on how to deal with Samara. Rachel drives back home, only to find that Max's car is outside of her home. She walks in, and Aidan hugs her from behind, scaring her. Rachel looks to the side, seeing that Max's coat is on the chair. Rachel starts to suspect something. Rachel tells Aidan that she needs something in the car. She goes outside, only to see that Max's car is still parked outside. She walks up and opens the door, only to find that he had been killed in the same way that the other victims have been. Rachel then goes inside, into her room, and tries to sleep. Rachel and Aidan learn that Samara can't hear them when they're sleeping, so they communicate in dreams. Aidan tells Rachel what she must do. In order to stop Samara, she must drown Aidan.

Rachel goes back into the living room, only to find Aidan still sitting there. She tells Aidan that he should go to sleep. Aidan tells her that he does not want to. She suggests that she make him something to eat. Rachel goes into the kitchen, preparing two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. On one sandwich, she puts sleeping medication, intended to make Aidan unconscious. She walks back into the living room, and sits down next to Aidan. Soon, Aidan falls asleep.

Rachel goes upstairs, turning the water on in the bathroom. Rachel holds an unconscious Aidan underwater. Samara's spirit leaves and Rachel is able to revive him. However, Samara attempts to re-enter through the TV set (via the well from the videotape). Against Aidan's wishes, Rachel grabs onto Samara as she is emerging, and is pulled into Samara's well. Rachel begins climbing out, pursued by Samara, who emerges from the water below and also ascends, scaling the stones in a very inhuman fashion. Rachel is able to get out barely ahead of Samara, who is calling out to Rachel as if she were her mother. Rachel replies, "I'm not your fucking mommy!" and then closes the lid, sealing Samara in (supposedly) forever. Rachel then wanders the bleak, almost monochromatic world of Samara's video trying to find an exit.

She hears Aidan's voice and walks toward it, only to come to the cliff where Anna jumped to her death. She heard Aidan calling her name below. Determined to follow Aidan's voice, and accepting her own death, Rachel jumps off the cliff and ends up back in her living room with Aidan, without Samara. The film ends with the notion that Rachel and Aidan have survived Samara once again.

The film's basic plot bears strong resemblance to Dark Water, another Japanese horror movie.

[edit] Unrated Edition

In the Unrated Edition DVD release, a few extra scenes were included that were not in the theatrical release. These scenes included conversations with Rachel's new neighbor (and neighborhood gossip), Carol Breyer, an extended scene with the deer just prior to their attack on Rachel's car, and the short film Rings. Also, some musical cues were changed such as when Samara leaps out of the well in the opening scene.

[edit] Sequel

• Dreamworks has confirmed The Ring 3 and that it will be the third film in the series. [1]

[edit] External links

[edit] Online

• Official site.
• The Ring World - a fansite covering all aspects of Ringu works.
• the Ring AREA - Contains of the cursed videos of the Ring cycle and their scene-by-scene analyses, as well as lots of other useful information.
• The Ring Two at the Internet Movie Database
• The Ring Two at Rotten Tomatoes
• trailer from Tribute.ca
• A short review of The Ring 2
• She Is Here, a roleplay website where characters discuss their experiences with the cursed video. Originally created by Dreamworks as viral marketing, this site has spawned several spinoffs by fans who knew Dreamworks would eventually remove the site. The site is now run by fans of the franchise.

[edit] Offline marketing sites which may return for sequel

• The Horror Of Ringu, The-Tape.com, An Open Letter, Seven Days To Live, and Samara Is Dead