One Missed Call

I'll make it fast. One Missed Call = every horror cliché in the book. Once you realize this you can shut off your brain and have an entertaining ride for 87 mins.

Shadowy figures go swoosh past the camera. Creepy dead people appear and then a bus goes by and they're gone. Whenever someone slowly opens a door you can bet $5 there'll be a fake scare in your future. Anyone who goes chasing after a pet cat will die. And the victims are telegraphed more blatantly than if they had a black Sims plumbob over their heads. All the same, this can still be a fun flick in the same way a rollercoaster can be a fun ride even though you know exactly where the rails go (hint: usually down).

"One Missed Call" is a polished remake of the Japanese "Chakushin ari" (2003) which I never saw. The story is about a bizarre chain of phone calls where the victims receive a voicemail from themselves from the future, time stamped at the moment they die. Somehow this ties in with a parallel story of 2 creepy girls and a spooky nurse. Don't ask me how; apparently my brain had auto-shutoff midway so I didn't quite grasp the connection, but I still had fun watching all the wacky ectoplasmic hijinks.

Just do like I did, shut off your brain and enjoy the show. It's well produced with decent effects, great spooky makeup, and good acting although you gotta wonder... why do these idiots keep answering their phones??

Also there's a bizarre recurring theme of centipedes (cgi) which is supposed to creep us out, but I think centipedes are cute af, so whenever a centipede appeared I was like... Dawwwwwwrrr! koochiekooochiekoo!! :D