The Call

Most Japanese movies are considered as low-budget compared to their Hollywood counterparts. This is because their production costs are so high. However this factor does not deter Japanese creative production teams to come up with movie gems, in different genres.

In the realm of Japanese horrors for example, a studio working with a limited budget has to resort to Jaws-style direction, in which you hardly see or visualise the ghosts/monsters.

And it is through the movie's simplicity, or by not showing/explaining too much, that J-horrors have turned up the notch on the haunting and horror levels through movies such as Ring and Dark Water. Of course there are the still plenty of gorefest movies such as Suicide Circles and Ichi the Killer, the latter being a courtesy of that notorious but prolific J-director, Takashi Miike.

So it is remarkable and truly rewarding to see how Miike toned down his tastes for the twisted and perverted in One Missed Call. Furthermore he implemented his flair of storytelling through symbolisms and graphic metaphors quite nicely. Any shock/gore elements were used in such a way that they serve the movie, instead of downgrading it to a cheesy flick.

In conclusion, One Missed Call satisfies on many levels, providing you keep an open mind and just enjoy the ride. Another plus of the movie is the appearances of several gorgeous J-idols, such as Kazue Fukishii and Kou Shibasaki. Nifty!

i read a lot of bad reviews about this fantastic movie, so i watched it without even expecting something good.Of course i was positively surprised,the actors are very good : very few American actress knows how to express pure terror on they're faces as well as a Japanese actress.Miike success in creating an intense and creepy mood that follows you all the way till the end credits.

o.k. so the story is not very original,if you have seen Ju-on, Ringu or Dark water there is nothing new here. it's another Japanese movie with a "grudge" (grudge: curse that happens when someone "most of the times a girl" dies in a tragic or horrible death,then the girl return from the dead to kill,usually grudges have long dark hair covering they're faces) but the ghost or grudge in "one missed call" is a lot more scary than Sadako in ringu or even the one in ju-on and there is a lot of murders going on from the beginning to the end. It's definitely not slow paced like dark water and a lot more entertaining.

But if your like me, when you watch a zombie movie you expect zombies,if you watch a killer movie you expect killings so if you watch a Japanese horror movie expect a grudge cause it's a part of the Japanese mythology so don't go crying out loud that this movie sucks because it's a pale imitation of ringu and ju-on, IT IS NOT!!!!

so, i give this movie 10/10 for three reason: 1: a lot of good scares 2: a very effective and disgusting grudge 3: entertaining from opening credits to the end

This movie has a more than interesting and good premise and it also has a real promising beginning but as the movie and its story start to progress more the movie actually gets worse and starts to drag and become overlong.

Japanese horror movies are well known and appreciated over the world now days, due to the global success of several genre pieces, with of course "Ringu" as the best example of this. And even though these movies are always well made and good looking ones, there are often more or less the same. Aside from its premises, they are often hardly original in their execution, with the exception of an occasional memorable and effective sequences. And yes, this movie is also pretty much more of the same. It's welcome for the fans of it but it's just offering too little originality, which makes this a movie you'll easily forget.

This is a pretty mainstream movie for normal Takashi Miike standards. Guess he needs to make these type of movies, every once in a while, before he can continue and finance his other movie projects, that are less mainstream and just plain odd and weird with their style and approach. But it are still the movies he is known for and also most appreciated more by people all over the world. I'm not a fan of just all of his movies but often his weirdness, extreme graphic violence and humorous approach of it all can still appeal to me and make his movies something unique and enjoyable for me. But this movie really doesn't has any of that. It's made in the same style as any other popular Japanese horror movie, which means that this movie will probably also disappoint most Takashi Miike lovers.

Thing with this movie is that it has an alright story and main premise in its beginning but the more it all progresses the harder it gets to understand and the less interest you'll keep in this movie. It's the reason why the movie feels like it's dragging at points and feels also certainly overlong. This is a movie that should at least had been 20 minutes shorter really.

This also certainly goes at the expense of the horror and mystery of the movie. Horror-wise this movie is certainly disappointing in what it is offering. Again, because it's being nothing too original but also because the movie it's story-telling doesn't really get you involved with things and therefore a lot of the mystery and tension dies off pretty quick already. It also doesn't help that the movie becomes more and more confusing toward its ending.

But overall, this movie still does a lot of things well. It's certainly not any worse than the average Japanese horror entry and despite all of its problems, I still consider this a watchable movie.

6/10

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It is hard to do something new in the world of horror these days. Even Japanese horrors which were deemed fresh in the late 90's got more and more repetitive, and we can say that after Kairo, there is nothing really fresh coming out of the horror department of Japanese films. The quiet atmosphere and the fear towards darkness within colorless world possessed by vicious female ghosts is no longer new to both Japan and the rest of the world. Ju-ons (all of them except the part 2 of the one made only for video which sucked badly) are scary; the series break the silent rule of Japanese horrors, its director even say that he tried to go the opposite way Nakata and Kurosawa went, he will scare the audience by showing the ghosts and gore as much as possible. And Ju-ons worked, to some extent; the director is successful in creating the world of nightmare that co-exist with the ordinary world that people live in. He use a normal house/apartment as his stage of fear and bring out all the every possible scare out of every corner of that place. But one can also say that Ju-ons are good only in parts; its strength is just the sum of a few very scary scenes that the director successfully created and not the overall atmosphere or the story of the films. Now it's time for the ever creative Miike who once scared the hell out of the audience, not by using ghosts, but using a sadistic but innocent-looking girl, to put some new blood into Japanese horrors. As a big fan of J-horror and Miike, I was so looking forward to the film and that I was afraid my high expectation will kill it, but the result was beyond my expectation, I enjoyed this thrill ride so much I wish it would never end.

In terms of story, Chakushin Ari is nothing new. It's the Ring plus mobile phone plus Miike trademark's world of weirdness. However, it's execution is a very good blend of Nakata's the silent and dark world and Simizu's bang bang ghost is coming style, and the result, IMHO, is very fresh and satisfying. Miike has toned down his weird and over-the-top scenes to suit the taste of wider audiences, but this film is still full of creative and scary scenes (the scene at the TV station which I deem so good it's classic, and the scene at the hospital which is so weird and spooky that I wish it could last longer) with quite satisfying story and (many may argue) acceptable open ending. Although his ingredients are nonetheless recycle of old tricks (everything from dark corners, female ghosts, old apartments, old hospitals, scary-as-hell sound effects, and right out of the screen gore and ghosts), they are orchestrated in such a stylish and enjoyable way that I can't help jumping and flinching while at the same time enjoying the ever rushing adrenalin in my vein. Repetitive, may be, but fresh ideas are still everywhere; Miike stood very good balance between Nakata's atmospheric scare/strong story and Shimizu illogically outrageous and bizarre world. In sum, a very very entertaining grade A pure horror (not psychological thriller in disguise) which is both repetitive and fresh at the same time. This film should satisfied both hardcore horror fans and those who want satisfying entertainment.

After "Audition" and "Ichi The Killer", I had great expectations for this movie. What it delivers is essentially the "greatest hits" of Asian horror. There's more than a passing resemblance to "The Ring", with bits of "Ju-On" and other films thrown in for good measure.

The film revolves around mobile 'phones. A girl has a message left on her mobile 'phone answering service - only it's been left by herself and in the future! To make matters worse, it ends with a blood curdling scream! Well, it soon turns out that the message is the girl's final words on this mortal coil.

The girl is not alone. It's only a matter of time before the body count starts rising and a race against time begins to solve the mystery of the bizarre calls.

Despite being more than a shade Ringu-clone-esquire, I heartily enjoyed this film. It has some great set-pieces (including a memorable death), some spooky moments, a few "jump" sequences, etc. What the film didn't deliver, though, was any real fear. It was a case of "seen it all before" (a criticism that some levelled at "Ju-On").

The plot unravels in a logical manner and there's a decent pay off. It may not be a future classic, but this is a very well made example of Asian horror cinema.

My rating: 8 out of 10 for a stylish addition to Miike's portfolio