One Missed Call combines elements of two of its brethren, The Ring and Pulse, and attempts to tie the horror more closely to the cell phone junkie culture that has been growing over the past number of years. You know, with all the texting and walkie-talkie, it seems as if no one is not without their trusty cell phones. Not only that, but it looks to make the horror a bit more closely connected to its victims. Rather than the dead wanting to cross back over to the living through our technology, or random people watching a random videotape, the evil of One Missed Call spreads itself through the phone's contact list, meaning that everyone will be connected through an unbroken line of friends and acquaintances.
The story of One Missed Call has a malevolent spirit randomly dialing someone from the last victim's cell phone contacts and then repeating the process. On the receiving end, the victim receives a call from the last victim. The new person does not answer it, but does listen to the voice mail left. The message contains their final words and the time stamp marks the time at which they are set to expire. Beyond that we learn who is behind it, not that it is any big secret (just think about what you have seen in other J-horror movies and their Hollywood remakes), the rest just fails to make any sense. Well actually, none of it makes any sense.
The main thread is easy enough to follow. When the plot is as thin as this, it is not going to be all that hard, nor is it going to be all that interesting. The very idea of giving any sort of exposition must have been a foreign concept to them. Well, that or they figured they didn't need to spend any time on that aspect, leaving it up to the audience to put together the pieces. They never explain the significance of anything. I mean, what was with the centipedes and hard candies (that looked like marbles), surely they couldn't travel across the cell phone connections. Also, I hope Boost Mobile didn't have to pay much for their plug. Surely, once word gets out that their phones kill it won't do anything to help their business.
There is absolutely no reason to see this movie on the big screen, if at all. Although, believe it or not, there were a couple of sequences I liked. The first would be the tail end of the opening scene. I'd tell you, but that would spoil the surprise (besides the fact that it is inconsistent with the rest of the film). The others come a bit later, one taking place in an airshaft that provides a genuine chill (as a standalone sequence), the other comes during the Ray Wise segment and is just a creepy effect on some religious art. Not enough to recommend, but perhaps when it hits DVD in a month.
Bottomline. No reason to bother here, unless you like to see everything. All I can hope for is that The Eye is better than this (the trailers alone are better). The script, acting, direction, and scares are all second rate, if not worse. Not a good way to start the new year.
Not Recommended.
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