TotalTelly.co.uk
Devoted to Popular, Cult and Retro TV
One Missed Call [2008]
![One Missed Call [2008]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51u2SHxvRQL._SL160_.jpg)
RRP: £15.99
Our Price: £9.89 (subject to change)
Editorial
Amazon.co.uk Review
Yet more modern technology falls prey to the influence of eeeeevil spirits in One Missed Call, a horror flick following firmly in the footsteps of The Ring, Pulse, and other remakes of Japanese creepfests. Good-looking young people are receiving voice-mails that prefigure their gruesome deaths; Beth (Shannyn Sossamon, 40 Days and 40 Nights) and Jack (Ed Burns) race against time to find the source of this cell-phone curse, leading them to a dark and treacherous burnt-out hospital. Little is fresh here--One Missed Call apes every other Japanese horror remake, using corpse makeup, blurry images at the corner of the screen or just out of sight, lots of ambient rattles and gasps, spooky-looking children, and the slow, trembling turn towards a ringing phone... which stopped being scary about four or five movies ago. But for fans of this particular subgenre, One Missed Call may evoke the warm, enjoyable familiarity that devotees of 1970s horror f! eel towards the repetitive output of Hammer Films. Ray Wise (Reaper, Twin Peaks) has a bit of fun as a cynical TV producer; comedian Margaret Cho has such a brief, throwaway part as a skeptical cop that one wonders if the rest of her role is on the cutting room floor; and Meagan Good (Brick, Stomp the Yard) gets prominent billing but is hardly in the movie at all. --Bret Fetzer
Oh come on! It isn't that bad!
Review date: 2008-11-02 Rating: 8 out of 10
This film has been critically ripped apart due to many different elements, but having watched it last night, I noticed that it's certainly not as bad as what some of the critics are saying!
One Missed Call tells the tale of a contagious and deadly curse, spread amongst friends via mobile phones: People answer mysterious calls and hear themselves being brutally murdered on the other end. The original was a classic: Very creepy, emotional, and full of startling imagery... so obviously it was going to be difficult for the remake to live up to the severe expectations.
Over the past few years, we've seen so many dark-haired little girls in need of a wash appearing in the mirror etc; so by now, we should all know what we're in for when purchasing a low-budget Hollywood remake of a classic Japanese ghostly thriller. This is what annoys me when I see comments like: 'bad characterization', and, 'embarrassing acting'. Really, you cannot watch a film with this kind of history and expect it to be Oscar-worthy.
That said, One Missed Call is a really fun little movie to watch and it's also nice to see Shannyn Sossamon back in a leading role. Well-timed scares, a decent plot, some great creepy moments and a very fast pace all add up to a pretty decent night in. This is actually one to be quietly recommended.
Similar Products
Reviews
Yet another disappointing remake of a truly creepy Japanese original
Review date: 2008-10-27 Rating: 6 out of 10
Subtlety. It's what makes Japanese horror so effective - and American remakes of same so ineffective. Japanese horror directors have mastered the art of subtlety, but it's still an alien concept in Hollywood, which explains how a remake that follows the original film's story fairly closely can turn out unrealistic at best - and downright silly at worst. Hollywood thinks CGI is the answer to everything, especially in horror movies, and I'm at a loss as to explain why they continue to think the C in CGI stands for creepiness when it certainly does not. You just have to observe this film's potentially creepiest moment, which is thoroughly destroyed by a moment of CGI utter silliness. Famed director Takashi Miike made Chakushin Ari (One Missed Call [2004] (REGION 1) (NTSC)), the original Japanese version of this film, one of the creepiest horror movies I had seen in a long time. Having loved that film so much, and having seen other great J-horror films turned inside out by American directors, I did not have the highest of hopes for this remake. It actually turned out a little better than I expected - but it's still the palest of reflections of Chakushin Ari.
The basic premise of the story is that people start receiving calls on their cell phones recording the moments of their own deaths. The phone calls come from each individual's own cell phone number, feature the same creepy ringtone, and are always dated a day or two in the future, thus revealing the exact time of that person's death. Then, when each such death actually takes place (just as it was recorded on the cell phone messages), someone in the victim's list of saved phone numbers is automatically selected to be the next phone call recipient. Authorities also find a piece of hard candy in the victims' mouths. The one person closest to the mystery is Beth (Shannyn Sossamon), who hears the messages and witnesses the deaths of several of her friends. In one of the most unexplainable casting decisions of all time, Margaret Cho plays the cop who pretty much blows her off. Fortunately, Detective Jack Andrews (Edward Burns) hears and believes her story; it seems his sister was one of the earlier victims of whatever is going on, so he and Beth team up to try and track these calls back to the source - and to do so before Beth's number comes up (in more ways than one).
One of the many things that director Takashi Miike did exceptionally well in Chakushin Ari was to limit the number and scope of ghostly appearances up until the last few scenes of the movie. From the subtle to the in-your-face manifestations, each appearance thus played to maximum effect. You can forget about that in this remake. I knew it was going to be a problem when this movie opened with a huge hospital fire, as opposed to the relaxed friendly atmosphere that started Chakushin Ari on its creepy way. And, as I alluded to, awful CGI effects are strewn everywhere in this movie (doing what was already a rather ambiguous ending no favors). Perhaps the worst mismanagement of the original script comes when one of Beth's terrified, fated-to-die friends ends up going on a paranormal television show to find protection. In Chakushin Ari, this made for a surprisingly effective and memorable scene, whereas here you have a televangelist trying to cast out demons from a cell phone. Sound silly? It is.
The worst thing about One Missed Call is the fact that it denies viewers the thrill of truly enjoying Chakushin Ari at a later date (since you'll already basically know what happens). The original is one of my favorite horror films of all time, and I would implore viewers to seek out that film before ever casting eyes upon this inferior American remake.
Mediocre soft horror.
Review date: 2008-10-18 Rating: 4 out of 10
No blood, not enough atmosphere and a lack coherrence ruin what could have been a fairly solid if derivitive horror. The cast are all fine, except the camp actor trying to be a macho womaniser.
Another J-Horror gets an American re-hash but it borrows too much from other films
Review date: 2008-10-12 Rating: 4 out of 10
This a film where the story idea is actually far better than the film itself. People receiving voicemails from the future, replaying them meeting their demise, is a very scary scenario. And initially the film carries this off quite well, the first scenes featuring the spooky messages are very effective and provide some chilling moments.
But then the film descends into a corny formula of seen-it-all-before horror scenes that borrows heavily from Final Destination and The Ring, but done half as well. The obligatory spooky children (how tired is this storyline now) then make an appearance, we get a series of flashbacks and all kinds of ghouls cropping up at opportune moments. Some of the visuals in this film are quite scary but after a while they start to verge on the comical thanks to some very corny acting and some over the top scenes that completely negates any sense of terror that the film is fruitlessly trying to build.
The 'spooky voicemail' is a good idea for a horror, but it all gets bogged down in predictability and cheap scares, a real disappointment.
Evil little girl strikes again!
Review date: 2008-10-06 Rating: 6 out of 10
This movie is not that bad, it also is not that good. The basic storyline is about a group of high school students who are on the receiving end of some nasty premonitions of their own deaths via voicemail messages on their phones.
The phone messages appear to be dated in the future, in actual fact the date of their own death. As each one dies, the death message is passed on to another contact in their mobile phone book who then gets the phone call and message detailing the date and time they will die.
The main characters played by Shannyn Sossamon and Ed Burns, have a race against time to save Shannon from her own date with death, leading them to a final showdown in a burnt out creepy old hospital.
The storyline itself is quite good although it borrows from countless other Japenese movies where the evil centres around a little girl, I think the Japs are obsessed with their ghosts either in the form of little girls or young women with long black hair! Also I wish this movie had been done with a little more tongue in cheek as with Final Destination, in fact as one other reviewer mentioned it does remind you in some way of Final Destination but unfortunately it is nowhere near as good.
Although the plot does its best to provide shocks and suspense it fails to do so, the CGI special effects are laughably poor and the same nasty images are used too often, lessening any potential surprise factor.
I felt that this is a movie that had a lot of potential to be very good, but unfortunately for me ended up just okay.
Saying that though, I would still recommend it as a buy, if you are not expecting too much of this movie, you could enjoy it!
Product Details/Specifications
Actor(s):
Edward Burns
Ana Claudia Talancón
Azura Skye
Ray Wise
Shannyn Sossamon
Creators:
Shannyn Sossamon (Primary Contributor)
Edward Burns (Primary Contributor)
Director(s):
Recording label: Warner Home Video
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
EAN: 7321902139128
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: PAL,
Release date: 2008-09-29
Audience rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
Region code: 2
Running time: 83 minutes
Theatrical release date: 2008
Language: English (Unknown)