Pôn

After writing a series of articles about pedophilia, the journalist Ji-won (Ji-won Ha) receives threatening calls on her cellular and she changes her number. Her close friend Ho-jung (Yu-mi Kim) and her husband Chang-hoon (Woo-jae Choi) invite Ji-won to move to their house in Bang Bae that is empty and closed. When the young daughter of her friends Young-Su (Seo-woo Eun) answers a phone call in her mobile phone, the girl screams and changes her behavior, feeling a great attraction for her father and rejecting her mother. Meanwhile Ji-won receives weird phone calls and sees and listens to a teenager playing Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata" on the piano. After investigating her phone number, Ji-won discovers that the original owner of the number, Jin-hee (Ji-yeon Choi), had vanished and the two next owners of the number have mysteriously died in unusual circumstances. Her further investigation about Jin-hee discloses that the teenager was absolutely disturbed with her obsessive love for a man that had broken the relationship with her, and later she unravels dark and tragic secrets about the fate of Jin-hee.

"Pon" is a scary and consistent ghost story that uses elements of many other horror movies but works very well. The association is immediate with "Fatal Attraction" and "Memento Mori" with the obsessive love of Jin-hee; "The Exorcist", with the possession of Young-Su; "Whispering Corridors" franchise with the ghost in the high-school; "Ringu" , "Dark Water", "Ju-on the Grudge" and many other Asian horror movies with the shape of the haired ghost and supernatural situations. The screenplay follows the standard of most Asian horror movies, with non-chronological sequences and a strong twist in the very end. The actresses are excellent and extremely gorgeous, but I was impressed with the performance of the very young Seo-woo Eun, specially after her possession, with her face changing abruptly in many situations. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "O Telefone" ("The Telephone")

There is nothing subtle about ghost in the movie Phone. No slow build up of atmosphere or gradually letting its presence be known. This ghost is direct, purposeful and terrifying.

The first 40 minutes or so of this movie kept me at the edge of my seat and I was more frightened by this movie than I have been in a long time. Unfortunately, once we learn the identity of the ghost and we think we have discerned its motives, it takes some of the impact away. The movie cannot maintain the tension it set up at the beginning of the film and the ending seemed somehow tame compared to the scares of the first half..not to say that it isn't scary..just less so than what came before.

I don't want to give away too much before it has been seen by a wider audience, but if you enjoyed Ring or Gawi, you will like this movie as well. A special Kudos should be given to Seo-woo Eun, the little girl who plays Young-ju. While she is possessed by the ghost, this little girl will terrify you with the looks of pure hatred and the aura of menace she generates. She manages to be more frightening without an ounce of make-up than any CGI ghost or squib-soaked demon I have ever seen on screen. Linda Blair, eat your heart out.

Man, this film gave me the chills! Quite a few scenes might not make sense until the ending explains why and how it all fits together. One doesn't really understand the young girl's obsession towards her father at first, but it all makes sense with the big reveal. I did feel some details were mentioned over and over for the sake of the story, and did not make believable everyday conversation. The film also jumps backwards and forward in time and one has to understand this storytelling method to fully understand the story. The twist ending was unexpected and a great turn of events.

Most of what can be said about this movie has been said by other commenters, but I still would like to put my views forward.

The is a horror movie, in the wake of The Ring (Ringu). The main character is a journalist (as in Ringu) who has written a series of articles about sex offenders which has brought down on her some dangerous people who have been exposed in the scandal.

When she changes her cellphone number to escape her tormentors she ends up with a number with special significance - 6644. From this point on she ends up getting very weird phone calls and after each one, she experiences increasingly violent visions.

The movie is very derivative, this is true. But which horror movie isn't? Dismissing a horror-flick and saying "This movie from 1954 has the same thing" is stupid. You can always find some older work which is similar or even the same. It's no mean feat. What's important in a horror movie is one thing: is it scary? My answer is: it is.

I was very skeptical at first and found the opening scene to be almost dull. But the enterprise takes off, most of all with the incredible performance of the little girl who can turn from sweet little angel to devlish banshee on a dime. If for no other reason, go see it and you'll have to agree that she is completely believable as possessed.

I also believe that the story is richer if less original than the Ring. It is also a very well made without much special effects or gore. It relies heavily on acting and suspense and does this well.

More story than the Ring, less originality. About as suspenseful. I think that if I'd seen the Phone before the Ring I would've liked it more.

That's my two cents worth. :) Go see it if you like horror. Don't see it if you're just going to go look for similarities with older movies.

although not quite as good as Ringu or Dark Water - or even Oodhishon - this movie is very interesting and a good horror movie from Korea. The little girl plays enormously well - it is amazing that such a young girl can perform like that. The horror elements are quite good, and the story is pretty good. I wonder why all Asian horror movies contain classical music? Anyway, I really enjoyed watching this movie and I am hopeful that Asian horror will at least stay on this enormously high level which it has achieved in recent years. The ghost story in Phone blends well with the drama, and like in Oodishon, sometimes it is difficult to know what is real and what is not. The lead role is so beautiful. I thought she is very attractive and that might remove some of the horror. Anyway, this movie is not as scary as Ringu or Dark Water. It does contain a few chills though, and I actually had to watch it at daylight because when I saw some of the first scene in the elevator I thought we would see a re-run of the unbelievable terror and ghostly "realism" of "Dark Water". "Phone" is highly recommended! 7/10.