"One Missed Call"

Seen on: January 7, 2008

The players: Director: Eric Valette, Writer: Andrew Klavan, Cast: Edward Burns, Shannyn Sossamon, Ana Claudia Talancon, Ray Wise, Azura Skye

Facts of interest: Remake of Takashi Miike's Japanese thriller "Chakushin ari."

The plot: After a group of college friends receive frightening voicemails that predict their own deaths, Beth (Shannyn Sossamon) sets out to uncover the mysterty before it's too late.

Our quick thoughts: “One Missed Call” is yet another shot at scaring people with a bland story about ghosts and death approaching their victims through modern technology. I haven’t seen Taskashi Miike’s original yet, but I sense it’s still a far better movie than this piece of junk. Directed by newcomer Eric Valette, “Call” clearly misses its mark, struggling to keep cinemagoers engaged with a dreadful plot in which an utterly annoying ringtone and a bunch of missed calls kill off a group of friends.

Logic is conspicuously absent in the script, suspense is scarce, and I counted about two (lame) scares in the entire film. Select scenes leading up to the big showdown in “One Missed Call” are watchable, but the finale ruins every chance for improvement. Most of the actors have been miscast and their characters clearly lack personality. Especially Shannyn Sossamon and Edward Burns deliver emotionless performances, making it even harder for people to sit through the dragging 80 minutes.

Freaky quote: "That's your voice. That's you...dying" - Shannyn Sossamon

The final word: Scary videos and freaky phone calls were only cool and effective in “The Ring,” but the producers of “One Missed Call” thought they could just go look for any Japanese horror thriller with a similar idea, bring it to Hollywood and remake it to please the American audience. Alas, all they ended up doing is offering viewers yet another mess of a movie. The best call here is to not pick up this flick at any cost.