The Ring Two 2005

Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press: After seeing The Ring Two, you wonder if 90 minutes of skin-tingling, dream-style imagery wouldn't be preferable to the narrative here. Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: Terrifyingly dull. Read more

Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune: Overall, it's a film project that follows logically from sequel-itis and box-office greed. And it never rises much above them. Read more

Mark Rahner, Seattle Times: While the look and vibe are as polished and unsettling in their blue-white, washed-out way as the first Ring, it's more of a procedural without much real fright. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: Perfunctory, thrill- free sequel. Read more

Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper: I thought the original had a nice evil chill to it, but this is an unnecessary second chapter that dumbs down all the main characters and is curiously lacking in quality scares. Read more

Bob Longino, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: The Ring Two is one of those rare Hollywood sequels -- a second chapter that holds it own against the ultra successful first. Read more

AV Club: Read more

Bill Muller, Arizona Republic: In the first Ring, you watched a videotape and seven days later, you were dead. In the second Ring, you watch a movie and seven minutes later, you're asleep. Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: The Ring Two, which, despite being made by Hideo Nakata, who directed the original Japanese movie, is almost worse [than The Ring]. Read more

Carina Chocano, Los Angeles Times: The movie is as side-splitting as it is creepy. Read more

Bruce Westbrook, Houston Chronicle: Despite a pedigreed cast and crew, Ring Two might as well be Blair Witch 2. Read more

Michael Booth, Denver Post: [Nakata] spends too long reviving nightmares and location shots from The Ring, forgetting that hell must be as fresh as it is rancid. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: A bottomless well of murky wetness out of which no woman emerges unpunished. Read more

Philip Wuntch, Dallas Morning News: The new movie's special effects offer scant compensation for its negligible plot, dreary pace and slim characterization. Read more

Ella Taylor, L.A. Weekly: Might have something interesting to say about cultural ambivalence by and toward the maternal impulse if only it had a spark of originality or verve. Read more

Jan Stuart, Newsday: Watts gets credit for bringing some soul to a movie that puts more emphasis on hair than heart. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: A movie which will confuse newcomers and disappoint old fans. Read more

Jami Bernard, New York Daily News: An uneven story undermines this horror franchise, despite high-quality performances by Naomi Watts and David Dorfman. Read more

Manohla Dargis, New York Times: Despite Mr. Nakata's track record and the radiant presence of its star, Naomi Watts, The Ring Two is a dud. Read more

Andrew Sarris, New York Observer: Too many loose ends. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: The original was a hit in both Japanese and Hollywood incarnations. But the cold-blooded chills of the Japanese movie have now been so watered down as to be simply cold and bloodless. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: A dull, plodding horror movie that ventures into the realm of idiocy when it isn't busy remaking the first film. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: It is like an exercise in cinema mechanics: Images, music, photography and mood conspire to create a sense of danger, even though at any given moment we cannot possibly explain the rules under which that danger might manifest itself. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com: May not be a masterpiece, but it has its share of thoughtful little angles. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: The Ring Two dilutes the dread that the first installment generated and introduces even greater concentrations of plot absurdity. Read more

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Read more

Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail: Kruger's script is a typical collection of sprawling, audience-tested shock scenes strung together with a few chunks of exposition for logical coherence. Read more

Geoff Pevere, Toronto Star: Tell yourself that it's not a horror movie but a farce -- at times a rousingly ridiculous one -- and you'll save yourself a world of disappointment. Read more

Time Out: Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: As in the first movie, there's a lot to the plot that doesn't make sense if analyzed closely, and, as in the first, the end is particularly implausible. But overall, the second Ring is more entertaining. Read more

Todd McCarthy, Variety: A half-intriguing, half-tedious follow-up to DreamWorks' 2002 creepy sleepersleeper. Read more

Ed Park, Village Voice: The let's-travel-through-the-TV-screen sequence was better in Fat Albert. Read more

Desson Thomson, Washington Post: This is a campy scream-a-thon in which you can alternate between freaking and cackling. Read more

Stephen Hunter, Washington Post: Appears to have been written on a large piece of blank paper by chickens with their feet dipped in ink. Read more