Cinematic magic tricks rarely benefit from repetition, even when they involve a dead girl crawling out of an appliance. When re-watching 1998’s Ringu or its (arguably superior) 2002 remake The Ring, it’s amazing to see just how devoted to the slow burn they were, gradually increasing the tension and building the mystery until arriving at THAT SCENE. It was a peak that the sequels couldn’t hope to match, no matter how many times they tried. Once dead girl started popping willy-nilly out of iPhones in 2012’s Sadako 3D, the dream was over.
Rings, the oft-delayed attempt to fire up the US franchise (2005’s The Ring Two is rightly removed from the narrative), can’t escape that familiarity, even if it does hint at a few interesting wrinkles on the modern state of the urban legend.