The Reel World: 'One Missed Call'

Japanese horror remake lacks creep factor, filled with rehashed story elements

By Joe Nguyen, AsiaXpress.com

Jan. 5, 2008

The new year has barely started and there’s already a contender for next year’s awards season.

It’s early, but “One Missed Call” could very well take home numerous Razzie Awards.

Director Eric Valette’s American remake of the Japanese horror, “Chakushin ari,” is 87 minutes of male cattle excrement. While the film’s premise had potential, the end product was poorly executed. Feebly written characters and redundant imagery that detract from the spook factor hardly constitute a worthwhile scary movie.

“One Missed Call” is about mid-20-somethings who die within two days after receiving a voicemail from themselves on their cell phones. The time and date of the message correlate with the time of their death. The “spooky” part – it’s from the last person who died.

Funny, it sounds like a rehashing of “The Ring” or “The Grudge” or about a dozen other Japanese horror flicks that have been released in the past decade.

The film’s deficiencies begin with its one-dimensional characters. Beth Raymond, played by Shannyn Sossamon, is the main character, but this fact doesn’t become apparent until 25 minutes into the movie. While she has an interesting back story – something that was much more riveting than the film’s plot – it was glossed over and made no sense why it was in the movie.

Jack Andrews, played by Edward Burns, is the open-minded cop who wants to help Raymond solve the mystery as to why her friends are dying. It’s not one of his finer performances as the character comes off as dry and stoic.

TV evangelist Ted Summers, played by Ray Wise, was the only character who was worth watching. Wise was able to turn Summers into someone who is evil enough to capitalize on one of the targeted girl’s misfortunes, while keeping a sincere demeanor.

But the greater flaw is the repeated “creepy” individuals who appear. They’re not scary; rather they are kind of just there, like scenery. Valette tries to build suspense with music, but with nonmenacing monsters wandering around, minding their own business, it’s loses its chill factor.

“One Missed Call” is not something that should be watched – willingly, at least. From the beginning, the first victim dies after she is dragged into a pond. Moments later, her cat’s dragged in as well.

Who knew cats had cell phones?

Some bad horror movies are worth watching because they are so bad, they become funny. Unfortunately, this one doesn’t have any redeeming qualities. The only thing scary is realizing that it costs $10 to see it in theaters.

Joe Nguyen is the editor in chief of AsiaXpress.com. Joe can be reached at joe (at) asiaxpress.com.