ONE MISSED CALL (2003)
Directed by Takashi Miike
Starring: Kou Shibasaki, Shinichi Tsutsumi
Genre: Horror
Running Time: 112mins

Rating:

On an otherwise ordinary evening Yumi (Kou Shibasaki) plays witness as friend Yoko (Anna Nagata) receives a voice message on her mobile phone. The caller it seems is herself, the message dated three days in the future. Confusion however, soon turns to fear after hearing the message playing out what seems to be her own voice screaming as it meets with death. Sure enough, three days later while talking to Yumi on the phone the same words are spoken followed by the shrill scream and her subsequent death. This is just the beginning however, as Yoko lays dead the phone dials the number of a friend stored on her phone thus starting a chain of events and a seemingly unavoidable curse.

One Missed Call is little more than a studio hack job for Miike. Those pinning their hopes on a return to form for the new wave horror genre will be disappointed and surprised at just how totally inoffensive, ineffective, unoriginal and pedestrian this film is. The safest bet it would seem would be to wait for the release of Three Extremes and catch Miike's inclusion "Box" later in the year.

Stealing it's plot (and entire scenes in some places) wholesale from Ring with a touch of Dark Water thrown in for good measure, it's not surprising that One Missed Call was produced by the same studio (Kadokawa Shotoken), after all this is a high concept, cash-in of a movie. But what is surprising is the attachment of Miike as director. Miike after all is a director renowned for bending genres, pushing boundaries and, love him or hate him, for producing films that are both thematically interesting and aesthetically impressive to say the least.

Here however, faced with a straight faced project - he fails. The characters are flat and one dimensional, with relatively bland performances from a cast that, on paper at least, really should have delivered the goods. Kou Shibasaki (with incredibly immaculate hair throughout), Shinichi Tsutsumi, Renji Ishibashi and Goro Kishitani are all wasted, trapped with one facial expression, one tone of voice and one purpose - to aid the plot, there seems no room for Miike eccentricities here.

The reason for their lacklustre performances I suspect, is the very same reason for Miike - a sheer lack of interest in the project. After all this is a severely under-developed script with no interesting characters whatsoever, their back stories clumsily brought out through awkward expositional dialogue and a plot that feels cobbled together by producers hungry to replicate the "financial" success of its back catalogue. It has the originality of a Hollywood remake.

Prior to seeing the film I had read reviews suggesting that One Missed Call was a bland generic horror film that built to a terrifying final third. With expectations lowered I felt that the climactic scene in question (set in an abandoned hospital) would be the saving grace of the film. However, I found myself waiting to be scared and while some moments did send a shiver down my spine, (in particular the use of sound design making good use of the 6 channels to create special awareness) the fact is that the scariest element of the film is the ring tone used, not the force of evil it represents. Which, although hideous, is laughable in its execution not to mention a huge plot-hole in the grander scheme of things.

Contrary to what you may think at this point of the review there are still some positive things to be gained from One Missed Call. There are a number of set pieces that are handled effectively, the first death is full of neat touches (from the popping of the fence links, to the animated severed arm), meanwhile a flashback to Yumi's (Kou Shibasaki) childhood is eerily shot taking on board darker subject matter and adding a much needed serious overtone that until then had balanced uncomfortably between parodying the media (by the use of an overly dramatic TV Special sequence that overstays its welcome) and providing only lacklustre scares. Goro Kishitani's necrophiliac morgue photographer meanwhile is misplaced and feels shoe-horned in by a bored director.

Overall, One Missed Call is killed by it's overwhelming similarities to Nakata's far superior Ring it's just a shame that the only thing borrowed is the plot because a lack of originality can be forgiven for some adrenaline pumping exercises in terror and suspense. A Tale of Two Sisters for example borrowed heavily from the iconography of recent horror films (the long black hair, the figure in the bag etc.) but made it all its own and was an exceptional film for it. One Missed Call, however, is the film Ring could have been, had it taken all the wrong turns.