Nineteen years after the genre-defining Japanese original and 15 years after Gore Verbinski’s superb American remake, the Ringu/Ring franchise gets a revamp for Generation Y. But was one really needed? On this evidence, no.

It all starts well enough. Following a tense (not-really-related) opening on an airplane, edgy professor Gabriel (Johnny Galecki) watches a disturbing videotape. The moment it ends he receives a phone call on his mobile and hears a voice saying “Seven days”.

Fast forward several months, and loved up Julia is worried about her boyfriend Holt who has gone AWOL at college. She eventually tracks him down and discovers that Holt is part of an experiment set up by Gabriel to prove the existence of the soul. Participants watch the cursed videotape then have their responses monitored. Just before their ‘seven days’ are up, their ‘tail’ views a copy of the tape and thus saves them. And the cycle begins again…

Sounds cool doesn’t it? Well this bit is, but unfortunately the film then swerves away from this concept, for basically a rehash of the original. By updating the tech, too, from videotapes to MP4 files, etc, Rings also loses the simplicity that made the original so skin crawling. Maybe let this one go to voicemail. Reviewed by Kate Lloyd 

Release: 29 May 2017
From: Paramount Home Entertainment
Format: DVD & Blu-ray
Age Rating: 15
Price: £19.99 (DVD), £24.99 (Blu-ray)