the Ring 2 (Theatrical) - 1999. 95 minutes.

DIRECTOR: Nakata Hideo. SCREENPLAY: Takahashi Hiroshi.

Q: What do you do when audiences are hungering for more Ring, but are less than thrilled with Rasen, director Iida Joji's sequel?

A: If you're Asmik Ace Entertainment, you get the cast and crew of the first Ring back to make yet another sequel, and pretend that Rasen never happened. Thus Ring 2 was born.

Even having all the original staff back on board, however, Ring 2 doesn't measure up to its predecessor due to the difference in approach between the two movies. What made the first Ring so terrifying was its mystery, how so little was known of Yamamura Sadako or the videotape she made cursed. By revealing Sadako's origins, by attempting to explain the supernatural through hokey scientific logic, Ring 2 removes that mystery--with the result that audience members are informed rather than scared.

To its credit, Ring 2 does have a few chilling scenes, and is one of those rare sequels that seeks to add more to the original story instead of simply rehashing it. Part of the reason it flounders, however, is that the story was the sole brainchild of Nakata and screenwriter Takahashi Hiroshi, and has little in common with the source material.

2 1/2 stars.

Cast - TAKANO MAI: Nakatani Miki. ASAKAWA REIKO: Matsushima Nanako. YOICHI: Otaka Rikiya. IKUMA HEIHACHIRO: Ban Daisuke. SAWAGUCHI KANAE: Fukada Kyoko. TAKAYAMA RYUJI: Sanada Hiroyuki.

Story - Ring 2 begins with some nervous-looking doctors trundling out the corpse of Yamamura Sadako for identification. We know from the first Ring that Sadako was still alive when thrown into the well, but now it looks like she was alive down there for 30 years...

Meanwhile, Reiko and her son Yoichi have gone missing, and Mai, Takayama Ryuji's student, tracks them down to get some answers. By the time she catches up to them Yoichi has started to develop the psychic powers he inherited from his father, and it's not long before he's being manipulated in scientific experiments on how to deal with the beyond-the-grave power of Yamamura Sadako.