Legend goes that upon laying eyes on the infamous videotape, it takes Samara exactly seven days to kill the hapless viewer. But for those horror fans frothing for the next installment in Paramount’s cult paranormal series, the wait for Rings has felt more like seven years.
First announced two years ago, F. Javier Gutiérrez’s long-in-development horror sequel has been delayed three separate times, leading many to question whether Samara would ever claw her way out of a static screen again. And though you’d be forgiven for harboring some apprehensions going into the release of Rings, a creepy new trailer has found its way online that teases a frightening return to the franchise’s dark, putrid roots. Told through the eyes of Samara, the footage essentially recaps the fundamental curse that anchors Paramount’s horror series, wherein viewers of that aforementioned tape are left staring at an accelerated death sentence. To make matters worse, Samara doesn’t forget – nor does she forgive.
Set some 13 years after the events of the hit 2002 remake, Rings follows Julia (Matilda Lutz), a character who “becomes worried about her boyfriend, Holt, (Alex Roe) after he explores the dark urban legend of a mysterious videotape said to kill the watcher seven days after viewing. She sacrifices herself to save her boyfriend and in doing so makes a horrifying discovery: there is a ‘movie within the movie’ that no one has ever seen before.” A movie within the movie?! Color us intrigued.
“First you watch, then you die.” Rings will finally – finally – claw its way into theaters on February 3, 2017. Matilda Lutz, Alex Roe, Johnny Galecki, Aimee Teegarden, Bonnie Morgan and Vincent D’Onofrio co-star.
