# Ringu 0 and 2 Worth it?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ringu-0-and-2-worth-it/421822
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [October 7, 2007, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ringu-0-and-2-worth-it/421822 "2007-10-07T03:43:37Z")
**Posts on this page:** 3
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)
#### Post date: [October 7, 2007, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ringu-0-and-2-worth-it/421822/1 "2007-10-07T03:43:37Z")
Loved The Ring and Ringu. Didn’t care for The Ring 2. Should I rent Ringu 0 and Ringu 2?
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### Author:  [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)
#### Post date: [October 7, 2007, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ringu-0-and-2-worth-it/421822/2 "2007-10-07T05:59:28Z")
Are you talking about both the Japanese **and** American versions? If so, then let me just list out all the different films:
—Japan
Ring
Rasen (Spiral)
Ring 2
Ring: Birthday
—US
The Ring
The Ring 2
If you liked the Japanese “Ring”, then you should be fine with Rasen and Ring 2. Stylistically, they’re all the same, though I’ll note that one of either Rasen or Ring 2 ends with some sort of silly genetic experimentation or something stupid like that as the explanation for what’s wrong with the girl.
Ring: Birthday (Ring 0) is rather different from the other movies stylistically, portraying the girl in a rather sensitive and sad light. Personally I thought it was the best of the movies, but it wasn’t as good in a horror sense. It was more a horror in the sense of watching a girl learning that her very presence is a curse to those around her while at the same time trying to live her life as a normal person, dating guys, going to school, etc. and everything going wrong and getting worse the harder she tries.
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### Author:  [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)
#### Post date: [October 7, 2007, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ringu-0-and-2-worth-it/421822/3 "2007-10-07T06:07:37Z")
Just to expand on that a little bit, personally when I watched the films I felt like they were gradually ruining what had been laid out in the first film, similar to the Matrix sequels. Ultimately, knowing more about what is happening and _why_ ends up hurting the story even though theoretically that knowledge should be interesting. Midichlorians brought the mysticism of The Force down to being some pseudo-science bullshit pulled from some guy’s butt and the same with the Ring series. Ultimately, the secret of the tape and the girl are best left unexplored. But, I still thought they were watchable and enjoyable, so I wouldn’t warn you to stay away the way I would with the Matrix sequels or Star Wars prequels.
I wouldn’t include Ring: Birthday in the above though. To a large extent it’s an entirely different movie and could just as well be considered as having no relation to the other Ring movies.