Spoilers herein.
I haven't yet seen the alternative sequel, but I think this one is pretty darn engaging. The appeal of the original is that had three things: a mystery that you could help decode; a few really chilling scares; and a self-referential notion that films themselves have the ability to reach out telepathically and kill.
Let's face it, scares are the cheapest of those three. The first is rare enough but the third is what made `Ringu` (and a few others) novel. So I'm fine with a sequel that extends the first and third and in so doing loses the cheap thrills.
This is darn chilling in its implications. There's the original notion of the video being merely the vehicle for telepathic linkage to an independent evil. That gets changed here, so that the evil is in the medium, IS the medium. And the medium encompasses all memes, genes and viruses. That evil covers not only the movie, but all the elements IN the movie: sex, love, family, the quest for knowledge, life and happiness... even the lush score infects.
Even the lush score infects. Think of that and then be very, very afraid.
Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.
I haven't yet seen the alternative sequel, but I think this one is pretty darn engaging. The appeal of the original is that had three things: a mystery that you could help decode; a few really chilling scares; and a self-referential notion that films themselves have the ability to reach out telepathically and kill.
Let's face it, scares are the cheapest of those three. The first is rare enough but the third is what made `Ringu` (and a few others) novel. So I'm fine with a sequel that extends the first and third and in so doing loses the cheap thrills.
This is darn chilling in its implications. There's the original notion of the video being merely the vehicle for telepathic linkage to an independent evil. That gets changed here, so that the evil is in the medium, IS the medium. And the medium encompasses all memes, genes and viruses. That evil covers not only the movie, but all the elements IN the movie: sex, love, family, the quest for knowledge, life and happiness... even the lush score infects.
Even the lush score infects. Think of that and then be very, very afraid.
Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.