 |
 Sadako's corpse is dissected and it is discovered that even though she was
thought murdered 30 years ago, that her death was actually only a year or two
ago. She had been living under an old well. "After the news was released, the
rumor of the spelled video tape quickly was spread out and the spell of Sadako
is back..." 1998, 95 minutes, Widescreen, VCD
Considering that this psychic chick survived thirty years in a well, it should
not come as a big shock to viewers of The Ring 2, that Sadako is back to wreak some more havoc on the not-so unsuspecting
denizens that inhabited the first film. The original movie was a tautly paced,
atmospheric horror film that detailed the discovery of a videotape of a
mysterious woman which when viewed, killed the person exactly a week later.
You could apparently escape that fate if you showed it to someone else before
your time was up. That movie was great, despite being a bit opaque as to what
exactly Sadako was or how she came to be. You go into this movie hoping for a
little info on what this Sadako chick is all about, and you do learn a little
more, but are still a bit confused. I don't think it detracts too much from
your enjoyment of the movie. If you liked the first one, this one is a welcome
new chapter in the Ring mythos, answering some questions while raising others.
The body of Sadako has been recovered from the well that she had been using as
her crib at the end of the last movie, and it's determined that she's been
kicking it down there for around thirty years. The cops are as nosy as usual
in this type of movie and set out to track down Reiko, the woman reporter from
the first movie that broke this story (by falling into the well or something).
Meanwhile, the assistant (girlfriend?) or Reiko's ex-husband is showing up at
Reiko's television station looking for her, because she wants info on what
happened to the professor (I need his signature to graduate!). Her name is Mai
and she has more success in finding Reiko than the police, chiefly because she
keeps seeing her
little boy Yoichi running around the city. I think we were to assume that Mai
had some type of psychic ability because she also sees the dead professor at
the park. It's probably because of this psychic stuff that she and Yoichi have
this rapport when she is finally able to hook up with him.  Mai locates Yoichi and speaks with him, but he doesn't say anything. Reiko
appears and the three of them go back to her apartment. There, it is evident
that Reiko has dropped out of sight because she still fears that Sadako is out
there running amok (or at least hanging out in a well and showing up
periodically on grainy home video) and because Yoichi suddenly is either unable
to or refuses to speak (there's a nice shot of all these notes he has written,
indicating that he no longer can communicate verbally). I'm sure that this
is a bit of a disappointment for Reiko, because if you recall the end of the
last film, she had her grandfather view the videotape and presumably explained
to him it was to save Yoichi (since he had viewed the tape). In fact, she has
an encounter with the ghost of her father, telling her that they had failed to
save Yoichi, but at least I'm still dead. So I'm pretty sure that she felt a
bit guilty about that (you know how parents are about laying on the guilt
trips). Mai also heads out to the hospital with the cops to check on a girl
that was pals with one of the girls who died in the first movie. She is nuts
and has an aversion to watching television (she only gets the Sadako Channel).
This girl, like Yoichi, doesn't speak, but spazs out when she manages to see a
TV and images from that darn videotape start appearing on it, causing a
hubbubaloo with the rest of the freaks in the hospital. She lays on the floor,
anguished and reaching for Mai, saying "help me" over and over. Next thing you
know, they're bringing in some doctor to do some crazy experiments with this
girl. It involves a lot of wires and electrodes attached to this girls head
and a glass of water and some paper. Now I know you're thinking that this guy
must be the Japanese equivalent of MacGyver or something, but once things
progress, this experiment makes sense (well, as much as any experiment
regarding the possession of girl by the spirit of a ghost makes sense). In the
last movie, they used photos to show the people that had been marked by Sadako,
their faces horribly distorted in the pictures. Here, they have photos showing
strange white light around the victim. This is supposedly the ghost or psychic
something or other that has gotten in and around this girl. The water and
paper experiment shows that it is possible to absorb this psychic energy into
water, when that person concentrates on it. The implications of this really
don't become clear until later when they recycle this gag on Yoichi.  Back at Reiko's television station, there's a reporter working on this killer
videotape story (Don't they have any new news?) and he interviews some chick
and finally convinces her to get him a copy of the tape. She delivers it and
he tries to pay her for it, but she is no longer interested in money. See, she
watched the tape and the only thing she has to say is for the guy to puh-lease
watch that dang thing before next week. He assures her he will and then he
drops it in a desk drawer and locks it up. Well, a week later she turns up
dead and somehow (probably the twisted up face) the cops connect it to the
killer video tape. Mai is there at the scene and I guess she finally gives up
Reiko's whereabouts to them, because the next thing I know, they're hauling her
and Yoichi away. At the police station they're questioning Reiko, but she
don't know nothing about anything. Mai is out in the hallway and sees Yoichi
being led somewhere by the fuzz and she uses some of that sweet telepathy that
comes in handy at times such as this to tell the little bugger to run. And by
golly, if that snot-nosed little psychic freak, don't take off like a flash
(after using the old, "wait a sec, I gots to tie my shoe" trick). Reiko comes
out about this time and goes after him. Yoichi uses some psychic powers to
knock the cops down, but once outside, his mommy gets run over by a truck for
some reason (I'm not blaming Yoichi or nothing, but how do you get run over by
a truck when your kid has psychic abilities far beyond those of mortal men?).
The cops show up and Yoichi almost kills one of them by some kind of mental
strangulation (that sounds like my day-job). Mai gets him to cut it out and
they take off. Next stop is a ferry ride out to Monster Island or whatever
special place that Sadako and her mom Shizuko lived on. I think this was a
smart move, because I rode on a ferry this summer and I have to tell you that
it is one of the most relaxing things in the world, the gentle motion of the
sea and the cool breeze in your face easing away all your worries. I couldn't
think of a better way to chill out after your mom just got hit by a truck and
you've found out that you've got psychic powers that are probably the result of
some dead maniac witch who is bitter about something or other (Thirty years in
a well? Oh yeah...). Mai and Yoichi head over to the Yakamurra Inn (Continental Breakfast and
Psychic Attack $4.95) where Sadako stayed when she was alive (well, technically
I suppose she stayed in the well out back). Somehow or other, the doctor who
does the water and paper trick arrives also. While at the Inn, Sadako's spirit
is omnipresent, popping up periodically to creep Mai and us out. There is also
this old dude that knew (maybe in a biblical way, too) Sadako's mom and
actually brought the mother from the island to the city so that he could show
off her abilities (Sadako picked up an enhanced version of her mom's
abilities). Well, you know how things are when psychic kids (they brought
Sadako) are involved and some people ended up dead and it was all downhill from
there. This old dude, who apparently kind of raised Sadako (when she wasn't
living in a well) takes possession of her corpse from the cops, and returns it
to the sea. In a pretty chilling scene, he recounts for Mai how Sadako's
mother had been pregnant, went to the sea, came back the next day no longer
pregnant and without the child, having left it in the sea to die. He shows Mai
the watery cave where people left their unwanted babies for the current to take
out to the ocean. He said that they day after Sadako's mother had left her,
the mother returned again to him, this time with Sadako (she was persistent
little devil from the get go!). You begin to understand a little bit about all
the hate and bitterness inside (Welled-up? Ouch!) of Sadako and considering
her shadowy birth and maybe death (maybe when her mother finally came back with
her, she was already dead, but now just some type of angry spirit that
continued to grow) it makes sense that the only thing that can absorb it, that
can contain her is water. Is that why she put down at the bottom of a well?
To dampen her abilities? To make sure that even though she couldn't ever be
killed, that she could at least be controlled? You'll have to watch and draw
your own conclusions, because the film isn't exactly handing out a fact sheet
that neatly summarizes her life history, who she is, and what her problem
is. Sometimes in these shockers, that can be a problem, because you never get
the sense that there is any rhyme or reason to what some boogeyman does, powers
come and go depending on plot convenience, revelations about the bad guy's past
all take place in a single scene, usually dominated by some character puking
out a bunch of dull exposition, and when you do hear it, it just isn't that
interesting (He was picked on at the prom? He killed his sister as a little
boy?). With Sadako, though the bits and pieces of who she was and is are
interwoven throughout both movies, skillfully used to build tension and
suspense. They give you enough to keep you on board, but they never completely
reveal their hand. I suppose it was somebody like P.T. Barnum or John Holmes
that said, "always leave'em wanting more!" 
Mai and this doctor dude figure out that Sadako is channelling all her hate and
venom through Yoichi, so the doctor gets all his ghostbusting gear shipped up
to the
island and uses a big swimming pool at the inn to transfer her bitterness from
the child to the water. Problems ensue that involve some people croaking, a
trip into the well, Sadako appearing, and a surprise helper at the bottom of
the well. The movie ends with that reporter dude in the mental hospital
(remember, he took the tape from the girl and didn't watch it in time). He had
been monkeying with some videotape and seen Sadako and been driven nuts. The
nurse takes his photo and something is wrong with it. Then after she leaves,
the
reporter looks over his shoulder and he is not alone. Okay, the bottom line on
this one is that it is tremendously entertaining, yet doesn't pack the wallop
of the first one. In the first movie, we spent a lot time in suspense as to
what was happening and why it was happening. It's hard to recreate that
feeling with the same characters and similar situations. The fear is of the
unknown, but now we know at least some things. I think they ably compensate
for that by realizing you can't rehash the same story. This isn't another
movie about stupid people watching a video tape and dying. They do the smart
thing and actually move the story forward. In the first film, we learned of
Sadako's existence and her efforts to reach out to affect people through the
video tape. In this movie, she has already accomplished that and seeks to go
the next step and complete her resurrection by possessing young Yoichi.
Perhaps she was using the video tape to find a receptive subject for her
actions. Once found, she would finally be able to directly terrorize the world
instead of relying on her fancy chain letter. Of course, the whole "chain
letter video tape" is the stuff of urban legend, so it has a natural built-in
creepy factor that helps it out. This movie is a more conventional "body
snatching" affair, but it's dressed up enough with interesting details and
visual flair, that it succeeds on its own. Like the first one, nothing is
spelled out for you, and you have to actually think a little to figure out what
is going on and more importantly, why it's going on. It is a worthy successor
that will leave wanting to see what happens next with Sadako (there already is
a prequel to both of these movies out). A note about the VCD - they use these
awful white subtitles that tend to get lost against white backgrounds in the
movies. Sometimes these subtitles fade a bit as well. This detracts from an
otherwise fun viewing experience since you're paying attention to the dialogue
to get clues as to what is happening, more so than in many movies. But if
you've got a computer or DVD player that will play a Video CD, this is worth
the effort, especially since you can pick it up for under ten bucks.
Reviews © 2004
MonsterHunter
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