Samara aka Ring 2

Samara

Bring into your mind all the Japanese/Korean/Chinese horror flicks that has been airing the last few years, add in some Hollywood touch and special effects with a few stiff and expressionless actors and actresses and you have your flick here. For starters Samara is no different from the legions of horror cum suspense flick that has been shown, none of the tricks and storyline is original and you can actually guess what plot will proceed accordingly throughout the movie to the point that you can shout out “oh the big bad ghostie will soon pop out after this scene”. In short the thrills are all too predictable and none too scary. While there exist tense moments, the scare comes too far in between to make an impact nor are there any moments that really makes you want to pee in your pants. Even seeing it with my girl friend and though she had her hands over her ears and eyes ready to close whenever there is some scary moments, even she walked out feeling a bit cheated.

For a sequel it is quite a flop, watching the first Ring in the original Japanese screenplay was way much spookier and even the adaptation into the English screen did quite a credible job of translating the scare factor. Most of the story about Samara has already been known after the first movie where it continues after the events of the first with both mother and son moving away to start a new life elsewhere after the trials they had with the cursed video in the first part. Much has already been told and holds not much secret in the second. Too little deaths and gory scenes makes it a lukewarm horror flick and more of a suspense thriller with all the build up moments but it feels like an anticlimax (think pulling out before an orgasm) when nothing materialize after all that waiting. The people casted in the show were all stiff and unremarkable with Naomi Watts acting like a frantic lunatic and not showing much love and care for a mother with a dead possessed child while David Dorfman (Aiden) could be the long lost twin of the kid in Sixth sense with his expressionless and hollow composure which I suspect is to portray him as being disturbed by Samara but failed at that.

The focus shifts away from the curse of the tape and the sense of urgency as people tries to make a copy of the tape before the 7 day period. Now it’s more about Samara herself in which she seems more ‘free’ to carry out her vendetta by not abiding by the initial curse. The nicest part would be Samara doing a Golem crawl up the well after Naomi near the end, but that’s it. If you wish to find out a few more missing parts about Samara’s history be my guest and watch it. For those that decide not to catch it, you’re not missing anything and for those wanting a better scare, please go ahead and dig out the old Poltergeist series that has been sitting in your rack. For me I’ll have to give it a 2/5 star recommendation for weak casts, shallow plot lines, rehashed scare tactics and a low bottom gore factor. Not recommended for those of weak heart due to the more disturbing themes such as infanticide, demonic birthing, ghostly takeover of the soul, horrible deaths and killer stags (???).