UHM - Review - One Missed Call (Remake)

Once again Hollywood decides to remake a good Asian film and think that if they just set a talented director behind the camera that it'd make for a successful feature. Wrong! The original 2003 Japanese film was Takashi Miike's first attempt at a "normal" mainstream film, and really took me by surprise. It was interesting, creepy, and offered a couple things we didn't see much of in the supernatural sub-genre. A remake was announced in 2005, but it wasn't until a year later that it would actually move forward. Early on such names as Ed Harris and Gabriel Byrne were supposedly attached, but I'm sure they must've realized they were sitting on a steaming pile of crap and bailed out at the right time.

Although the cast and crew were requested not to watch the original, the story itself still remained close -- we follow Shannyn Sossamon's character, who discovers that the mysterious deaths of her friends are linked to voice messages left on their cell phones, which seemingly depict themselves seconds before their death. What's even stranger is the fact that these messages are dated days later, essentially predicting the exact time of their deaths. Teamed up with a local detective (Ed Burns), the duo attempt to discover the origins of the phone calls and hope to put a stop to the deaths.

The film fails in many aspects, mostly character development, because it was nonexistent. Why should we even care about these dull characters? Then there are the "scares," which consisted of nothing more than a bunch of cheap tactics we've seen all-too-many times. Where's the suspense and atmosphere? Even towards the end when our leads enter an old abandoned hospital, where you'd expect a lot of atmosphere to be present, there was nothing. Since the film was slapped with a PG-13 rating, we didn't even get the pleasure of viewing gory deaths. However, the flick didn't fail at everything -- it was a great comedy! The cat's death scene? Brilliant! The demon baby? Hilarious! The film's box office numbers? LOL!!

OVERALL

The film is just another waste of time, just like most of these remakes are. The flick fails to deliver proper character development, scares, and ends up with a number of untintentionally funny moments. Skip this mess.

Comments page 5 of 5:

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JaMeS :

Posted Yesterday

terrible idea and a very shameful attempt at horror and the ones who think that its good have been shovel fed too many bad movies to spot a good one.

Shores Haunted :

Posted 2 days ago

the movie just didn't make any sense... not that movies like pumpkinhead and the Ring are realistic, but at least they explain why everything is happening. it had a weak premise and the story was full of holes. plus, they tried too hard to emulate other japanese-based, american-made ghost movies and just ended up with a cluster-fuck.

Laurennnnnnn :

Posted 7 days ago

i thought this was a terrific movieeeee i love it sooo much i watch everyday before i go to sleep im in love with it

Charlie :

Posted 9 days ago

I have to admit, I was impressed overall. I am one who enjoys asian remakes and I think this movie had some very creepy special effects. I give this movie a 7 on a scale of 1 to 10.

Jon G :

Posted 10 days ago

i really did not like this movie. the only good part was with the cat

charles :

Posted 14 days ago

saw it ,sucked waste of your time dont even bother

eviltwin :

Posted 16 days ago

So i recently seen this movie in the video store and was kinda skeptical in renting it due to the reviews its been getting through this website. Anyways renting this film was worth a watch i have not seen the original so i cant compare the two films but watching the remake was worth 2.99. I have seen a hell of alot worse movies out there this film aaiiggghhhttttttttttt.

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