[Logo]
Subscribers Only Content Area
[Log      [Learn

Home New Movies All Movies New DVDs All DVDs Newsletter Search


Tell Others About This Page
Bookmark and Share
By Using This Button

"THE RING TWO"
(2005) (Naomi Watts, David Dorfman) (PG-13)

Alcohol/
Drugs
Blood/Gore Disrespectful/
Bad Attitude
Frightening/
Tense Scenes
Guns/
Weapons
None Heavy Extreme Extreme None
Imitative
Behavior
Jump
Scenes
Music
(Scary/Tense)
Music
(Inappropriate)
Profanity
Moderate Heavy Extreme None Heavy
Sex/
Nudity
Smoking Tense Family
Scenes
Topics To
Talk About
Violence
Mild None Heavy Moderate Heavy


QUICK TAKE:
Horror: A single mother must save her son from being possessed by a dead girl's ghost that previously haunted a cursed videotape that kills its viewers a week after watching it.
PLOT:
It's been six months since investigative reporter Rachel Keller (NAOMI WATTS) solved the mystery of a cursed videotape that managed to kill its viewers within a week of seeing it unless they got someone else to watch it before then, thus transferring the curse. In doing so, she saved the life of her young son Aidan (DAVID DORFMAN), but only by keeping the tape in circulation.

She and Aidan have moved from Seattle to the small town of Astoria, Oregon, but when a local teen ends up dead with telltale signs of that cursed videotape, Rachel realizes they haven't gotten away as clean as she hoped. She manages to find the tape and burn it, but just then the curse transfers to her TV back home. Along with it has come the ghost of Samara (KELLY STABLES), the creepy dead girl seen in the tape always crawling out of a well. By solving her murder in the past, Rachel freed the girl from her purgatory, but now her ghost wants to live and has chosen Aidan's body in which to reside.

None of that, of course, sounds believable to Rachel's newspaper coworker Max Rourke (SIMON BAKER), and when the boy progressively becomes sicker, he and social worker Dr. Emma Temple (ELIZABETH PERKINS) mistakenly believe Rachel is abusing her son. With time running out, Rachel races to figure out the rest of the story behind Samara's past, including a trip to see her institutionalized mother, Evelyn (SISSY SPACEK), who gives the reporter some unsettling news -- she must kill her son to free him from Samara's spirit.

WILL KIDS WANT TO SEE IT?
If they're fans of the first film or horror films in general, they probably will.
WHY THE MPAA RATED IT: PG-13
For violence/terror, disturbing images, thematic elements and some language.
CAST AS ROLE MODELS:
  • NAOMI WATTS plays an investigative reporter who's moved her son away from the horror that afflicted them in the past regarding the cursed videotape. When she discovers that they haven't escaped Samara's haunting, she sets out to discover the rest of the truth about the ghost and figure out how to free her boy from its possession, which includes some drastic measures. She briefly uses strong profanity.
  • DAVID DORFMAN plays her precocious young son who becomes possessed by the girl's spirit.
  • SIMON BAKER plays Rachel's coworker who becomes increasingly concerned about what he mistakenly believes is her abusing her son.
  • SISSY SPACEK plays the dead girl's mother who's institutionalized, but appears to be something of a psychic.
  • ELIZABETH PERKINS plays a social services psychologist who thinks that Rachel is abusing Aidan.
  • KELLY STABLES plays the dead ghost girl who doesn't want to give up Aidan's body and is responsible for several people's deaths.
  • CAST, CREW, & TECHNICAL INFO

    HOW OTHERS RATED THIS MOVIE


    Curious if this title is entertaining, any good, and/or has any artistic merit?
    Then read OUR TAKE of this film.


    (Note: The "Our Take" review of this title examines the film's artistic merits and does not take into account any of the possibly objectionable material listed below).


    OUR WORD TO PARENTS:
    The following is a brief summary of the content found in this horror flick that's been rated PG-13. Profanity consists of at least 1 "f" word, but only a handful of other expletives and colorful phrases are uttered. There's brief talk about a girl in the past getting pregnant, while the camera briefly lingers on a close-up of a woman's butt in her wet and tight pants.

    Several deaths occur due to supernatural powers, a mother nearly drowns her boy in a bathtub to rid him of the spirit that possesses him, and some deer violently attack a car. Those scenes and many other ghostly moments and encounters, jump scenes and more (including standard haunted house type material and some blood flowing along the floor, etc.) may be quite unsettling, suspenseful or downright scary to various viewers.

    Some characters have bad attitudes, some potentially deadly imitative behavior is present, as are various thematic elements (parents trying to kill their kids, allegations of child abuse, spiritual possession, etc.), some of which lead to some tense family moments.

    If you're still concerned about the film and its appropriateness for yourself or anyone else in your home who may be interested in seeing it, we suggest that you take a closer look at our detailed listings for more specific information regarding the film's content.



    ALCOHOL OR DRUG USE
  • None.
  • BLOOD/GORE
  • A large amount of blood (or some other dark and thick liquid) begins to flow under a door and pool around a teen's shoes.
  • We see a dead teen's face, frozen in ghastly horror and with various veins and discoloration showing. Later, we see another face in exactly the same state.
  • Inside a crime scene house that previously had blood flowing across the floor, Rachel steps down into carpet that's either water or blood-soaked (we hear the squishy sound and see the wet indentation).
  • We see bruise marks on Aidan's bare back that are in the shape of the dead girl's hands.
  • We see a drop of blood on the end of a syringe's needle.
  • DISRESPECTFUL/BAD ATTITUDE
  • Samara (the dead ghost girl) wants to live through Aidan's body and thus possesses him, while she's also responsible for the deaths of several people.
  • A teenage boy, knowing he's afflicted by the videotape curse and with time running out, tries to convince a female classmate to watch the film (so that the curse is transferred from him to her). He later refers to her as "some stupid chick" from his school.
  • A worker at the local newspaper states, "we should be so lucky" when it's mentioned that their town might have a homicide.
  • Rachel, needing to get the cursed videotape, breaks into and enters a house (and crime scene, but does so with the hidden key she's found).
  • A real estate agent lies to Rachel about the whereabouts of the previous owners of a house.
  • We hear that a young mother from the past tried to kill her young baby, and then see a flashback of that scene where the mother carries the child into a fountain and is about to drown it when nuns rush up and stop her from doing so.
  • FRIGHTENING SCENES
  • Scenes listed under "Violence," "Blood/Gore" and "Jump Scenes" may be unsettling, suspenseful or scary to younger viewers and/or those with low tolerance levels for such material.
  • A teenage boy, knowing he's afflicted by the videotape curse and with time running out, tries to convince a female classmate to watch the film (so that the curse is transferred from him to her). As he leaves her alone to watch it, he realizes he only has two minutes to go, and then the phone rings (but it's his friend). Blood (or some other dark and thick liquid) then begins to flow under the door and pool around his shoes. He then goes back to the girl who says she didn't watch it. We then see flash images of the tape and hear her screaming as he's apparently killed by supernatural forces.
  • A creepy videotape plays on the TV, with all sorts of eerie imagery.
  • Hearing that all people could talk about was a dead teen's face at a homicide scene, Rachel goes there, sneaks into the ambulance holding the body, and slowly unzips the body bag. She then pulls back the sheet to reveal the dead teen's face, frozen in ghastly horror and with various veins and discoloration showing. Samara's ghost then suddenly sits up in the body bag and grabs Rachel's arm.
  • As Rachel burns the cursed videotape, we see that the curse has instantly transferred to the TV set back in her house.
  • Aidan sees water starting to come across the living room floor and he backs toward the TV that's now showing the cursed videotape (with the dead girl climbing out of the well and approaching the camera/front of the TV). She then reaches through the TV screen and grabs Aidan, pulling him back through the screen (we next see him in bed, waking up from what Rachel thinks is a nightmare).
  • Rachel panics when she can't find Aidan at a flea market. He's gone into the empty and creepy restroom where he can't get the water to work, but a lone fly comes out of the spigot. He then turns and sees a reflection of the dead girl in the mirror (but she isn't there when he turns around). He then takes a series of photos aimed at the mirror, and when we later see them, each one shows the dead ghost girl getting closer to him until the two are one.
  • As they drive down the road, Aidan yells for his mom to watch out and she slams on the breaks to avoid hitting a large buck that's crossing the road. He pleads for her not to stop, but she just watches the deer pass by. It then suddenly smashes (with a full rack) through her driver's side window, thrashing about while she tries to avoid being hit by the antlers. She then looks up to see another buck charging from the other side and it smashes into the passenger side window, and also thrashes about. She finally gets her foot on the accelerator and speeds off (dragging the deer for a bit with them before they tumble away). As she speeds down the road, another buck smashes into the windshield and up over the top of the car. At a dead stop, they then find themselves surrounded by bucks, but manage to drive away without any other violent incidents.
  • The lights and phone suddenly go out in Rachel's home. We then see a shadow go across Aidan's bed from the outside, with the window then opening from the outside. Rachel hears noises and goes up to his room to check out weird noises, only to find the dead ghost girl standing facing the wall that she's shredding with her fingernails. That figure then suddenly turns into Aidan and a large, smoking and glowing fissure then quickly branches out from the scraped hole up the wall and across the ceiling.
  • Aidan is frightened when Rachel puts him into a bathtub at Max's place. She then leaves to get stuff back at their house, but when Max is on the phone, the bathroom door suddenly closes and locks. Max tries to get in, but can't, and then notices water starting to flow beneath the door. Rachel returns and finds the same, but when Max rushes off to find something to break down the door, the water starts running down from the top of it, suggesting the room is filling with water. She finally gets inside, only to see water from the tub flowing up toward the ceiling where it's collecting and adding depth. We then see the dead girl's ghostly hands around the boy in the tub and then Aidan with dead looking eyes in his head. All of the water then suddenly falls from the ceiling, filling the tub, with Rachel then trying to find Aidan in it. The dead girl then bursts up out of the water, with Rachel grabbing and trying to drown her, but the girl changes to Aidan and Max rushes in, thinking Rachel is trying to drown her son.
  • Rachel slowly descends the cobweb covered stairs into a dark basement, looking for clues about the dead ghost girl. She finds various deer antler racks, as well as some info on the girl's family. We then see one light bulb go out, and then another.
  • While under a supernatural spell, a woman takes a large hospital syringe, draws back nothing but air inside it, and places it to her neck. She then inserts the needle into her neck and presses the plunger, sending a deadly flow of air into her bloodstream.
  • We hear that a young mother from the past tried to kill her young baby, and then see a flashback of that scene where the mother carries the child into a fountain and is about to drown it when nuns rush up and stop her from doing so.
  • When Rachel asks the dead girl's mother what she (Rachel) did wrong, the mother says, "You let the dead get in."
  • Max visits Aidan at his home, and since we know the boy is possessed, we figure something bad is going to happen.
  • When Aidan calls Rachel "mommy" rather than by her first name as usual, we know he's possessed. Later, when she says he has to sleep, the boy creepily responds, "I never sleep."
  • Rachel slowly approaches a man's truck where she can see his figure inside, but no details. She opens the door and reaches out to pull him away from the steering wheel, only to show that he's dead, his face frozen in ghastly horror (with veins in his skin, etc.).
  • Rachel takes Aidan (who's unconscious after she purposefully drugged him with a sleeping pill so that she can rid his body of the dead ghost girl who's possessing him) and places him into a filled bathtub. He wakes up and pleads that he's Aidan, but she knows better and, with much hesitation and dread, holds him under the water. We then see the dead ghost girl's hair flowing out of his mouth and filling the water that then turns black. The ghost then suddenly rises up out of the water, looks at Rachel, and then dissolves away. Rachel then grabs Aidan from the now empty tub and pleads for him to breathe (which he does).
  • She then hears the sound of the TV and cautiously goes there, seeing the video playing on it with the ghost girl climbing out of the well and slowly approaching the camera/front of the TV screen. Rachel then purposefully allows the girl to grab her arms and pull her back into the TV.
  • Rachel then finds herself back in the water-filled well from the first film (where she found the dead girl's body) and appears nervous. We see an underwater POV looking up at her, and Rachel then decides she has to get out and starts climbing up the vertical stone wall as we see ever more bubbles coming up through the water. We then see the dead ghost girl surface and start scaling the wall after Rachel, climbing it in a creepy, herky-jerky fashion. Rachel races to get to the top, but the girl catches her and grabs her foot. A blast of water knocks the girl back down into the well, but she quickly starts to scale it again, with Rachel scrambling to get out and push the huge stone cover to seal the well and the ghost girl inside it.
  • Rachel finds herself in some foggy woods and then walks to a sheer cliff where she stands and contemplates what to do. She then does a swan dive off the side (but is okay as she ends up back in her home with Aidan).
  • GUNS/WEAPONS
  • None.
  • IMITATIVE BEHAVIOR
  • Phrases: "I'm not your f*cking mommy," "Scariest freakin' movie you'll ever see" and "Who do you think buys this crap?"
  • Rachel burns the videotape in a barrel.
  • While under a supernatural spell, a woman takes a large hospital syringe, draws back nothing but air inside it, and places it to her neck. She then inserts the needle into her neck and presses the plunger, sending a deadly flow of air into her bloodstream.
  • Rachel makes a sandwich for Aidan that's laced with the powdery contents of a sleeping pill (to knock him out and hopefully rid his body of the dead ghost girl who possesses him).
  • JUMP SCENES
  • A dead looking hand suddenly pops up out of a well.
  • Samara's ghost suddenly sits up in a body bag and grabs Rachel's arm.
  • We suddenly see a reflection of the dead girl in a mirror.
  • Some large bucks suddenly smash into Rachel's car on the road.
  • The dead ghost girl suddenly pops up out of a filled bathtub.
  • Aidan, who's unconscious, suddenly grabs Rachel's arm.
  • A door suddenly opens as Rachel goes up to it (but it's a real estate agent who's opened it).
  • MUSIC (SCARY/TENSE)
  • An extreme amount of suspenseful music plays in the film.
  • MUSIC (INAPPROPRIATE)
  • None.
  • PROFANITY
  • At least 1 "f" word, a possible "s" word (that's at least mouthed), 1 crap, 1 damn, 2 uses each of "Jesus" and "Oh my God" and 1 use of "G-damn," "God" and "Oh God."
  • SEX/NUDITY
  • We briefly see Aidan in his kid boxers as his mom puts him in a bath.
  • A worker states that a pregnant girl in the past said that there was no father, but that something from the water impregnated her.
  • As Rachel tries to climb out of a water well, the camera briefly focuses on her butt in her wet and very tight pants (with her bare lower back showing as well).
  • SMOKING
  • None.
  • TENSE FAMILY SCENES
  • Rachel tells Aidan "he'd be proud of you" (possibly referring to his father about Aidan's interest in photography).
  • Rachel panics when she can't find Aidan at a flea market.
  • Rachel worries about Aidan, particularly when it appears that the dead ghost girl possesses him.
  • Thinking that Rachel is abusing Aidan (due to bruises on his body and what Max earlier saw), a social services worker tells Rachel that she has to leave the hospital and leave Aidan there in their care.
  • We hear that a young mother from the past tried to kill her young baby, and then see a flashback of that scene where the mother carries the child into a fountain and is about to drown it when nuns rush up and stop her from doing so.
  • Rachel takes Aidan (who's unconscious after she purposefully drugged him with a sleeping pill so that she can rid his body of the dead ghost girl who's possessing him) and places him into a filled bathtub. He wakes up and pleads that he's Aidan, but she knows better and, with much hesitation and dread, holds him under the water. We then see the dead ghost girl's hair flowing out of his mouth and filling the water that then turns black. The ghost then suddenly rises up out of the water, looks at Rachel, and then dissolves away. Rachel then grabs Aidan from the now empty tub and pleads for him to breathe (which he does).
  • TOPICS TO TALK ABOUT
  • Spirits and hauntings.
  • Aidan calls Rachel by her first name rather than as "mom" or "mommy."
  • Adoption.
  • Post-partum depression.
  • Child abuse (Rachel is incorrectly accused of that).
  • VIOLENCE
  • We hear the sounds of a teenager being killed or at least frightened to death by the cursed videotape and/or Samara.
  • Samara's ghost suddenly sits up in a body bag and grabs Rachel's arm.
  • Samara reaches through the TV screen and grabs Aidan, pulling him back through the screen (we next see him in bed, waking up from what Rachel thinks is a nightmare).
  • As they drive down the road, Aidan yells for his mom to watch out and she slams on the breaks to avoid hitting a large buck that's crossing the road. He pleads for her not to stop, but she just watches the deer pass by. It then suddenly smashes (with a full rack) through her driver's side window, thrashing about while she tries to avoid being hit by the antlers. She then looks up to see another buck charging from the other side and it smashes into the passenger side window, and also thrashes about. She finally gets her foot on the accelerator and speeds off (dragging the deer for a bit with them before they tumble away). As she speeds down the road, another buck smashes into the windshield and up over the top of the car. At a dead stop, they then find themselves surrounded by bucks, but manage to drive away without any other violent incidents.
  • Rachel grabs and tries to drown Samara in a bathtub.
  • We see brief imagery of past events showing a bag being placed over a girl's head and a mother taking a swan dive off the edge of a cliff into the sea below.
  • While under a supernatural spell, a woman takes a large hospital syringe, draws back nothing but air inside it, and places it to her neck. She then inserts the needle into her neck and presses the plunger, sending a deadly flow of air into her bloodstream.
  • We hear that a young mother from the past tried to kill her young baby, and then see a flashback of that scene where the mother carries the child into a fountain and is about to drown it when nuns rush up and stop her from doing so.
  • Rachel makes a sandwich for Aidan that's laced with the powdery contents of a sleeping pill (to knock him out and hopefully rid his body of the dead ghost girl who possesses him).
  • Rachel takes Aidan (who's unconscious after she purposefully drugged him with a sleeping pill so that she can rid his body of the dead ghost girl who's possessing him) and places him into a filled bathtub. He wakes up and pleads that he's Aidan, but she knows better and, with much hesitation and dread, holds him under the water. Moments later, and with the ghost gone, she grabs Aidan from the now empty tub and pleads for him to breathe (which he does).
  • Rachel scales the inside of a water well to get to the top, but the dead ghost girl catches her and grabs her foot. A blast of water then knocks the girl back down into the well.



  • Reviewed March 15, 2005 / Posted March 18, 2005

    This Week's New Reviews:

    [The Blind Side] [Planet 51] [The Twilight Saga: New Moon]

    Advertising Info Info/FAQ Mail Sneak Previews

    Privacy Statement and Terms of Use and Disclaimer
    By entering this site you acknowledge to having read and agreed to the above conditions.

    All Rights Reserved,
    ©1996-2009 Screen It, Inc.