Director: F. Javier Gutiérrez.
15 years ago, there's a night scratched into my memory, that a few friends and myself just cannot ever forget. The night we went to the cinema to watch The Ring. Not Hideo Nakata's original, Ringu, which I'm told is more horrifying than Gore Verbinski's US remake, thus putting me off watching the Japanese version all together. Admittedly too scared to on my own.
That screening had us knee-biting, face-hiding and under-the-breath swearing; walking back to my friend's flat to find the TV facing the wall with everyone else huddled on the sofas. To say we were all scared shitless was an understatement and it didn't help having a loner man come up behind us and whisper "seven days" as the end credits rolled.
The Ring legacy had already started out as a trilogy in Japan with a prequel, before Verbinski got his first Ring film complete. Nakata actually directing the US sequel The Ring Two that really wasn't a good follow up. I just remember it being a watered down version of it's previous film.
This instalment picks up 15 years later, where VHS is now an archaic relic. The legend of Samara continues, watching the surreal and disturbing short will bring about your death in seven days. (Who decides these rules? Does Samara keep a schedule?) But all of the original cast have been unexplainably replaced with new protagonists.
Looks like Penny, Raj and Sheldon have finally dumped Leonard (Johnny Galecki) and moved on, leaving him to rot as an university professor who inadvertently comes across the film by purchasing VHS player with the video cassette still inside. Who would do that? Not Galecki because he wasn't to know, but who would leave the video cassette in there, letting it go to a vintage shop to be put back into circulation? Maybe Samara got to them, which leads me to a flaw in her quest to be heard. If she kills the one person who failed to pass on the viewing, it's game over for Samara. It's not like the video comes with any instructions to make copies and make it go viral.
Fairly inexperienced director F. Javier Gutiérrez takes the helm, with little to go on, it was possibly a gamble with the studios to have him direct. This being his first Hollywood feature after his Spanish film, Before The Fall.
Matilda Anna Ingrid Lutz that's the lead as the key victim but comes across as quite the clingy psycho girlfriend who pretty much stalks her boyfriend, Holt (Alex Roe) when he goes A.W.O.L. from their nightly Skype and pretty much ignores her in a noble bid to spare her from what he's seen.
Now I thought we already knew the back story, but no, they've added a twist to the tale, and Samara goes deeper than just being stuck in a well. And there's a terrible spoiler in the trailer, so don't watch it if you intend on watching soon. There's a moment it rips off a recent horror from last year, not a good move; and there's absolutely no lasting effect and maybe only a couple of jumps that fill the void of a mediocre, predictable plot.
The film is a prime example of what not to do, or of what people wouldn't, shouldn't do if ever in those eerie situations. No one in their sane mind would venture to a derelict church, in the dark, to search for something evil... Alone! However, it isn't scary enough.
Running Time: 2
The Cast: 2
Job Description: 1
The Extra Bonus Point: 0
Would I buy the Blu-ray?: No.