Yes, they’re as rare as hen’s teeth, but once in a while, once in a great while, there are sequels to hit movies that are almost as good at the original. Like Rings, maybe?
This trailer for Rings, the third (and last?) in the Rings Trilogy, seems to finish the nearly inexplicable mayhem that began almost fifteen years ago in Ring, a Japanese horror film nobody expected and even fewer understood. But the visceral imagery of that film has lingered for years, even amongst those who have never seen and don’t being to comprehend the first of the film (or remember the second one).
The tropes that The Ring established in 2002 have all returned. It’s so dark it’s almost black and white; it’s wet and slimy and just as full of hair as the original. But now that the era of land lines and VHS cassettes has passed, how will all this work? Here’s a hint:
We’ll just have to wait to see if all the brilliant visuals and the unsettling concepts behind them can overcome the self-imposed barriers of featuring far too recognizable faces from Shameless, Friday Night Lights, and i– God help us — The Big Bang Theory. The anonymity of the bodies in the original film definitely helped establish the willing (or unwilling) sense of disbelief and now, with Johnny Galekci’s face right in front of us, that might not be so easy.
But we’ll see. And certainly at this point, all the choking, grunting, whimpering ickiness of the original looks like it’s made the fifteen-year-trip to Rings.
