Well, what can I say? Takashi Miike's take on the whole so-called J-horror hoopla. I bet he was thinking "I can do this too. And I can do it better". And you know what? He was right! RINGU can be considered as the original one that started it all (because of being the first big hit in the genre, for one thing). I'm not even gonna argue about whether it's the best J-horror movie or not. But I am gonna say that ONE MISSED CALL is without a doubt, on some levels, more effective than RINGU. Where Sadako's ghostly tale of terror was sort of touching the boundaries and establishing some clearly defined characteristics of the genre, CHAKUSHIN ARI pushes the boundaries and uses these characteristics as a reference to the genre.

Miike handles a very tight script and a plot that has virtually no holes and a lot of eye for details. Almost every little aspect that is being mentioned in the plot, carries a little set-up within that delivers a pay-off later. The story is intriguing. The death scenes are original and rather graphic. The ghostly creepiness is there. Every jump-scare works (there was one were I almost went through the roof! I recommend watching this with the sound turned up a notch; just let it blast out of the speakers, and I guarantee you: you will jump!). The conclusion is great and practically unpredictable; the twists were damn good. And then there's Miike, who just once again had to give this movie that Miike-touch of his, making it all just one bit more special in a way. And this time, surprisingly, he doesn't do it in the usual way. Not be inserting a sickening scene, or adding some repulsive imagery (though some events and effects really are quite gruesome). No. This time he does it by taking the movie to a different level, by adding that very last scene. And the very last shot should normally have you thinking about something that someone in a very brief scene said, earlier in the movie. The effect it had on me was: wanting to re-watch the movie. Now that's just great if a movie manages to do that. So maybe I should really rate this one 10/10. But I'll reserve that rating for THE AUDITION, my favorite Takashi Miike film ever (for now, at least).

And, by the way: I'm ready for the re-make. It's gonna be directed by Frenchman Eric Valette, who previously directed the magnificent, claustrophobic & Lovecraftian-like MALÉFIQUE. For once, I just might have a little faith in an upcoming re-make.

Even fans of Takashi Miike (I'm one) should be honest. He's made some bravura masterpieces like Audition and 13 Assassins but he's also churned out a lot of overlong, incoherent stinkers, of which this is one.

The premise - that people receive cell phone messages from their future selves recorded just before the moment of their deaths - had a lot of potential but Miike spaffs all that up the wall by drowning the film in slow, boring exposition and skimping on the many inventive and creepy deaths this film should have contained.

The biggest problem here is that the backstory behind why all this is happening is uninteresting and revealed in tedious chunks throughout. Instead of making the main events in the present scarier they actually make them seem more mundane. There's also a lack of clarity around how and why these events can be stopped.

Another thing that bugged me was characters behaving irrationally. The victims heard their own words recorded at the moments of their future deaths but didn't appear to make any concerted effort not to robotically repeat those same words when the time came. You'd think that it might occur to them that to be in a hotel room or a cop shop at the predicted instant of their death while definitely not uttering the words on the premonitory recording might keep them safe. But no. No one tries this and they all shamble into the jaws of doom like the pathetic, suicidal sheep they are.

This could have been a great film but it was an opportunity badly missed. Still there's plenty of other Miike to check out. It's not like the man hasn't given us anything else to choose from.

ONE MISSED CALL is a traditional Japanese ghost story in that it involves young women being stalked by a ghost that puts a curse on them. In JU-ON: THE GRUDGE, the curse existed within a building; in RING, it passed on via a ringing telephone; in ONE MISSED CALL it takes the form of a mobile telephone call and voicemail message, with a time-travel twist. The one thing immediately noticeable is that this film's director is shock king Takashi Miike, he of ICHI THE KILLER notoriety amongst others, but he keeps his outrageous gore and violence to a minimum here. Apart from a couple of jumpily-edited scares and two or three gruesome moments (the beheading/de-arming being the "highlight") his work here is indistinguishable from many other directors. However, he does a decent job with the creepy atmosphere and the tension is spot on.

Visually, this film is recognisable as being a RING derivative, as with so many others. The ghost is of a grey-skinned woman with long dark hair who we catch brief, creepy glimpses of throughout. There's a stand-out shock scene involving an approaching ghost towards the climax, and lots of young, pretty Japanese actresses screaming their heads off in terror. However, there are a few things here that are more original than most, including a chirpy mobile ring tone that quickly becomes scary because it symbolises death; plus the appearance of a rotting zombie towards the film's climax which is pretty gruesome. Shibasaki makes for an able lead and proves to be another talented young actress while the supporting cast never step out of line. My only real complaint with ONE MISSED CALL is the head-scratching ending, which piles on twist after twist and ends up leaving you totally confused about what just happened – opaque isn't the word. Still, for fans of subtle, scary old-fashioned chills, you could do a lot worse than this one...