Un appel manqué

I know that many people have given this a low rating but I believe that is mostly because many people had preconceptions before watching the movie because of the original Japanese version/origin and the fact that it was a remake. O.k granted it isn't the best movie of all time but far from the worst if you watch it as I did with an open mind and give it a chance under it's own merits. There were several parts in the movie where it does get you guessing and thinking that you know who is behind it but you may guess wrong - I know that I did, o.k it wasn't overly scary but a few moments where it does make you think now that would be freaky, you can see a few holes in the plot but then again you can with most movies.

All in all worth a watch with an open mind if you don't really expect anything from it and give the movie a chance!

My rating 7/10

Facts: As of 4.27.08 the rating for this movie is 2.9

Nearly EVERY review is negative. The accusations leveled over and over are: worst movie ever, terrible, trash, stupid and the like.

Here's my sad story about One Missed Call:

It was a rainy Sunday afternoon (I live in Seattle) so I went to the local video store looking for a mindless movie to watch while laying about. While perusing the selections I saw IT – not the Stephen King movie but the most vilified movie in recent memory: One Missed Call, staring at me from the shelf. I almost felt it call to me and for a fraction of a second my hand, with a mind of its own, started to reach out for it. Needless to say, I retrieved my composure and hurried away. Having read the reviews on IMDb, and so KNOWING it was something to avoid at all costs, I felt shameful and dirty at having let my guard down as I did.

As I walked a little further down the aisle I spotted another movie: Reservation Road. Thank goodness! Redemption!, I thought as I picked up a copy; feeling once again like sensible individual. As I headed for the front counter, reading the back of the box, it said Reservation Road was something to the effect of being a deep, emotional story. Not exactly the mindless fare for a rainy Sunday! So, completely loosing my mind and throwing caution to the wind, I snuck back and returned the copy of Reservation Road. Then, making certain no one else was around, grabbed a copy One Missed Call. I quickly tucked THE movie under my arm so that no passers-by could read the title and know the poor decision I had just made.

As I made my way to the counter, I made sure no line of happy movie renters were there so as to avoid their judging eyes. Safely at the counter, to throw-off some of my guilt, I made a joke with the clerk about how I was going to regret my selection but am a die-hard horror fan and therefore excused. He looked completely unaffected. I hurriedly paid and headed out the door with my guilty secret.

Once home, I popped the disc in, settled onto my couch and readied myself for disappointment. Funny thing though: About half way through the feature I started thinking about how similar this movie was to another movie I had seen - The Ring.

The Ring, when it hit the theaters and ultimately DVD, got huge, rave reviews. Strangely though, once I, personally, saw The Ring - and after all the hype - was ultimately disappointed. The Ring wasn't a bad movie, in my opinion, but it also was not deserving of all the accolades either – again, in my opinion.

So, here I am watching One Missed Call, comparing it to The Ring and now thinking the end has got to be the reason everyone is calling this a stinker. Well, I got to the end and was sitting there with furrowed brow thinking: What did I miss? Where is the movie that everyone hates so much? I don't feel ripped-off or violated. I don't even feel as if I was condescended to. What happened?

I suspect this was a case of jumping on the proverbial bandwagon. I thought we had are OWN opinions and shared them, here on IMDb, honestly. I have a very hard time believing that the same demographic gave The Ring 7.3, AVP: Requiem 5.1 (which SUUUUCKED) and One Missed Call 2.9. There is a serious disturbance in the force here. I used to trust the opinions and ratings on here. Ultimately this single incident has shaken my confidence in IMDb and the people casting their votes (much like the general elections of 2000 & 2004).

I hope one day I will once again be able to enter IMDb with the belief that I will be able to take away from it the knowledge needed to make a sensible movie renting choice. Until then, I will have to stumble through the video store alone, unarmed and destined to fall into the crags of bad movie selections.

A sad story indeed.

I fear I will run out of room soon so, I'll end here.

Cheers! Thanks for reading.

One Missed Call does not deserve a 2.8 rating, - it just doesn't. I think most people had an opinion of this movie before they even seen it. Most likely because it was simply "another Japanese remake", but that's unfair. If One Missed Call had been released before, lets say "The Ring" - the movie would have had a higher rating - and better reviews. But because we have had "The Ring", "The Ring 2 ", "The Grudge", "The Grudge 2", "Pulse", etc.. (to name a few) people think they know what the're already gonna get from the film. I mean, I'm not gonna lie and say One Missed Call is really a lot different from those movies - cause it's not. But that doesn't mean to say it's not good or entertaining. I think If you get passed the whole Japanese thing - you will enjoy the movie for sure.

The thing I like about these certain movies is, there is a lot of great suspense. There's no heads, legs, arms flying everywhere - it's better than that. These so called Hollywood "creators" now think a horror film can only be a horror if there is blood & guts splattered everywhere. That's not true. A great horror has great suspense, and One Missed Call delivers just that.

This is just one of those films based on a good film (the original is wicked), that Hollywood sees as an opportunity to remake and make a load of money off. Please do not help accomplish this ! The Japanese version was based on "what you can't see is scarier than what you can see !", and played out as a highly decent scary movie. But then came along the Americans (no offense, i'm one) which bases a movie nowadays on "how much money can we inject into explosions, shattered glass,blowing up cars,... that we won't have to pay to get decent actors ?". And voilà you get this turd of a remake. Get the Japanese version and stick to it, in it the actors at least look like teenagers, in the American version they all look over thirty. I mean come on, how dumb are we ? (or how many years in a row have they flunked class)

***Please, if you have not seen this movie don't vote no on it just because its a bad review.

This movie was so bad. It makes OK movies like The Grudge look like masterpieces. First, the one and only good thing about this movie was it built decent suspense in some parts. That being said, the pay off was horrible. We would always get some bad CGI, a copy off of something that was in another movie(1408 is a clue), or an average death that is filmed horribly just so that the movie won't be R. The character development is THE WORST I have seen in any movie, and thats including all the very low budget horror movies. The detective doesn't have a personality, he's just kind of a machine that spits out dialog. The main character is so stupid, its unbelievable. There have been unintentionally stupid characters throughout time, but none have been so stupid that I had to shake my head at them. The side characters are worse. You just remember them as hot Latin chick, guy friend, and the other friend. Of course, that means you don't care for their deaths. The plot was pretty stupid, they just shove some random crap in their so they could have an ending. When the film ends, it made me mad because they took too long to show credits, so you think something else will happen, but then the credits just roll. And if the screenwriter had a brain, he would know that cell phones aren't scary, its the idea of hearing your own death. But of course, we just have to have a cell phone in every scene, and this ruins what could be some good scares. On one last note, there was a really embarrassing scene that we're supposed to take serious, but you just laugh your head off at the stupidity. Overall, a 3/10