The Ring Two is a
2005 American horror film, and a
sequel
to the
2002 film The Ring, which was a
remake of the
1998 Japanese film of the
same name.
Hideo Nakata, director
of the original Japanese films
Ring and
Ring
2 on which the American versions are based, is the
director of this film in place of
Gore
Verbinski (who directed the
first film).
This sequel is not based on any of the previous Japanese sequels to
Ring, 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. Its
final $75 million gross was far less than the original's $129
million total.
Plot
The sequel takes place approximately six months after the events of
the first movie (where Aidan is about 10-years-old now).
Rachel
Keller (Naomi Watts) and her son Aidan
(David Dorfman) 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. Rachel investigates, finding the
dead boy's face shows a deformed expression of horror just like the
previous victims of Samara Morgan's cursed tape. Upon finding the
boy's corpse, she also has a vision of Samara grabbing her and
declaring "I found you." After that she goes to the police station
in order to talk to the girl who witnessed the boy's death and
after persuading the girl to tell her she finds out where the tape
is. She takes the tape deep into the woods and burns it.
Aidan has a dream in which he comes down to the T.V. room without
Rachel home, and is pulled into the screen by Samara when the
videotape starts. Back at home, Aidan starts to develop
hypothermia, and his body is suddenly covered
with bruises. At a county fair, Aidan takes pictures of himself in
the bathroom mirror, with a blurred Samara standing behind him. His
behavior grows increasingly odd and distant, and whilst driving
back from the fair, the car carrying Aidan and Rachel is repeatedly
attacked by deer, nearly killing them. This event was apparently
mysteriously foreseen by Aidan, who warned Rachel of impending
danger seconds before the deer came out of nowhere. Strange
occurrences within their house (including visions of Samara, a burn
mark in the wall which resembles the tree from the cursed video,
and seeming
poltergeist
activity) frighten Rachel, leading her and Aidan to flee.
Rachel subsequently asks Max if he can take care of the
increasingly sick Aidan at his house.
Max says that Aidan's condition merits a trip to the hospital, but
Rachel, knowing that his illness is unnatural, is adamant that
traditional doctors cannot help him. When Rachel attempts to give
Aidan (who suddenly develops a mysterious fear of water) a warm
bath at Max's, a series of paranormal events leads to Rachel seeing
Aidan's body replaced by Samara. Max walks in when she attempts to
drown Samara, and sees her trying to drown Aidan instead.
Suspicious, he insists on taking Aidan to the hospital against her
wishes, stating, "You wanted my help, now you're getting it."
Based on the bruises on Aidan's body, the hospital staff,
particularly psychiatrist Dr. Emma Temple (
Elizabeth Perkins), suspect child abuse on
Rachel's part, because Rachel reveals she suffered from
Postpartum Depression, and won't allow
her to be near her son. Desperate for answers, Rachel flees the
hospital and travels to Seattle to dig deeper into Samara's past.
Knowing that Samara was not Richard and
Anna
Morgan's biological child, 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, Samara (in Aidan's body) inflicts a
psychic assault on Dr. Temple, forcing Dr. Temple to
commit suicide so that Samara (in Aidan's body) can escape the
hospital.
Evelyn advises Rachel to "listen to her baby" when she seeks advice
on how to deal with Samara. Max goes to Rachel's house to check on
her, only to find Aidan watching TV alone. He attempts to
surreptitiously capture Aidan on film in order to reveal Samara, as
Aidan had before Samara possessed him. Aidan/Samara notices the
camera. When Rachel returns home, she finds Max's car parked
outside and his dead body inside with the same warped expression of
Samara's other victims. Disturbed and unsure of what to do, Rachel
then goes inside to face her possessed son.
Rachel tells Aidan/Samara that he should go to sleep. Aidan
responds that he never sleeps. She suggests 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. After eating the
sandwich, Aidan soon falls asleep.
Rachel fills the upstairs bathtub with water and holds an
unconscious Aidan underwater. Samara's spirit leaves his body, and
Rachel is then able to revive him. However, Samara attempts to come
back into the house through the TV set. Rachel grabs onto Samara as
she is emerging, and is pulled into Samara's well inside the world
of the cursed video. Looking up, Rachel realizes that the well lid
is always left open. Rachel begins climbing the side of the well.
Halfway up, Samara emerges from the water below and also ascends in
a very inhuman fashion. As Rachel is climbing out of the well,
Samara grabs her leg. Rachel manages to shake her off and then
causes a jet of water to come out of the side of the well. Samara
loses her grip and falls back down the well. Rachel climbs out of
the well just as Samara cries "Mommy!". Rachel responds with "I'm
not your fucking mommy!" and slams the lid shut while Samara cries
"Mommy!" one last time.
As Rachel wanders the
monochromatic
world of the cursed tape, she hears Aidan's voice and walks toward
it, only to come to the cliff where
Anna
jumped to her death. She hears Aidan calling her name below.
Determined to follow Aidan's voice, Rachel jumps off the cliff and
ends up back in her living room with Aidan, where they
embrace.
Cast and Characters
Releases
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),
numerous additions in which Max shows a romantic interest in
Rachel, more scenes with Samara prior to her possession of Aidan
(including one in which she is shown to enter him in the restroom
at the local fair), and the short film
Rings (which was also included on a
special edition of The Ring releases just before The Ring Two
arrived in theaters). A scene in the theatrical cut in which Aidan
first encounters a deer while wandering the local fair (prior to
the deer attack) has also been removed from this version. Also,
some musical cues were changed such as when Samara leaps out of the
well in the opening scene.
Sequel
- The Ring Three has been announced. Hideo Nakata is returning as director with
David Dorfman reprising his role as
Aidan and Kelly Stables returning as
Samara. The film currently has an
expected release date of 2011. Naomi Watts has no current plans to
return. Walter Parkes and Laurie MacDonald have said they want to
go into the film with a fresh new story. On September 11, Bloody Disgusting reveals talks about
shooting the film in 3D.
References
- imdb page for The Ring Three
- Samara Looking to Return in 'The Ring' 3-D Sequel
External links
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