RipDelight
This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.
Chirphymium
It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional
Dana
An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.
Leofwine_draca
ONE MISSED CALL is a traditional Japanese ghost story in that it involves young women being stalked by a ghost that puts a curse on them. In JU-ON: THE GRUDGE, the curse existed within a building; in RING, it passed on via a ringing telephone; in ONE MISSED CALL it takes the form of a mobile telephone call and voicemail message, with a time-travel twist. The one thing immediately noticeable is that this film's director is shock king Takashi Miike, he of ICHI THE KILLER notoriety amongst others, but he keeps his outrageous gore and violence to a minimum here. Apart from a couple of jumpily-edited scares and two or three gruesome moments (the beheading/de-arming being the "highlight") his work here is indistinguishable from many other directors. However, he does a decent job with the creepy atmosphere and the tension is spot on.Visually, this film is recognisable as being a RING derivative, as with so many others. The ghost is of a grey-skinned woman with long dark hair who we catch brief, creepy glimpses of throughout. There's a stand-out shock scene involving an approaching ghost towards the climax, and lots of young, pretty Japanese actresses screaming their heads off in terror. However, there are a few things here that are more original than most, including a chirpy mobile ring tone that quickly becomes scary because it symbolises death; plus the appearance of a rotting zombie towards the film's climax which is pretty gruesome. Shibasaki makes for an able lead and proves to be another talented young actress while the supporting cast never step out of line. My only real complaint with ONE MISSED CALL is the head-scratching ending, which piles on twist after twist and ends up leaving you totally confused about what just happened – opaque isn't the word. Still, for fans of subtle, scary old-fashioned chills, you could do a lot worse than this one...
MovieGuy01
I watched the Japanese horror film, One Missed Call last night, and i thought that it was a excellent film, and far better than the American remake. It is about a teenager Yoko Okazaki who is in a bar with her friends, she receives a voice mail from the future telling the date and time when she will die. The next day, Yumi hears a group of students talking about the story where people are mysteriously receiving phone calls with the exact date and time of their death. a couple of days later at the exact hour, Yoko is attacked by a supernatural force in a train station, while she is talking to her friend Yumi Nakamura. Yumi finds out Kioto's boyfriend Kenji Kawaia also received a call, and she witnesses his death in an lift. When her roommate Natsumi Konishi receives a call, Yoko becomes friends with Hiroshi Yamashita, who tells her that his sister Ritsuko was the first victim of the phone call. They find that the name of Marie Mizunuma and her daughters Mimiko and Nanako have something to do with the strange phone calls. They begin a search to find out what is going on. I thought that this was a very good film and would recommend people to see it. 7/10
slayrrr666
"One Missed Call" is a little overrated but still fairly enjoyable Asian ghost film.**SPOILERS**Following a friends death, Yumi Nakamura, (Kou Shibasaki) wanders about a strange story being told by her friends, about weird messages on their phones warning them of their future deaths. Reluctant to believe the rumor, her friends Yoko Okazaki, (Anna Nagata) Natsumi Konishi, (Kazue Fukiishi) and Det. Hiroshi Yamashita, (Shinichi Tsutsumi) try to help her with the situation, eventually realizing it is connected to one of the department's previous cases involving Marie, (Mariko Tsutsui) and Mimiko Mizunmura, (Kumiko Imai) who had a history of family abuse within them and that certain elements of them are mirrored in the recent killings. When it comes to be her turn next on the list, they race to stop the deadly ghost encounters before it's too late.The Good News: There was some good stuff here when this one tried to. One of the best elements here is the fact that there's a good element written in the film involving the television crew, once they're involved in the story. This here is quite a new development in these kinds of films, mainly due to the novel idea behind it but also due to the fact that it as well provides some really good stuff to come from the involvement. One of the best is the outstanding live TV report done on the matter, which is just absolutely outstanding and is nearly flawless. The exorcism that opens it is really exciting and thrilling, and when the ghost appears, the chaos of the situation, destruction of the studio in a blinding storm of debris, tossed furniture and general panic is a sight to behold. When the ghost does first appear, it's the slow-burn one where it slowly appears from around a corner hands-first only to the victim and through TV monitors, as others can't see it, before launching into one of the greatest visually-striking deaths in the genre that is just as brutal as can be in the situation without going over-the-top, and then to have the entire scenario broadcast to the world on live-television just makes the whole scene that much more unnerving. Other big pluses include the first meeting between everything, where the intention is first brought up and the whole thing is then interrupted by one-of-the-mysterious phone-calls in front of everyone, which is a little chilling itself but also the follow-up where the mystery is first mentioned is important as it sets the rest of the film's mysteries into motion from here, and the short little plugs seen on TV before the live-interview actually manage to add a little extra dose of tension to the mix as well. As per usual with the genre, when it actually gets the ghost involved, there's a lot of fun to be had, and that's again the case here with a couple of really good encounters. The opening kill on the bridge is really good, working the unknown of the situation to great effect and then ending with a spectacular kill that really sets the film in motion quite nicely. A later one, where the ghost appears to off one of the group through unconventional use of an elevator shaft scores nicely, and then the main one, with the encounter in the abandoned room that is just all sorts of atmospheric, and there's a couple fun encounters there as well. These here make the film enjoyable.The Bad News: There was a couple problems here with this one that hold it down. One of the main ones is that there's a relatively large portion of time where absolutely nothing at all happens. This here is the middle segment, which is mostly the searching for the family that has been at the cause for it all, yet the fact that this doesn't at all provide much in the way of anything terribly interesting is what causes this one to come down. The fact that the ghost is missing from these scenes is incredibly apparent, hardly anything scary or interesting happens and it basically seems to become more of a police-procedural drama more than anything else, which is not all that bad since the mystery is at least given some more weight to than most others, but when it takes longer than the amount of screen-time given to it to fully get the idea across in a completely non-confusing matter is when it runs into trouble. This one here is a case of being over-explained, and in a sense feels like it's got about twenty different ideas crammed into it and then contrivance written into it in order to make it somewhat plausible for the events to be connected, and in the end this whole section is a big loss. The other flaw to the film is that, because of the large number of ideas written into the story, it takes forever for the film to end, and none of the events portrayed make any sense at all on their own. The events inside the trapped room are quite lame anyway, making no sense at all and that's before it allows the official ending to come into play, re-writing that and really doing anything to correct it either. This one is entirely confusing, and pretty much constitutes this one's flaws.The Final Verdict: While not the overall classic that many make it out to be, this is still a fairly engaging enough to be a worthwhile entry in the genre. Give it a shot if you're into the Asian ghost genre or if you happen to enjoy a little mystery with your horror, while those that aren't big on those should heed caution.Rated R: Graphic Violence and Language
Claudio Carvalho
While in a bar with her friends, the teenager Yoko Okazaki (Anna Nagata) receives a call in her cellular with a voice mail from the future telling the date and time when she would die. On the next day, Yumi overhears a group of students talking about the urban legend that people connected in the address book of cellular are mysteriously receiving phone calls with date and time of their death in the near future. In the precise informed hour, Yoko is attacked by a supernatural force in a train station while talking to her friend Yumi Nakamura (Kou Shibasaki) by phone and dies with severed arm and leg. Yumi seeks out Kioto's boyfriend Kenji Kawai (Atsushi Ida), who also received a call, and witnesses his death in an elevator shaft. When her roommate Natsumi Konishi (Kazue Fukiishi) receives a call, Yoko befriends Hiroshi Yamashita (Shin'ichi Tsutsumi), who tells her that his sister Ritsuko (Azusa) that worked in the Child Guidance Center with abused children was the first victim of the phone call. While in the hospital, Yumi hears an asthma pump and recalls that she heard the same noise when Kenji died. They decide to investigate victims of asthma in the hospital and find the name of Marie Mizunuma and her daughters Mimiko and Nanako. They search the family together trying to save Natsumi from her fate."Chakushin Ari" is scary like most of the Asian horror movies, and has a promising beginning supported by a great acting and a good plot. However, the last quarter of the movie is confused, not clear, needing interpretation; therefore, the screenplay writer Minako Daira or the cult director Takashi Miike or both failed since they were not able to transmit a clear conclusion of the story to the audience. I glanced in IMDb the most different interpretations for the end of the story to ratify my opinion. My vote is six.Title (Brazil): "Ligação Perdida" ("Missed Call")
