One Missed Call (Contains Spoilers)

What the hell is that?!
This movie seemed so over-the-top I didn't expect to be scary. But what do you know, it scared me when I least expected it. Creepy horror flicks, mutter, mutter. The move in question is One Missed Call, the Japanese horror from 2004. And yea, they did remake a Hollywood version of this one although I am not sure how it fared. Since I am not big on remakes I will ignore that one.

Alright, once you hear the story, you'll know what I mean. The overall plot is a rehashing of the story from Ring. However, instead of a cursed video tape, this one contains a dangerous phone message. Which is preceded by a cutesy ring tone. Come on, that's too funny to be scary! And just like in Ring, folks who receive this call die in horrible ways. By the way, each phone message comes, from the future, from the jinxed person's own number. How corny is that?

So, I laughed away when I started watching this movie. Yea, that was before the movie actually started to freak me out. You know the worst bit? You actually guess the story, figure out who might be the bad one and yet, you are left feeling horrified. How do they do that?

Admittedly, some elements that were similar to Ring was not as frightening. Thus, the long-haired ghostly woman didn't make you shudder and cover your face. Or run screaming from the room, as is the case of the more weak-willed viewers (you know who you are).

Having said that, it did catch me off guard when this overdone tactic startled me. There is one bit where the phone message shows the creepy ghost standing behind the next victim. Except the ghost is a bit obscured and all you can see is one pale limb and the top of her head. I think these sort of movies lets you imagine the worst, thus making it more frightening in your mind.

This was the case of other scary moments in the movie. Some of them pop up when you least expect in and you reel back wondering what the victim would see, if they did investigate the noise. For instance, all victims heard a weird right before they were killed off. So, when the main protagonist runs off to investigate something and then stops after hearing that same hiss behind her …. that's when you catch your breath and go 'Uh oh'.Creepy kid

Another aspect that added to the mood of the movie was its pace and narration style. I would say that this one had a faster pace than the Ring series. Thus, this one didn't create lengthy silent moments which were mingled with slow build of tension. Rather, it created a feeling of being overwhelmed. You know, too many people, too much external stimuli, too many distractions. Then, when it came to adding in a slightly creepy moment, the director turned to the ever useful silent moment.

The best example is when the main character is in an abandoned building (spoiler alert). She walks past a mirror and, at that moment, you know a creepy shadow will swoop behind her, a shadow that can only see glimpsed fleetingly in the mirror. And this will probably be accompanied by a scary sound effect. I wish. The girl walks past and yes, she is followed by a scary shadow. But not the type I expected. This one trudged. It might have been slow but it had purpose in its step. It didn't try too hard to pull faces and look creepy. The confident manner in which it followed her was disturbing enough. It wasn't a 'I'm going to get you' type of look; it was more of a 'I could do this forever' sort of gleeful assurance. Eeek!