As if the plots weren't perplexing enough, fans of Japanese horror films now have a tangle of remakes and sequels to unravel, or, as is the case in The Ring Two, more of an alternative sequel employing the original Japanese director (Hideo Nakata) but altering the story. While this may sound confusing, gluttons for Nakata's elegant punishment shouldn't worry unduly: this American sequel is so similar to its predecessor that only the sense of déjà vu seems new. If you liked it once, you'll like it again; if you didn't, you won't.

For the benefit of the uninitiated, the events of the first film can be summarised as follows: a cursed videotape is doing the rounds that kills its audience seven days after viewing. Rachel (Naomi Watts) and her son Aidan (David Dorfmann) are among the condemned but, after the harrowing deaths of a few bit-part actors, they discover that by making a copy of the tape, a gruesome demise can be averted.

This deceptively simple ruse to propagate limitless cash-in sequels means it should come as no surprise that a copy of the tape, and its infant star Samara, has made its way to the small town in Oregon where mother and son have decamped. "We started over," Rachel explains, and she's not kidding because no sooner is the tape back in the VCR than the television begins to leak, Aidan's camera takes spooky pictures and rampaging deer threaten to trample mother and son. In the first film it was horses, but close enough.

Nakata's sympathy for the supernatural is matched only by his apparent misanthropy; the humans are either tormented, idiotic or needlessly meddlesome, which makes them all ripe for some chilling from Samara, who is still not happy down her well. The result is a film that will keep you bolted to your seat for the best part of two hours, but, when it's over, is unlikely to trouble your memory for much longer.

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