RINGS (2016)

[indianasmith]

THE RING is one of my all time favorite horror movies, both for its very effective scares and its convoluted, dark plot.  They tried to recapture the magic in THE RING II and failed miserably - it ranks right up there with HIGHLANDER II - THE QUICKENING and HALLOWEEN 3 as one of the most dismal sequels of all time.
So when I heard they were doing a sequel/reboot, I was very skeptical of it at first.
But my daughters saw it in the theater and said it was very good, and having watched it tonight on Blu-Ray, I am inclined to agree.
Samarra is back, and more evil than ever!  The haunted video continues to be copied and circulated and people continue to die.
Now a college professor (played by the guy who plays Leonard on BIG BANG THEORY) has a copy of it, and is studying the video and students' responses to it; always copying it and showing it to someone else just in time to keep them from dying.
But then the girlfriend of one of his students watches it - and her copy WON'T COPY.  Not only that, it's longer than the original. There is an addition to the video, another creepy sequence.  Samarra is trying to communicate - but what is her real message?  What is her purpose?

Nicely done all the way around, a much more worthy sequel to the original than the other.  4.5/5

[javakoala]

The new one might be interesting, but I'm rather biased against any American version. I watched the original RINGU before watching the American remake. The original made for a very creepy film. Unfortunately, for me, the American version, even with Naomi Watts (loved her since TANK GIRL), was bloated and unnecessary.

If RINGS makes it to Netflix or something similar, I may give it a try.

Then again, you did like SUCKER PUNCH....   

[indianasmith]

I guess it's all what you see first.  I saw the American version first, fell in love with it, then watched RINGU and was NOT impressed.

[messedup]

I still need to watch that one. While being a fan of the japanese ones (Sadako 3D and its sequel kinda sucked though...), I still liked The Ring as a remake (together with the korean one The Ring Virus). But even if it is any good, it just can't be as entertaining and fun as Sadako vs. Kayako.

[claws]

I watched the original Ringu before watching the American remake, and I liked the remake better. Go figure.

I've only read bad things about Rings but I will still check it out eventually.

[Archivist]

A phase of watching Japanese cinema brought me to Ringu, which I thought was great.  Then when The Ring with Naomi Watts was released, I thought it was good but not 'cool' in the same way.

There was a similar reaction to Ju-On, remade as The Grudged with Sarah Michelle Gellar.  Great as a Japanese original and kind of hokey Hollywood as an American remake.

[lester1/2jr]

a much more worthy sequel to the original than the other

The Ring 2 was baaaad

[indianasmith]

Something we DEFINITELY agree on!!  Worst CGI deer ever!!

[Pacman000]

Weren't there two versions of Ringu, a TV version and a theatrical release?

This new Rings movie does sound interesting...

[Chainsawmidget]

I haven't seen Rings, I've heard good things about it though. 

As for the Japanese vs original, I liked the American Ring better than the Japanese, but I liked the Jpaanese Grudge better than the American.

[BoyScoutKevin]

Weren't there two versions of Ringu, a TV version and a theatrical release?

This new Rings movie does sound interesting...

Yes, the theatrical version of 1998 was a version of the Japanese TV movie of 1995.

[kakihara]

Not a bad movie. I didnt understand the first scene on the plane. Wasnt that the same girl on the plane that was killed in her apartment after she tried to trick the main girl into watching the video?

[kakihara]

And....while i was watching this, i was thinking: 
This girl is trying to save her boyfriend because he watched the tape. He only has so much time before he dies unless he gets someone else to watch it, passing the curse on to them. Instead of both of them watching it and being "in this together". He could have let her watch it, wait, then she could watch it, wait, the he could watch it, repeat. There! Problem solved! They could probably even document it and make some money! Proof that the afterlife exists!  Thats a win win!

[Trevor]

Shouldn't it be a cursed DVD or a Bluray now?

[kakihara]

you have opened a can of worms:

would a new 4k transfer make the curse worse?

If the video were watched on a full sized theater screen, would she be a giant?

If you watched the video on your smart phone, would she be very small, like a smurf?

If you watched the video with a virtual realty headset, would she crawl directly into your eye sockets?

If someone watches the video but cant really see( legally blind, near sighted, or far sighted), does that count?

what if a monkey or a hamster watches the video?