DVD of the Day #25 - One Missed Call
This is my favorite Takashi Miike film. I even have the ringtone from this movie as my deafult ringer for my cell, so that should tell you something.
One of the main reasons I love this movie is because it takes the “possesed electronics” fad of Asian horror and makes some subtle jabs at it, along with Japanese pop culture. Instead of a possesed VHS tape like Ringu or a possessed camera like Shutter, One Missed Call revolves around a ghost that calls your cell phone. When you recieve your voice mail message it comes from the future and it is a recording of your last words before you die horribly.
The deaths in One Missed Call are both inventive and violent, but what I like best is how the movie bashes traditional mainstream Japanese horror, the insanity of reality TV, how the Japanese culture doesn’t talk about family issues - preferring to keep them as secrets lest the entire family be dishonoured by their discover and more. There are a lot of great plot twists in the movie as well, all featuring the evil spooky ghost (or two) behind the serial slayings. Even the ending is unexpected and it’s a nice little debate amongst J-horror fans as to what happened at the end. There is a clear cut ending that Miike meant, and the sequel (not done by Miike) hammers that particular ending home, although I wouldn’t advise watching the second as its pretty lousy. I hear there is a third OMC that hasn’t come to the states and I’ve seen bits of the OMC TV series which is actual quite good, but the original film is still my favorite.
I’m a big believer than original and innovative horror has passed Japan buy for the past few years with France being the current country of choice for high quality horror right now (and films in general. They’ve been amazingly impressive for the past half decade), but Miike’s One Missed Call is one of the last few good Japanese horror films that I can recall watching.
IS It Worth Keeping? Yes
Rating: 6.5/10
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