First, a few facts: 1) One Missed
Call is a remake of a Japanese horror film by Takashi Miike
called Chakushin ari, placing it in a group of films are
not usually of high-quality; 2) the movie is being released in
January, a month known as a “dumping ground” for major
distributors; 3) there were no press-screenings for the movie,
meaning that the studio didn’t have much confidence in the
possibility of critics liking it. When one considers all of the
above, it seems to be no small wonder that the reviews for
One Missed Call have, indeed, been less-than-stellar. After
all, nearly everyone is a victim of their own biases – even
those of us who write about Film regularly and try to free our
minds of predisposition. Could it be that the movie has been
dubbed a typical “January crapshoot” because it fits the
description of one, not because it actually is?
I believe that
One Missed Call is likely being unfairly judged because
of the aforementioned convenient facts. It’s easy to dismiss a
movie like this before forming a rational opinion on it. That’s
not to say that One Missed Call is some sort of
accomplished masterwork; in fact, I don’t even really recommend
the movie. But to say that it is as bad as The Grudge
films, Pulse, or The Ring 2 is a complete
overreaction: the film is not without its merits. It is
beautifully photographed; never relies on quick, MTV-style
cutting to get its point across; features an incredibly-likable
lead performance from the beautiful Shannyn Sossamon; and taps
into some intriguing themes even if they don’t really add up in
the end. Frankly, One Missed Call never even approaches
the realm of being painful to the viewer, let alone being
artistically offensive.
The premise is
tacky and typical of obscure Japanese-horror (or “J-horror” for
short), but hits all of the right notes that it needs to in
order to be preposterously entertaining. Sossamon plays
protagonist Beth Raymond, a college-aged young-woman whose
friends are dying in mysterious ways. First, Shelley Baum
(Meagan Good, in an auspicious one-scene cameo) is found and
suspected of drowning herself in a small coy-pond. Shortly
afterwards, Beth’s other friend Leann (Azura Skye) receives a
mysterious voice-message from Shelley’s cell-phone that is dated
in the future, in which Leann is heard screaming. Before she
comes to understand the message, Leann jumps off an overpass
while having schizophrenic delusions at the exact same time that
the message was supposedly sent. The chain repeats itself with
Brian Sousa (Johnny Lewis), another one of Beth’s friends.
Desperate to figure out what is happening and to save herself
from becoming a “missed call”-casualty, Beth teams up with
detective Jack Andrews (Edward Burns) to investigate. In fact,
Jack’s recently-dead sister may have been killed in the exact
same way that Beth’s friends were.
In its third
act, One Missed Call gives into the type of absolute
lunacy typical of American adaptations of J-horror films. There
are tacky special effects and hammy plot-epiphanies aplenty.
Still, to ignore the many things that the movie accomplishes
does it a great disservice. As I touched on before, director
Eric Valette employs a very toned-down approach for this type of
material. With few in-your-face technical flourishes present,
his embrace of a more-classical style is highly appreciable.
Cinematographer Glen MacPherson’s stunning command of imagery
allows him to employ this technique without worrying. In front
of the camera, actress Sossamon further proves that, despite her
frequent ventures into strange pictures, she has some strong
acting chops and an amiable presence. (For a terrific
performance, check out her work in Wristcutters: A Love Story,
one of the most criminally under-seen movies of last year.) With
these select admirable traits in tow, One Missed Call
certainly proves itself a mildly-interesting sit. It couldn’t be
more different from the godawful January release that far too
many critics have pegged it as being.
-Danny Baldwin, Bucket Reviews
Review Published on: 1.7.2008
Screened on: 1.4.2008 at the
Edwards San Marcos 18 in San Marcos, CA.
One Missed Call is rated PG-13 and runs
86 minutes.
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