The Ring Sequel's Mystery Plans!
Hey, fans of The Ring: Is it just us, or have you also regarded your TV and VCR with mild distrust ever since that ghastly little girl crawled out of the screen and literally scared folks to death? Well, boo! TV Guide Online has the latest scoop on The Ring 2. Our preliminary advice to moviegoers? Like mama always said, don't sit too close to the tube...
First off, what will the sequel be about? "We have to figure something out quick," admits Walter Parkes, the producer behind last fall's blockbuster thriller. "Truthfully, the most interesting story to tell on The Ring is a prequel. I would be fascinated about how that little girl came into this world, what those parents thought they were getting and what they got — and what they got rid of!
"So," he continues, "just from a screenwriting point of view, I'd say that's the story to tell. The producer in me is worried about a prequel. Just because, has there ever been a successful prequel?"
Parkes makes a valid point about horror prequels. That flop Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 gave us a very forgettable peek into the backstory behind the first film's terrors. Still, the cool Japanese version of The Ring did have a prequel for a sequel...
"Since [the story is] the creation of this monster," Parkes adds, the filmmakers may go a route that's "not unlike the Godfather. Maybe you can do both: Have half the story going forward and half the story going backward, and have the two things meet.
"The first Japanese Ring was a very delicate balance of conventional horror elements and very unconventional Japanese spiritual strangeness," he says, "so we need to find a similar delicate mix on this next one for it to work. I mean, look, you can always just put out something called Ring 2 and [it would open big], but the hope is to make something that is as good or better than the first."
Besides the distorted countenances of the little girl's victims, one familiar face you may see again is that of Naomi Watts. Will the popular Ring star come back? "We have the opportunity for her to return," Parkes hedges, "and it's our intention for her to return, but it's all about the script."
