Monday 6 July 2009

Film Review: ONE MISSED CALL (2008)


Director: Eric Valette
Running time: 87 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): 15

Watched on Sky+ Monday 6th July 2009.

PLEASE NOTE: POSSIBLE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

This is another remake of a paranormal Japanese movie that has been slagged off all over the internet. Well, not having seen the original 2003 Chakushin ari, I have to say that I actually quite liked this rendition. Don’t get me wrong, it’s got a lot of faults, but at the same time it’s nowhere near as bad as the reviews I’ve been reading elsewhere. If anything, there were echoes of The Ring (2002), which had much better reviews.

The film tells the story of a group of college students who begin to receive phone calls from themselves at a future time and date. The call is a precursor to the gruesome death of the recipient. The main character, Beth Raymond, sees several of her friends die before deciding to look into what’s happening. She is helped by Detective Jack Andrews whose sister was also a victim of this strange phenomenon. Eventually Beth receives the call and they race against the clock to solve the mystery before her time runs out.

There is a lot of use of CGI, to quite good effect in my opinion. The tension is built up well and there are several “jump out of your skin” moments. Good performance by Shannyn Sossamon as Beth and Edward Burns as Jack. Honourable mentions go to Ana Claudia Talancón as Taylor Anthony, Ray Wise as Ted Summers and Azura Skye as Leann Cole who all met their deaths very well. Not the greatest horror movie in the world, but much better than many a review will have you believe.

My score: 5/10

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