STORY: In order to save her boyfriend, a woman called Julia watches the ‘cursed videotape’ that kills its viewer within the next seven days. As per the tape’s rule, Julia gets a phone call soon after warning the same. Turns out, what Julia sees is a never-seen-before extended version of the footage. What’s the twist?

REVIEW: The third instalment of the The Ring horror franchise, based on the famous Japanese films is less of a sequel and more of a remake. The ghostly girl (Samara) with long dark hair, who crawls out of the television, is not scary anymore. You want to shave her head and tell her that Phoebe’s artwork in ‘Friends’ (read Gladys) was more terrifying. Nothing about Samara intrigues you so it’s time the makers let her evil character rest in peace. You’d rather see her hilarious parody in the Scary Movies.

What makes this outing the worse among its series so far is its imitation of the ‘Final Destination’ death pace and sensibility. People die in various ways before you bother to care and the uninspiring investigation that follows fails to arouse interest. At least the 2002 Naomi Watts film kept the mystery alive till the end, involving you in its story. Its eerie silence and unhurried proceedings allowed fear to creep in.

The 2005 sequel was tolerable too if not as effective but the latest film is a total damp squib. The lead actors meet obscure characters, who help decode Julia’s signs as people die. The plot is clichéd and unnecessarily complicated. By the time the protagonists solve the puzzle, you lose interest in their existence or consecutive death. There seems to be a serious dearth of scares as not a single scene manages to leave you shaken.

If you love horror as a genre, skip this one and revisit the 2002 film instead or perhaps, watch Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh’s latest MSG film. That’s bound to give you the creeps.