Shudder Saturday: Ring 2 (1999)

It's no surprise that a hit as big as Ring got at least one sequel, as well as the remake, and the remake sequels, and I am not going to list all of the other connected movies. And it's no surprise that many people enjoyed Ring 2, considering how many of the cast and crew returned to work on it. What IS a bit of a surprise, certainly to me anyway, is just how much this sequel doesn't hold up nowadays, removed from that joyous time when so many of us were soaking up all of the J-horror that we could find.

Following on from the events of the first film, this time we are introduced to Mai Takano (Miki Nakatani), a young woman who is investigating the death of her boyfriend. His name was Ryûji, and viewers saw his last moments as well-dweller Sadako famously clambered out of a screen to ensure his death. Mai teams up with Okazaki (Yūrei Yanagi), a newsroom colleague of Reiko, the lead character in Ring, and the two embark on a journey that takes in more history of Sadako, a number of misjudged scientific experiments, and Reiko's son, Yôichi (Rikiya Ôtaka).

Perhaps the most interesting thing about Ring 2 nowadays is just how much it is guilty of sins that we are often quick to point out in mainstream American horror movies. You get much more backstory to the central evil, you get one or two set-pieces that pale in comparison to everything that was done in the first movie, and you even get (slight SPOILER WARNING) an ending that could be viewed as a much happier one than that of the original.

Director Hideo Nakata can do better than this. He has shown us, repeatedly, yet he seems to coast along here, perhaps too comfortable working with what essentially became a very successful brand that would find an audience due to name recognition alone, another common flaw with horror movie sequels. Although Hiroshi Takahashi still manages to throw a couple of decent moments into his screenplay (once again working with material established in the source novel, Ring, by Kôji Suzuki), neither he nor Nakata seem to be able to nail down everything they got right in Ring. That doesn't make this anywhere near an awful movie, it just renders it a big disappointment.

Nakatani and Yanagi are acceptable leads, working hard against a script that doesn't give them enough texture or warmth, and all of the supporting cast members do good enough work, but this is a film that would still satisfy in the simplest of ways if it delivered enough killer moments with the evil figure at the heart of it all. It doesn't.

Perhaps best viewed as one weak part of a relatively strong series (a notion I will confirm or deny for myself when I prioritise a revisit of Ring 0 in the next little while), Ring 2 is only worth prioritising if you're a completist, like myself. Otherwise, I can't think of any one part of it that makes it unmissable.

4/10

Get this lovely set here.

Shudder Saturday: Dark Water (2002)

Every horror fan of a certain age knows that we were delivered numerous treats between the late '90s to the mid-2000s, thanks to the release of a number of titles that would be labelled J-horror (Ring, Ju-On: The Grudge, The Eye*, etc). This golden period, as I like to view it anyway, has had a ripple effect that continues to this day. Whether considering the careers of some of the main directors to get more notice here, whether looking at some of the tricks used by Hollywood to scare moviegoers, or whether you're just visiting some of the movies that you missed during their initial release, the J-horror explosion remains a positive influence on the horror genre.

Which brings me to Dark Water, another film from director Hideo Nakata (who was placed at the forefront of the Asian horror movies making waves at this time, thanks to his success as the director of Ring). It is a film that was praised when it first came out, as I recall, and then quickly faded away. I think it was viewed by some as a decent, but ultimately, disappointing horror movie that held little of the power that imbued a film like Ring. An American remake (because few of the hits from this time would avoid the American remake machine) failed to do more than underline this feeling for many.

The thing is . . . Dark Water doesn't have the power of Ring. It will disappoint horror movie fans who are seeking the next thing to deliver one major memorable moment. But Dark Water has a different power. It's a quietly creepy film that proves even more effective because it doesn't go for the easy scares. It instead decides to show how the bonds between parent and child can so often be unbreakable, even if things appear very different from other points of view.

Hitomi Kuroki plays Yoshimi Matsubara, a mother who is going through a divorce from her husband. She has one young daughter, Ikuko (played by Rio Kanno), and is struggling to balance her wellbeing with her new situation, which involves a new place to live, looking for employment again, and the ongoing legal wrangling. Things really aren't helped by the damp patch on the ceiling of her new apartment, a flooded area that constantly drips and seems unhealthy, it's a problem that doesn't look likely to be resolved any time soon.

Another horror adapted from the work of Kôji Suzuki (who also wrote the source material for Ring), director Nakata seems to find a better way into the material with this outing. He makes a more incisive and effective film, in terms of the complete experience, by focusing on the drama without pinning everything around a few great set-pieces. He's helped immensely by the screenplay, by Ken'ichi Suzuki and Yoshihiro Nakamura, which explores the main theme in a mature way that refuses to rush towards the finale, and refuses to recycle a lot of the genre tropes that could have turned this into a more standard horror tale.

Kuroki and Kanno are both fantastic in their roles, working well both together and individually in every scene. Kuroki is the seasoned professional, and it shows, but Kanno arguably deserves a bit more praise for doing so well in her first feature role. There are also numerous solid supporting performances, but the focus remains on the mother and daughter relationship at all times.

I know that many may think of this as hyperbole, I do, but it's worth reappraising Ring (still a great, iconic, film) as the forerunner to many movies that would surpass it. Dark Water is just one of the films that does that. It has a feeling of sadness throughout, and sometimes dread, and the final scenes are among the most quietly moving in horror. You can feel free to disagree, but I urge you to (re)watch the movie before you make up your mind on it.

*NOT a Japanese film but, like many other Chinese and South Korean movies from this period, it was grouped with the others to make the stronger case for just how much good stuff we were getting outwith mainstream American and British territories.

9/10

You can buy the movie here.
Americans can buy that same disc here.