Movie Review - One Missed Call

One Missed Call is another American remake of a Japanese horror movie. I can, at times, dig some Japanese horror, because of its unique ideas (usually) and imagery. I really enjoyed the Silent Hill video games, not including the awful movie, and I thought The Ring wasn't too bad. Speaking of The Ring, it is probably the only Japanese horror remake I can think of that was worth watching. After seeing One Missed Call, I still haven’t changed my mind.

The premise is simple. People start to get calls to their cell phones with an unfamiliar ringtone. It turns out that the phone calls are from a friend that died. A message is left which contains the very last words uttered by the receiver. The messages are shown to be made at an exact date and time from the not too distant future. The date and time given is the precise moment the call receiver dies, and the cycle keeps repeating itself.

A woman named Elizabeth Raymond starts investigating the calls when she witnesses a friend die right in front of her. Her only real help comes from Detective Jack Andrews, whose own sister was killed in a similar manner. Of course, in the process, more people start dying around Elizabeth and this strengths her resolve, until she finally gets a call to her cell phone. The last moments become a desperate act for the protagonist to save herself and solve the mystery.

The plot can only be described as all too familiar. It burrows most components, if not all of them, from The Ring and executes them poorly. In the end, nothing is ever really resolved, and the movie ends with possibilities for a sequel. The conclusion makes the final moments with the main character completely vexing. What the hell was the point and why did it happen? The plot elements have become way too formulaic for these movies.

If you’re starting to see a pattern, you’re certainly not alone. Every one of these films centers around the evil spirit of a little girl wrecking havoc and murdering people through something linked to their past. There is little motive as to how or why. They’re just bad seeds, I suppose.

You could do worse then One Missed Call, but not by very much. It is a bland, uninteresting film that goes through the motions, and the obvious plot holes don’t help out. There is nothing thought-provoking here. I will be glad when Hollywood gets off this Japanese remake bandwagon and moves on to something else.