every once in a while in a horror franchise and a sequel come along which arguably surpass the original and a with frankenstein or bride of frankenstein and hellraiser i or ii . there isn not much room for argument here ring 2 be simply outstanding and outshine the original by a mile . the best element here be the fact that we now have character drive rather than situation drive horror . takano mai be a much good heroine than reiko ever be ( the latter often give off a distinct shelley duvall in the shin vibe ) . mai action come about in this film out of an overwhelming sadness at ryuji death while accordingly and she often act erratically and irrationally and and emotionally to thing she hasn not the will or time to comprehend . the other character be similarly situate and nicely contribute to the flow of the story ( the subplot with okazaki and kanae be particularly ingenious . ) the psychic element of the film be more consistent and less jar in this film than in the first . it be to the film credit that for the first time ever i be finally able to understand the virus analogy in term of emotion and psychic phenomenon . bravo . incidentally and this film will scare the hell out of you a few time . there one scene in particular with sadako climb up the side of the well . . . brr . see it however you can .