If you loved Ringu(1998), I suggest do not go for this movie. It will spoil all the entertainment you had on Ringu. Rather than terror and horror, this movie contain scientific views. Trying to explain everything with a proof. And which I believe has not succeeded. Also sex came into scene, in this movie which spoiled the horror effect.This movie was from the author of book of "Ringu". But failed to interpret the novel completely. Watch Ringu, Ringu2 and Ringu 0. After that if you still want to watch a Ring movie, watch Rasen. Before watch erase all theories you learned from other Ringu movies

This film follows the Japanese version of the Ring known as Ringu. Where it follows I am not sure. The back of my box which is a collection of the Japanese Rings places it second, however the alternate title here suggests it was the fourth film. All I know is that this film is a sequel to Ringu, but a disappointing one. There are things that follow the first film, then things that are completely wrong and this one makes the mistake of trying to logically explain things and give reasons for what is happening. Kind of like the Phantasm series, the first one you wondered what the heck was going on and in the later installments they tried to explain everything and it just was not as intriguing anymore.The story starts out with a man autopsying a former colleague who was the father in the first film. This leads to the best scene in the movie as this autopsy is rather bloody. Too bad that the highlight of the film is like less than ten minutes in. This doctor lost a son and soon stumbles upon the cursed video tape. He begins seeing things, and it is not long until he has played the video. However, things completely go off track as they start introducing a sort of virus in this one seemingly dismissing the little girl all together. And it is not even a little girl this time! Yes, this film tries to scientifically explain things this time and it just does not work. Not for me anyway. It also changes the little girl into a woman. Maybe this was not the second installment and things were explained in the previous flicks, I only went by the order given me on the box, but I still hate the cause for all the deaths and stuff they give here.So, what we get is a sequel that changes things around, but still has the core from the original. It may be enjoyable for some, I enjoyed it up to a point, but I certainly thought the ending was very dull. I do hope the movie titled Ringu 2 is better than this one was.

I'm just gonna give you the real low-down on what goes on in Spiral, save you from watching most of it...'Spiral' is about this doctor who wants to kill himself because of the death of his son (partly his fault). However, he can't do it. One day he finds that his old rival from school Ryuji is on the chopping board after being found death in his flat the other day.The death looks strange and the police think it was either murder or suicide, Andou however thinks it's just sudden death. There is some strange things in this sudden death, even to Andou. He finds these coded numbers in the throat of Ryuji.After this... cuts through boring blah-blah... Reiko Asakawa is found dead. Here, her snoopy ex-boss keeps turning up. On one occasion, he turns up to show Andou the diary of the now sadly dead, Reiko Asakawa. In this diary, it explains everything that she felt, thought and saw during her life 'particularly, the cursed videotape and what she and Ryuji were up to' in the week. While being given the diary and the video, Ryuji appears and grins at Andou. After that, Yoshino gives him a copy of the tape he stole from Reiko's flat, and disappears till later in the movie...After watching the videotape, Andou has a nightmare about Sadako's death. He thinks that what Ryuji is haunting him for is that he wants him to destroy the videotapes before he dies. So, he tells Mai about it and ends up sleeping with her (hmmm...) After that, Andou asks Miyashita (his pal) to run the virus tests on him (to see if they matched Ryuji's and Yoichi's) to see if he's contracted the virus. Miyashita then reads the diary...After a spoiler which I can't tell you. Yoshino comes forward to Andou to tell him that he's having nightmares about Sadako's well. Andou believes that Yoshino must have watched the videotape, but he exclaims that he didn't, and wishes that he'd never laid eyes on 'the diary'. So Yoshino makes Andou take them... Before dying of what seems to be a strange bruising of the neck. Ryuji and Yoichi didn't die this way, so this didn't seem right... However, Andou goes on blaming the video...In Yoshino's sample, it proves that he died a new virus, working with Sadako's virus.So they all think it must be a new illness.Miyashita also comes forwards and tells Andou that he's have nightmares about the well as well. Knowing that Miyashita hadn't watched the video, he starts to believe that maybe Yoshino had got the virus some other way. After all, there is a new virus working with Sadako's virus... And there is only one other way Miyashita could have contacted the 'Ring Virus'...Reiko's diary! Why is it Reiko's diary causing all the trouble, and not the videotape? After all, Andou watched the videotape and has destroyed them all because of what Ryuji wanted him to do? Will Ryuji want the diary destroyed next? And what about Mai, where the hell has she disappeared to in the movie??? Some of those answers will be answered if you read the diary.

I just want to start by saying I don't find this film anywhere near as bad as most seem to. The mistake is viewing this as a direct sequel to "Ringu", made at the same time by a different director it of course does not have the same feel, or menace as its predecessor. Since most people will watch the original first the change in tone is hard to accept. A lot of people also declare this to detach itself too far from the original and explain too much of the mystery with science. When in fact the first two Ring novels have a firm root in science. I also found "Ringu 2" to be just as guilty at favouring science over the unknown, the difference being "Rasen" does explain things thoroughly. The major disappointment here is that I never really felt anything close to fear, or even uneasiness. However in terms of drama, and expanding on the first this film succeeds. The cinematography is just stunning, and the final scene is a scene I find just as disturbing as the ending of "Ringu", not in a fear inducing way, but in a contemplative sort of way. It is also a beautiful scene, and the whole film is well shot. Unlike "Ringu" the acting is a mixed bag, Koichi Sato just about holds up, but as the lead he seems to struggle with acting with emotion, which is a minus considering his character deals with suicide. Overall I think the film should be watched, as a side-note to "Ringu" but judged on its own merits, as it certainly surpasses many scientific thrillers around.