The Ring Two ★★☆☆☆

Rachel and Aiden trying to flee to suburbia and hide from the consequences of their actions by trying to be a Normal Family and put on brave faces for each other is a strong start. Things like Aiden’s photography hobby seeming innocent until you realise that it’s a way to check people’s faces for signs of the curse or Rachel’s severe insecurity at not being the archetypical mother figure as a way to make her son feel safe.

But they can’t keep pretending they’ve done nothing wrong when the consequences of the curse they’ve spread start to reach their safe haven.

But as the plot goes on it’s just all a bit... whatever. Samara’s new motivation seems at odds with the first film while her new backstory feels like a retread of it but with a bonus Catholicism. The idea of Rachel not fitting the typical image of motherhood is not resolved by her breaking away from that but just by fulfilling it in a different way by being a big, boring mamma bear hero.