One Missed Call

ONE MISSED CALL
J-Horror had already peaked and waned by the time 2003's One Missed Call - directed by the infamous Takashi Miike - was released in its native country.  Hollywood had absorbed the techniques and spit them back out in a more conventional fashion.  But in Japan there was still room for more, capitalizing on the "ghost in the machine" urban legend of an angry spirit who leaves a voicemail predicting the victim's death.  Subsequent sequels modified the rules a bit, allowing the message to be forwarded and condemning the next poor sap that hears the fatal lullaby ringtone.    

A rather on-the-nose mix of The Ring and Final Destination, the trilogy of films never quite pulled it together until One Missed Call 3: Final, which sticks to the teenage body count formula the series should have been in the beginning.  But Miike's first film sets the tone rather brilliantly at times, lingering on corners and cubbyholes that hint at the angry spirit lurking impossibly within.  His kill scenes are also remarkably well-choreographed, with victims painfully folded up like origami and stuffed with the spirit's calling card: a piece of red hard candy.  One Missed Call 2 spins its wheels with new characters and narrative misdirection, but doesn't add anything to the mythos.   While the final entry finally gets things right, playing off the idea of a phone-obsessed youth culture who wind up turning on each other to avoid the spirit's vengeful wrath. 

Each entry is about 15 minutes too long, adding needless backstories and complications (not to mention a pair of head-scratching endings for parts 1 and 2), but smartly chooses chills over jump-scare shock tactics.   Even though J-horror had circled the block a few times by this point, One Missed Call exemplified what the genre did best.  And Arrow's 2-disc special edition includes all three films on Blu-ray looking great from the first film to the last.  Extras include a new audio commentary by Miike biographer Tom Mes, two Making Of documentaries, interviews, deleted scenes, music videos, short films, an alternate ending and much more.

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