In 2002, The Ring, an American psychological horror remake of the Japanese horror film Ring (1998), started a new genre called J-Horror, which was a series of Hollywood remakes of Japanese horror films. These films stood out for their focus on atmosphere and dread instead of the typical tropes of American horror films, and for a while they were like a breath of fresh air in an industry seemingly short on ideas. Unfortunately, the freshness didn’t last long with the sequels to the more successful films in the genre such as The Ring Two (2005), The Grudge 2 (2006), and The Grudge 3 (2009) milking the cash cow dry.

This is why I wasn’t expecting much from the third instalment in The Ring franchise, Rings. Making matters worse were the dull trailers and the news that the film was rescheduled at least four times, which is usually an ominous sign.

The good news is that for a film with a lesser known cast, poor previews, and a part of a stale genre Rings isn’t as poor as I had expected. The bad news is that it is still a fairly mediocre film. To begin with, the storytelling, performances, and most of the characterizations aren’t very compelling. Rings takes place 13 years after The Ring. I am not quite sure how The Ring Two plays into the continuity because I had skipped it after the poor reception. Things begin on a flight to Seattle where a couple of passengers share that they’ve watch a cursed videotape that apparently results in the death of its viewers after a period of seven days. Both passengers watched the videotape six days ago, and wouldn’t you know it, this is their final hour. What follows is an unnerving sequence where Samara Morgan, the entity from the footage comes to kill them, crashing the plane in the process.

Rings is a fairly mediocre film

Years later we meet college professor Gabriel (Johnny Galecki), who is the only interesting character on offer. We see that after purchasing an old VCR with the Samara Morgan videotape inside, Gabriel grows obsessed with the mystery of the cursed girl with the iconic long black hair. Getting also involved are a number of students in the college, who all watch the videotape and film themselves, and form a cult of sorts. The film also features Julia (Matilda Lutz), a young woman who watches the video in order to save her boyfriend Holt (Alex Roe). Soon after, the duo begins investigating the Samara Morgan mystery themselves.

The fundamental flaws here are many. For one, the chemistry between Julia and Holt is never strong enough to convince us that she would risk horrible excruciating death in order to save his life. For the other, the heavy build-up into Samara Morgan’s back story is worth little because her back story is actually a snore fest. Other issues are with the horror sequences themselves, which are formulaic and rely on cheap jump scares. They are especially predictable if you remember The Ring. On the other hand, the film features some technical wizardry, and some of the creepiest imagery you will see in a horror film. Sadly, these aren’t enough to overshadow the convoluted storytelling and the tedious attempts at setting up a sequel.

MPAA: Rated PG-13 by the MPAA for violence/terror, thematic elements, some sexuality and brief drug material.

Published in Dawn, ICON, February 19th, 2017