Ring 2 (1999) | Plot, Cast & Horror Facts

Ring 2 (Japanese: ãƒªãƒ³ã‚°2, Ringu 2) is a 1999 Japanese supernatural horror film directed by Hideo Nakata and written by Hiroshi Takahashi, the team behind Ringu (1998). It picks up four weeks after the first film and brings back most of its cast. This time Ryuji’s assistant, Mai Takano (Miki Nakatani), searches for Reiko and her son Yoichi as Sadako‘s curse spreads. It was made to replace an existing sequel. Spiral (1998), based on Koji Suzuki‘s novel, had been released alongside Ringu and was poorly received. So Nakata and Takahashi wrote an original story that ignores it. Ring 2 was the second-highest-grossing Japanese film of 1999. It was later followed in its own continuity by Sadako (2019).

At a glance

Release date	January 23, 1999 (Japan)
Director	Hideo Nakata
Writer	Hiroshi Takahashi (screenplay)
Based on	Characters from Ring by Koji Suzuki; original story
Starring	Miki Nakatani, Hitomi SatÅ, Kyoko Fukada, Nanako Matsushima, Hiroyuki Sanada
Runtime	95 minutes
Box office	Â¥3.57 billion ($31.3 million) in Japan
Franchise	Ring: sequel to Ringu (1998), replacing Spiral; followed by Ring 0: Birthday (2000, prequel)

Plot summary

Sadako Yamamura’s body has been recovered from the well. Forensics tell her uncle Takashi that she survived down there for thirty years. He buries her remains at sea, hoping to be free of the guilt he has carried since her mother, Shizuko, killed herself. After the sudden deaths of Ryuji Takayama and Reiko Asakawa’s father, the police look for Reiko (Nanako Matsushima) and her son Yoichi. Ryuji’s assistant Mai Takano (Miki Nakatani) and Reiko’s colleague Okazaki join the search. Okazaki interviews a schoolgirl, Kanae (Kyoko Fukada), who has watched the tape and begs him to watch his copy too. Instead, he hides it in a drawer.

Mai learns that Masami (Hitomi SatÅ), the friend who saw Reiko’s niece Tomoko die, is now mute and terrified of televisions. Her doctor, the paranormal researcher Kawajiri, is trying to draw the psychic energy out of her. Around Masami, Sadako appears on a hospital TV. Mai realizes she herself is psychic and that Yoichi, mute since his father’s death, has been trying to pass his fear to her. An experiment to project Masami’s mind onto a blank tape instead brings up the cursed video’s images.

Spoiler section: the pool and the well

Pressured by the police, Mai gives away Reiko’s location. Yoichi lashes out psychically and escapes, but Reiko is killed by a truck. Mai and Yoichi flee to Oshima and the Yamamura inn. Kawajiri arrives with a plan to drain Sadako’s hatred from Yoichi into a swimming pool, using Mai as a conduit, since water can neutralize the energy. Sadako’s coffin rises in the pool. Takashi throws himself in, and Kawajiri dives in with electrical equipment, killing them and his assistant. Mai and Yoichi find themselves in the well, where Ryuji’s ghost absorbs Yoichi’s fear and offers a rope. Sadako climbs after them and asks, “Why is it only you were saved?” The two come back free of their fear. In the hospital, Okazaki has been institutionalized, and a photograph of him shows Kanae’s laughing ghost.

Production and behind the scenes

After the success of Ring and Spiral, Kadokawa Shoten and Ace Pictures held a public screenplay contest for a sequel or spin-off, with a Â¥5 million prize. Suzuki, Nakata, producer Masato Hara and Kadokawa executive Tsuguhiko Kadokawa judged it, but no entry was chosen. Nakata recalled that he and Takahashi then decided to develop the sequel themselves. Because Spiral already existed as a novel and a film, they devised an original story that would continue Ring directly and disregard Spiral. A press conference was held at Tokyo’s Imperial Hotel on September 22, 1998, with Nakata, Suzuki, Hara, Kadokawa, Nakatani and SatÅ.

Much of the cast returned, including Nakatani as Mai, Matsushima as Reiko, Rikiya Otaka as Yoichi and Hiroyuki Sanada as Ryuji. Rie InÅ plays Sadako, with Mebuki Tsuchida as the young Sadako. Kenji Kawai again scored the film, Hideo Yamamoto shot it, and Toho distributed it.

Release and reception

Toho released Ring 2 in Japan on January 23, 1999, on a double bill with Shikoku. It was the second-highest-grossing Japanese film of 1999, after PokÃ©mon: The Movie 2000. It earned Â¥2.1 billion in distribution rentals and a total box office of Â¥3.57 billion ($31.3 million). It sold 128,521 tickets in South Korea and 22,263 in France. In the Philippines it was released as Ring 2: Call of Evil on March 5, 2003. In the US, DreamWorks released it direct to video on August 23, 2005, the same year its American counterpart The Ring Two, also directed by Nakata, came out.

Variety called it a “very different beast” with “less atmosphere and more genre shocks.” It said the film “notably fails to build on the first movie’s wonderfully nasty final scene” and grows “progressively more conventional.” Keith Hennessey Brown of Eye for Film found it effective, atmospheric and stylish, though more meandering than its predecessor. The New Zealand International Film Festival, which screened it in 2001, called it a rare sequel that in some ways improved on the original. Rotten Tomatoes lists a 7% score from fourteen reviews.

Legacy and influence

Ring 2 left the series with two rival sequels to Ringu. The prequel Ring 0: Birthday followed in 2000, adapted from the “Lemon Heart” story in Suzuki’s Birthday. Sadako 3D (2012), loosely based on Suzuki’s novel S, ignored Ring 2 and followed the Spiral continuity instead. Then Sadako (2019) returned to this film’s continuity as a direct sequel. For the full history of the character, see Sadako Yamamura. For the American remakes, see The Ring (2002).

Trivia

The film was so popular that Kyoko Fukada, who plays Kanae, was offered a recording contract with Pony Canyon, the label behind the soundtrack. Her debut single, “Saigo no Kajitsu” (“The Last Fruit”), came out on May 19, 1999.
In the first half of 2005, 360,000 people watched it on UK television, making it the seventh most-watched foreign-language film there in that period. Ring drew 390,000.
Ryuji Takayama, who died in Ringu, returns as a ghost, with Hiroyuki Sanada reprising the role.
DreamWorks, which made the American remakes, handled its US video release in 2005.

Ring 2