Rings (2017)

You may be aware that the release of 2017's "Rings" (PG-13, 1:57) came a dozen years after the previous American sequel in the "Ring" franchise, or even that the very first "Ring" film was Japanese, but most people aren't aware of how the story began and how far-reaching it has become. The story of people dying seven days after watching the strange images on a mysterious videotape was first told in a trilogy of books by Japanese author Koji Suzuki in the 1990s. The first novel in "The Ring Trilogy" was simply titled "Rings" and was published in 1991. In Japan, it inspired two manga adaptations, a 1995 film ("Ring: Kanzenban"), a TV series ("Ring: The Final Chapter"), another movie version (1998's "Ring", also known as "Ringu") and a sequel (1999's "Ringu 2"), followed by two remakes of the 1998 film, one from South Korea ("The Ring Virus" in 1999) and the other from the U.S. ("The Ring" in 2002). The American version made over five times what it cost so, naturally, there was a sequel. The profits for "The Ring Two" (released in 2005) "only" tripled its budget and was also rated much lower than the previous film by both critics and audiences. The success of "The Ring" led to the American remakes of other Japanese horror films such as "The Grudge" (and its sequel), "Dark Water" and "Pulse", but the diminishing "Ring" returns and reviews probably contributed to the 12 year gap between "The Ring Two" and "Rings".

Updating the story for a new decade means that, rather on VHS tape, the deadly video at the center of the story is now being stored as a digital file and is viewable on a variety of devices, making the clip all the more ubiquitous – and dangerous. Remaining the same, however, is the origin of the video (a murdered girl named Samara reaching out for vengeance from beyond the grave) plus the way in which the video's curse is carried forward (the viewer receiving a phone call with a creepy female voice on the other end seeing strange things that are not there and then dying exactly seven days after watching the video, unless he or she copies the video and dupes some other poor schmuck into watching it before the week is out). We see the culmination of this pattern play out in the first scene on an airplane flight during which a handsome young man explains his nervousness to an incredulous female passenger by explaining, just as the plane is about to land, that he only has to "make it" through a few more minutes.

Julia and Holt (Matilda Lutz and Alex Roe) are just two teenagers in love… who are about to find themselves deep in a well of malevolence. Holt is heading off to college, while Julia stays back in their hometown to take care of her ailing mother. Texts, phone calls and Skype sessions keep the relationship going… until Holt suddenly and inexplicably stops answering Julia's calls. Desperate, Julia jumps in her car and drives to Holt's college where he is nowhere to be found and where those who know him either don't know where he is or won't say. Julia knows that Holt has been getting extra credit by working on a project for Gabriel, his biology professor (Johnny Galecki), but the prof denies knowing who Holt is, so Julia follows him to another floor of the classroom building to see what's up. She finds herself in a room full of students, video screens and digital clocks which are labeled with various students' names and which are counting down from various points in time. Julia follows a panicked student named Skye (Aimee Teegarden). Skye admits that she knows where Holt is but, before explaining further says, "I have to show you something first". Skye takes Julia home and Julia sees texts from Holt on Skye's phone. Julia learns about the cursed video and that Holt watched it – almost exactly seven full days earlier – so she watches it in order to save Holt, which starts her own proverbial clock ticking. But the video Julia sees is a little different from the previous versions. There are even more disturbing, surreal and seemingly random images in Julia's video – and her experience is different from everyone else's. With Holt's help, Julia follows the clues in her video and the visions that she starts seeing so she can unravel the mystery, save her own life and maybe finally give Samara's spirit some peace. This quest ends up in a small town, where they meet a secretive B&B owner (Jill Jane Clements) and the caretaker (Vincent D'Onofrio) of the grounds of a former church, as they learn of the disappearance of another young girl 30 years earlier, all of which adds background to the version of this saga that began in "The Ring".

"Rings" is both enjoyable and frustrating. Updating the technology involved with watching, copying and sharing the infamous Samara video opens up more possibilities for story-telling, while delving deeper into Samara's sad history adds interesting background – and also takes the tale of the tape in some cool new directions. On the other hand, the script's lack of exposition makes the movie hard to follow… and the acting is somewhat lacking. The ending brings most of it together well, but getting there will put you through the… wringer. "B"