One Missed Call
Reviewed By : Sinn

Release Year : 2007

Directed By : Eric Valette

Written By : Andrew Klavan

Starring : Shannyn Sossamon, Edward Burns

Related Links : IMDB, Official Site

 

Meh, I hate fucking cellphones. There's nothing more irritating than a bloody cellphone, seems ya can't go anywhere in the world now without hearing them ringing or some wretched swine shouting the most boring trivia from their life into one for all to hear. So, a film which centers around people getting calls on their mobile phones and then dying has got a major hurdle to climb from the start.

Add to the annoying mobile phones the fact that it's a remake - *spit* - of a Japanese original (Chakushin Ari), and that Western remakes are almost invariably turds, and this was pretty well screwed from the start with me.

Well, the good things first. It's certainly stylish and looks the part. And, I really like Shannyn Sossamon who plays Beth, I think she's got great talent and really deserves a chance to shine in a solid horror. Unfortunately, this isn't a solid horror, and the good has been just about covered in this paragraph.

As for what remains. I guess that it could have been a whole lot worse, and there are some entertaining moments here and there. Stylistically it is pretty fun, but it is entirely a triumph of style over substance, the movie is an ultimately vacuous and dissappointing experience. Superficial is the word that springs to mind.

The storyline, when it isn't feeling muddled, pointless, and predictable, fails to engage. The ending is a total let down. Shannyn does her best with the material to hand, and is the most likeable thing about the film, but she can't rescue it from being a non starter.

As an eptitaph to summarize, I guess we have to fall back on the good old standby of "still, it could have been a whole lot worse". Review over, got to go, the bloody phone is ringing.