Hideo Nakata, director of the original Ring, directed this film in place of Gore Verbinski.

[3] Naomi Watts, David Dorfman and Daveigh Chase reprised their roles with Simon Baker, Elizabeth Perkins and Sissy Spacek joining the cast.

Jake receives a phone call and is relieved to realize it is only his friend, with whom he had planned to trick Emily into watching the tape.

Suddenly, Jake notices dark liquid pouring from under the kitchen door and runs outside to the living room, only to discover Emily closed her eyes while watching the tape.

At a county fair, Aidan wanders into a restroom and takes photographs of his reflection, where Samara appears.

Looking for answers, Rachel returns to Moesko Island, finding evidence of Samara's biological mother Evelyn, who tried to drown her as an infant.

Upon awakening, Rachel drugs Samara with sleeping pills and places her in the bath to temporarily drown Aidan to exorcise her.

Finding herself in the bottom of the well Samara died in, Rachel discovers the lid is partially open.

Wandering through the woods, she comes to the cliff where Samara's adoptive mother Anna committed suicide.

[5] Roger Ebert considered it better than the first film, giving it 2½ stars: "The charm of The Ring Two, while limited, is real enough; it is based on the film's ability to make absolutely no sense, while nevertheless generating a real enough feeling of tension a good deal of the time".

The film officially debuted on Blu-ray on October 26, 2012, in Japan, containing all the extras from the DVD and including the Unrated Cut.

[8] The film was released on Blu-ray and 4K UHD in the United States for the first time on March 19, 2024, by Scream Factory as part of The Ring Collection, containing both its theatrical and unrated cuts.