Phone "Ring": Review for "The Ring" and "The Ring Two"

Sure, they may not be the greatest in horror, but they are the road less traveled these days. It's more Gothic horror than slasher. The film started a trend of Japanese remakes. The Ring was based on Ringu, The Grudge later released was based on Ju-On:The Grudge, and Dark Water based on the Japanese film of the same name. The Ring is about a killer video tape. The tape is filled with horrible images and after the tape is finished, your phone rings and a mysterious voice says "You will die in seven days.". The girl in the video tape is Samara, the child done wrong by her adoptive parents. She was dumped into a well. The film gets around to a teenage girl who, after seven days, is killed in a gruesome way by Samara. New mom Rachel Keller (Naomi Watts in both films) is a reporter in Seattle. She decides to investigate the film's mysterious path. When finally solving part of the mysterious tape's existence, she copies the tape. Which leads us to The Ring Two. Rachel's son, Aiden (David Dorfman) is possessed by Samara, which makes Rachel track down Samara's past, before being adopted. The Ring Two was directed by Hideo Makato, who directed the original Ringu and Ringu 2. Both films have their flaws, but I personally favored The Ring. It was smarter and better written. Well played out, too. Overall: Grade: B Stars: 3.5/5 The Ring Grade: B Stars: 4/5 The Ring Two Grade: B- Stars: 3/5 The Cursed Video Grade: A Stars: 4.5/5