Rings Returns to the Well With New Trailer

CBR

By B.C. Wehman

Published Jan 6, 2017

The new trailer for the third entry in the horror franchise will make you think twice about clicking the next link you're forwarded.

"The Blair Witch" tried to find footage of lightning in a bottle, releasing a critically panned sequel to the 1989 genre-creating classic horror film. Now "The Ring" franchise is bringing Samara back, hoping to scare today's youth by introducing them to the concept of a VHS tape ... and the harsh penalties for not rewinding.

The new installment of the American franchise based on the 1998 Japanese adaptation of Kozi Suzuki’s novel “Ringu,” debuted a teaser trailer several months ago, but then fell down a marketing well, missing its originally scheduled October 2016 release date. Now, however, there's a full-length trailer for the third movie, titled "Rings," which opens Feb. 11. The first film in the franchise in more than a decade.

Based on the trailer, and the official synopsis, it appears the creepy, shaky footage has been digitized and bouncing around the darker corners of the internet for the past decade. The newest story, directed by F. Javier Gutierrez ("Before the Fall"), features Samara and her thoughtography torturing a new set of unlucky souls that tempted fate by watching her video. The film takes places 13 years after the events in the original movie.

"A new chapter in the beloved RING horror franchise. A young woman becomes worried about her boyfriend when he explores a dark subculture surrounding a mysterious videotape said to kill the watcher seven days after he has viewed it. She sacrifices herself to save her boyfriend and in doing so makes a horrifying discovery: there is a “movie within the movie” that no one has ever seen before."

"The Ring," released in 2002, grossed more than $249 million on a budget of just $48 million. Starring Naomi Watts, the film kick-started a wave of American remakes of Japanese, Chinese and Korean horror films. It's sequel, "The Ring Two," grossed more than $161 million worldwide after being released in 2005.

Written by David Loucka, Jacob Estes and Akiva Goldsmith, and directed by F. Javier Gutierrez, "Rings" releases February 3rd, 2017 in theaters everywhere. The film stars Matilda Lutz, Alex Roe, Johnny Galecki, Aimee Teegarden, Bonnie Morgan and Vincent D’Onofrio.