ONE MISSED CALL (2003)

In recent years there has been a number of horror films released from Japan such as Dark Water and Ringu, which have become targeted by the American film industry as they have been remade or are in the process of being remade.  One Missed Call comes across as a Japanese continuation of horror films with a similar theme as the haunting atmosphere even feels borrowed from these previous films.  Takaski Miike directs this somewhat unoriginal horror story which seems odd as most of his films are exceptionally original and boundary breaking.  Nonetheless, One Missed Call brings some surprising elements to the audience through Miike's distinctive storytelling skills.

The story begins with a woman, a friend of Yumi (Kou Shibasaki), receiving a mysterious phone call that she misses but the voice mail picks up the message.  The message appears to be made from her own cell phone a couple of days into the future.  The woman assumes that it is a bizarre prank made by some friends, however, later  the woman later dies under some strange circumstances and similar phone calls are made to another friend of Yumi.  Yumi begins to investigate the strange phone calls, and it brings her into a dark path surrounded with death and an unspeakable secret.

One Missed Call provides a creepy cinematic experience through the skillful direction of Miike as he ventures into media exploitation, child psychology, and modern communication tools.  Those viewers who have been introduced to the cinematic world of Miike will recognize some of his unconventional styles, yet, the theme feels unoriginal and it hurts the overall cinematic experience.  Despite the unoriginality of One Missed Call, it is well worth a viewing as it offers both interesting cinematography, decent performances by the cast, and some good scares.

DIRECTED BY

Takashi Miike

COUNTRY

Japan
REVIEWED
11/14/2004
GRADE


Filmography links and data courtesy of  
The Internet Movie Database.