You gotta give it to "Rings." It's not as bad as "The Ring Two," the sloppy, lazy 2005 sequel to one of the best horror films of the past 15 years.
But that doesn't mean it's good, either.
"Rings" picks up a certain period of time after the events of the first film (and presumably the second, though it hardly mentions either beyond the iconic video). A college professor (Johnny Galecki, playing douchebag as only he can) has stumbled upon the video and has turned it into some kind of thesis experiment. He has recruited students to watch it, then finds "tails" (other people to watch the video and pass along the death sentence) and studies what happens to them through the week.
For those wondering: Yes, the VHS tape that kills you is indeed a dead technology, and it is transferred to digital. This raises the question, though: Doesn't the existence of the Internet kill this particular curse? If you can copy and upload, you can essentially get so many people to see it that the entire world would become infected, but then what would happen? Would this confuse demon TV-killer girl Samara Morgan? If 50,000 people watched the video essentially at the same time, would she be able to kill essentially everyone?
"Rings" does not explore answers to any of those questions. Instead, we focus on Julia (Matilda Lutz), girlfriend to one of the professor's students, Holt (Alex Roe). Julia stayed at home while Holt headed off to college, but when he stops responding to her texts she pursues his whereabouts and becomes entangled in the experiment.
To its credit, "Rings" does go beyond simply repeating the "watch video, die a week later" formula. Unfortunately, that doesn't mean the new creative team's ideas are much better. When Julia views the video, her copy of the video changes, with new images that uncover a new mystery surrounding the origins of Samara involving her hometown and the residents of that burg.
But still, there's a certain amount of repetition that comes out of "Rings." Many of the beats are virtually identical to the original film. In addition, director F. Javier Gutierrez is unable to replicate the original film's sense of dread, instead relying on shock scares that often become nothing. Many of the mysteries are easily figured out, including the film's big "twist" ending, which makes little narrative sense.
For a film that seeks to reinvent the "Ring" mythos (such as it is), "Rings" is tailor-made for a new series of films that can cash in on the franchise. In that sense, "Rings" might just be a success if that indeed is the goal. If you were looking for one good movie, though, I'm sad to say "Rings" is probably not what you're looking for.