One Missed Call

One Missed Call (2008)

Directed by: Eric Valette
Written by: Andrew Klavan, based on the film Chakushin Ari written by Miwako Daira, based on the novel by Yasushi Akimoto
Starring: Shannyn Sossamon, Edward Burns, Ana Claudia Talancón, Ray Wise, Johnny Lewis, Azura Skye, Rhoda Griffis, Ariel Winter, Meagan Good, Raegan Lamb

Another Americanized version of a Japanese ghost movie such as The Ring, The Grudge, The Pulse. I haven't seen the original version of this movie - it's probably better than this...

People begin receiving strange voice messages on their cell phones, in which they hear their final moments. As is to be expected, they die a few days later in the often nasty ways the cell phone message predicted. The main character must solve the mystery of some dead girl before she becomes the next victim or something like that.

Alright. I get it. Cell phones are evil. They attract evil ghosts and give you brain cancer. I don't have a cell phone. However, I do use the internet, so I'm probably not safe. Some MeTube ghost is probably gonna get me... (I'm just paranoid enough to believe this will happen. I'm going to stop watching MeTube now).

This is the kind of movie that makes me think way more than is probably necessary, about things like 'if you don't listen to the voicemail, can the ghost still get you? And if so, that isn't fair at all'. Or, 'if these people heard their last moments, wouldn't they somehow use that tot their advantage?' example: if you knew you were going to say 'hey Dave, lets go for pizza' and then die horribly, wouldn't you stop yourself from saying that and run for cover?

And 'is the ghost really killing these people or just letting them know they're going to die?'. I shouldn't question these things, but they really bug me, particularly with these American remakes of Asian horror pics. At least with the original versions everything's sort of weird and dreamlike, all slightly off, so the ghostly happenings fit in almost. The remakes are just so... American. And we Americans demand everything make sense all the time.

And it wasn't really scary. I don't know, maybe it would have scared me a couple years ago. I just feel like I've been completely desensitized or something. The first time I saw one of these Asian style ghost pics it freaked me out only because it seemed to defy the traditions of the American ghost movie (the first one I saw happened to be The Grudge which kind of sucked, but there you go). Now I'm used to the formula and it seems only the really strange and arty ones spook me.

Well, anyway. Shannyn Sossamon was really awful. That was one of the biggest problems. If she had been at least convincing, my little picky problems might have been soothed. Actually the only actor who was remotely believable was, like, Ray Wise. Oh well.

I just didn't find it terribly exciting.

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