Then you die
SAMARA TAKES A LEAP The curse goes viral.
ou’ve heard the legend: you watch the tape, the phone rings, and seven days later, you’re dead – and The Ring is back. Its sequel, Rings, opened in cinemas countrywide yesterday.
Since 2002, the vengeful spirit of Samara Morgan has wreaked havoc on those unfortunate enough to stumble upon her cursed VHS tape. “The Ring was such a game-changing movie that ushered in a completely different kind of horror film,” says director F Javier Gutiérrez. “It wasn’t gory or violent, but every frame fills you with dread.”
The relationship between technology and morality played a key role in his decision to continue Samara’s story. “As a culture, we’re obsessed with videos, and the way we watch them has changed dramatically since the first two Ring films. I wanted to explore how technology fundamentally changes how the curse works and spreads. It’s not only easier to watch videos, it’s also much easier to make copies and pass the curse on. With two clicks, you’ve sent it to a dozen people. ”
“There’s something horrific about good people’s willingness to harm others when they’re threatened,” Gutiérrez says. “Samara’s survival is dependent on people passing the curse on.”
Johnny Galecki plays Gabriel, a biology professor who stumbles on the cursed tape at a garage sale. He watches it one night and receives a cryptic phone call: a girl’s voice croaks the haunting words “seven days”. “My character jumps to some conclusions,” says Galecki. “He believes what he’s seeing points to evidence of the soul.” Gabriel digitises the tape’s content and organises his students to test his theory. “Each of his students watch the tape. When they do, they take on the curse and start seeing crazy things. For their safety, I’ve arranged for a ‘tail’, which is another student they can pass the curse along to. Nobody is supposed to get hurt. As you can imagine, this doesn’t go as planned.” Matilda Lutz plays Julia, whose boyfriend Holt (Alex Roe) goes missing at college. Julia goes to the campus and follows Sky (Aimee Teegarden) to Gabriel’s underground operation. Sky offers to take her to Holt, but first they stop by Sky’s apartment so Julia can see a certain video… Teegarden says: “Sky’s on her seventh day after seeing the tape ... . She’s been hallucinating and having a major meltdown because Gabriel hasn’t assigned her a tail and she’s running out of time. “If she can get Julia to watch the video, she’ll be safe ...”