Why do Americans filmmakers feel the need to remake every perfectly good Japanese horror flick? Perhaps, in this case, it's because reviewers of the original One Missed Call, directed by Takashi Miike (Audition) in 2003, found the movie perfectly bad. But its decent premise could be made into a better movie. What we get, though, is yet another modern horror rehash, filled with malevolent children, buxom co-eds on the brink of nervous breakdowns, technology working deviously against us, mysteries that all come together in the end and wobbly flash-cutting. If you end up on the edge of your seat, it's less from being scared than repeatedly startled.
One Missed Call follows a fresh-faced student (Shannyn Sossamon) through a steady unraveling caused by the deaths of three of her friends. What makes these deaths chilling is that the victims received voicemails, tagged three days into the future, recording their own death screams. A cautionary tale about cellphone usage? A subliminal consciousness-raising crusade about young girls and their abusive mothers (several victims had been mistreated by their moms)? A plain and simple scare-fest? And what does that ring tone mean? In the end, we don't really care. — Steph Auteri