The tagline may boast "Fear comes full circle" but the Ring 2 has the unmistakable aroma of something that's been left out in the sun for way too long. A sequel to the smash hit 2003 remake of Ringu (1998), Ring 2 sees the original Japanese director Hideo Nakata brought on board to lend an air of authenticity to proceedings, but he fails to conjure anything resembling the chilling atmosphere he evoked in his Japanese work.
Set some six months after the events of the first movie (which you'll really have to have seen to make sense of this), single mom Rachel Keller (Naomi Watts) has decamped to the rural backwaters of Astoria, Oregon with her freakishly composed son, Aidan (David Dorfman). Thinking that she's left the infernal tape and bad memories back in Seattle, she's as shocked as anyone when a high school kid turns up dead, his face contorted. Things get a whole lot worse for our impossibly adaptable heroine when she realises that nasty child-killer Samara (Kelly Stables) has her sights set on possessing young Aidan...
Quite aside from the absorbing premise of Ringu, what made the it so disturbing was the unnerving air Nakata so subtly developed throughout the film. Perhaps it's telling that Ring 2 is his first American film, but he's abandoned all the principals of mood and atmosphere in favour of cheap, gimmicky shocks, the kind of which have become all too familiar to horror audiences. The script, courtesy of Ehren Kruger, doesn't do him any favours - lacking immediacy and nuance in its relentless pursuit of empty thrills. Watts does her best to impress and that she nearly succeeds says more about her talent than anything this shambles can offer.