By Steve Biodrowski

This rather blatant rip-off of RING (1998) manages to stand on its own by virtue of its satirical approach. Taking the familiar clichés and pushing them as far as they will go, ONE MISSED CALL borders on parody; the intent seems to be to drive a stake through the heart of the J-Horror genre, leaving behind nothing but a desiccated corpse from which all vitality has been sapped. The result is reasonably effective as a horror film, but the quirkiness of the approach - rather than the genre trappings - are the real appeal.

The premise is lifted from RING, which contained dialogue references to a supernatural phone call warning of impending death but ultimately settled on a videotape as the icon of horror. Dropping the videotape, ONE MISSED CALL features a series of victims who receive messages on their cell phones: the gimmick is that the calls come from their own cell phones - a day or two in the future - and the messages appear to have been recorded at the precise moment of a violent death. The story involves a young woman trying to track down the source of the calls, with the aid of a man whose sister was the first to die. The rather thin trail of clues leads them to a hospital where a young girl died of an asthma attack; her (apparently) abusive mother (it is rumored) intentionally waited too long to seek treatment, resulting in her daughter's death. The mother, who mysteriously disappeared, is eventually found, dead, and the malevolent ghost apparently put to rest - until a twist ending keeps the horror alive.

Director Takashi Miike - more known for violent gangster films - is perhaps too distinctive to make a straight-ahead horror film. He cannot resist including a tough police officer who poses in the shadows as if he thinks he were in a film noir; the ultimate source of horror turns out to be a sadistic psycho who might have fit into one of his other films; and the director occasionally resorts to graphic imagery (e.g., a severed hand dialing a cell phone; a headless body stumbling before collapsing to the floor) normally eschewed in Japanese ghost films. Miike carefully choreographs the horror sequences, achieving a level of stylization that sometimes evokes humor in its exaggeration (e.g., a slow dolly in on a victim, whose eyes go abnormally wide at the prospect of approaching doom). The approach adds a touch of distinction to what might have, otherwise, been a routine genre thriller.

The highlight comes when a reality television show talks the next victim into appearing live at the appointed time of her death. With a panel of experts debating the topic, and an exorcist trying to save the girl, the scene is a three-ring circus of absurdity, with the television show's producers clearly exploiting a potential tragedy for ratings. Miike actually manages to trump the satire with some genuine horror - showing the ghostly antagonist, unhindered by the television trappings, claiming her victim right in front of the TV cameras.

Unfortunately, this sequences happens midway through the movie, which then degenerates into more typical fare; there is even (surprise, surprise) a corpse that comes to life, menacing the heroes. The makeup, effects, and staging are all well done enough to supply the expected thrills, but they offer little that one could not see in other, similar movies.

The resolution never adequately explains the mechanism by which cell phones became the ghost's medium of choice; the dialogue offers only the briefest lip service. And the attempt to link the heroine (who was abused as a child) thematically with the ghost is only partially successful. Film ends on an ambiguous note, with evil apparently alive and well, but the imagery (a friendly smile, a bright blue sky) suggesting a happy - if temporary - truce.

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