One Missed Call (2008 film)

One Missed Call
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Eric Vallette
Produced by	Andrew Kosove Broderick Johnson Scott Kroopf Jennie Lew Tugend Lauren Weissman
Written by	Andrew Klavan Yasushi Akimoto (Book)
Starring	Shannyn Sossamon Edward Burns Ana Claudia Talancón Ray Wise Azura Skye
Music by	Reinhold Heil Johnny Klimek
Cinematography	Glen MacPherson
Editing by	Steve Mirkovich
Studio	Alcon Entertainment Kadokawa Pictures Equity Pictures Intermedia Films
Distributed by	Warner Bros. Pictures Japan: Kadokawa Pictures
Release date(s)	January 4, 2008 (2008-01-04) (US) March 20, 2008 (2008-03-20) (Germany) July 19, 2008 (2008-07-19) (Japan)
Running time	87 minutes
Country	Japan United States Germany
Language	English Japanese German
Budget	$20 million
Box office	$45,847,751

One Missed Call is a 2008 American remake of the 2004 Japanese film Chakushin Ari. The film was released in North America on January 4, 2008 and was directed by Eric Valette and written by Andrew Klavan. The film stars Edward Burns and Shannyn Sossamon. It was produced and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures

Plot

Beth Raymond (Shannyn Sossamon) is terrified by the deaths of four friends (Taylor, Brian, Leann, and Shelley), three of which she personally witnessed, after they received chilling phone calls apparently from themselves in the future, showing the exact time of their deaths. In the beginning, Shelley is alone in her backyard and sees something suspicious in the lake, looking over when a hand pulls her in the water drowning her along with her cat. Beth's friend Leann gets the exact same call, and later is pushed onto some tracks, and is electrocuted. Then Beth's other friend Brian can't take any more of this, and leaves. Minutes later, he shows Beth that he got a call too, and a gas explosion forces a pipe through his chest seconds later. Beth's best friend, Taylor gets the same call, and after trying to escape the force she finds herself in a church and she is strangled by an invisible force. After every death, a small red candy is found in the victim's mouth. In all the cases, the people who are going to die will see strange apparitions shortly before being killed, such as the woman seen on the theatrical poster with a baby carriage. Beth reports these strange occurrences to the police; however, they think she is delirious. Detective Jack Andrews (Edward Burns) believes her, stating that his sister died in a similar way. Together, they begin to unravel the mystery of the chain of calls, but are unsure if they can figure it out when Beth's phone starts to ring the same eerie tune, with a call dated 7:55 of that day.

They eventually trace the series of calls back to a woman named Marie Layton, who was apparently abusing her children, Ellie (Ariel Winter) and Laurel, for attention, as in cases of Munchausen by Proxy. They learn that Ellie later died of an asthma attack, and that Laurel is in a foster home after her mother went missing.

Believing that Marie is the source behind the murders, Beth travels to the recently burned-down St. Luke's hospital, where Marie was last seen, bringing Laurel in for a cut on her arm. After searching the hospital, Beth finds the body of Marie in the hospital ducting, where she apparently burned to death, clutching a cell phone. Marie's corpse moves and assaults Beth while weeping. She collapses when Detective Andrews makes his way into the ducting to help Beth. As Beth is fighting off Marie's corpse, 7:55 passes, but Beth does not die. It is later revealed that Marie's spirit was actually protecting Beth, not trying to hurt her.

After contacting authorities, who arrive to collect the body, Beth returns home and Andrews goes to tell Laurel that her mother is dead. While visiting, Andrews sees a drawing that was drawn by Laurel on the wall. He realizes the drawing is a teddy bear and the baby carriage. Previously, it was shown that the jar of bugs and the baby carriage (all mysterious occurrences seen by the victims before their deaths) were in the area where the nanny cam might be. He goes back to Laurel's room to get the teddy bear to see if there might be a nanny cam on the back. He finds a video disc in the back of Laurel's teddy bear. The disc is a video of a camera Marie hid in her children's room to monitor Laurel and Ellie. Ellie, clothed in a black hoodie, cuts Laurel's arm with a large butcher knife. Marie comes in and finds the children, realizing that the abuse she has been blamed for has been Ellie all along, and leaves to take Laurel to the hospital, locking Ellie in the bedroom.

Ellie, frantic, tries to force open the door, and suffers an asthma attack. Reaching for her inhaler, she finds it empty, and dies while dialing her mother's cell phone, making Marie the first real victim of the curse, dying in the fire. Laurel enters the room and Andrews says that it was Ellie who hurt her all the time, not her mother. Laurel nods, and speaking for the first time since the death of her mother, says, "But she always gave me candy," and holds out one of the red hard candies found in the mouths of all the victims.

The cellphone that Andrews gave Beth receives a voicemail, implying that Beth will soon be in danger again. Andrews realizes that the force behind the murders is Ellie, and races to Beth. Finding her unharmed, Andrews and Beth hear a knock on the door. Andrews looks through the spyhole. However, as Beth screams (as in her second voicemail message), a knife stabs through the spyhole and kills Andrews. After an explosion outside, Ellie's spirit appears and reaches out to strangle Beth. The spirit of Marie appears and grabs Ellie, saving Beth again. Marie's ghost vanishes, leaving Beth to stare bewildered into the distance. A red candy spills out of Andrews' mouth and his cell phone begins to dial a number on its own, revealing that Ellie's ghost is still out there, and more people will die.

Cast

• Shannyn Sossamon as Beth Raymond
• Edward Burns as Detective Jack Andrews
• Ana Claudia Talancón as Taylor Anthony
• Johnny Lewis as Brian Sousa
• Azura Skye as Leann Cole
• Ray Wise as Ted Summers
• Meagan Good as Shelley Baum
• Margaret Cho as Mickey Lee
• Ariel Winter as Ellie Layton
• Rhoda Griffis as Marie Layton
• Raegan Lamb as Laurel Layton
• Riley Smith as Brett

Production

One Missed Call was announced in 2005, before being officially greenlit by Warner Bros. in early 2006, with Eric Valette signing as the film's director.^[1] The film began production in June 2006^[1][2] in Atlanta, Georgia^[3] with Edward Burns, Margaret Cho and Shannyn Sossamon signing on.^[4] On August 3, 2006 Ed Harris and Gabriel Byrne both signed on to appear in the film, however both withdrew due to unknown circumstances.^[5]

On June 14, 2007 the film was rated PG-13 by the MPAA for intense sequences of violence and terror, frightening images, some sexual material and thematic elements.^[6] In television advertisements, the theme song is called "Life is Beautiful" by Sixx:A.M. The film was intended for release on August 24, 2007, however was later pushed back to January 4, 2008.^[7] On August 30, 2007, the film's trailer premiered on Yahoo! Movies^[8] and late September/October 2007 the film's poster was released^[9] along with other numerous promotional images.^[10] In December 2007, the official website was launched^[11] as well as numerous websites running competitions to promote the film with the first prize being an Apple iPhone.^[12][13]

Sound designers used the voice of Skid Row front man Sebastian Bach in the hospital basement scene. The exact clip comes from Bach's scream at the beginning of "Midnight Tornado", a song from the band's 1989 debut album, Skid Row.

Release and reception

The film opened in 2,240 theaters on January 4, 2008,^[14] and was not screened for critics.^[15] The film earned $ 5.2 Million on its opening day^[16] and as of April 16, 2008, the film has received extremely negative reviews, garnering a 0% "Rotten" approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 73 reviews, and gave it their moldy tomato award for worst movie of 2008; the site's consensus states "One of the weakest entries in the J-horror remake sweepstakes, One Missed Call is undone by bland performances and shopworn shocks." It's rated the second worst movie of the decade.^[17] Metacritic reported the film had an aggregate score of 24 out of 100, based on 14 reviews. The film has since made $26,890,041 in the United States and $15,892,778 overseas for a worldwide total of $42,782,819 - including $3.4 million in Mexico,$2.3 million in the United Kingdom and Ireland, $2.1 million in Spain, $1.4 million in Russia and $948,072 in Venezuela^[18] - and was not screened for critics.^[19] Although the film is a remake of Chakushin Ari, the film has been strongly criticised of borrowing plot elements and being similar to The Grudge, Final Destination, The Ring, The Echo, The Eye, Dark Water, Shutter, The Uninvited and Pulse.^{[20][21][22][23][24][25]}

Relationship with Chakushin Ari

One Missed Call includes several scenes that were in the original film. This includes the exorcism scene, where one of the characters is killed while filming the show American Miracles.^[11] Other similarities include the characters of Beth Raymond, Leann Cole, Taylor Anthony, Jack Andrews, and Brian Sousa all being based on the original characters. Also, if you pay special attention to the theatrical trailer, you'll notice that while Leann is walking down the street, a piece of the original ringtone from Chakushin Ari plays in the background, until she falls from the overpass.^[11]

DVD release

Both the DVD and Blu-ray were released on April 22, 2008 with no special features. The movie has also been released on iTunes and on the Xbox Live Marketplace.

References

1. ^ ^{a b} "Upcominghorrormovies.com". Upcominghorrormovies.com. 2008. http://www.upcominghorrormovies.com/movies/onemissedcall.php. Retrieved 2008-01-04. 
2. ^ "Business Details for One Missed Call". imdb.com. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0479968/business. Retrieved 2008-01-05. 
3. ^ "Filming Locations for One Missed Call". imdb.com. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0479968/locations. Retrieved 2008-01-05. 
4. ^ "Margaret Cho On One Missed Call". splatterfilms.com. http://www.splatterfilms.com/news/72/15572.php. Retrieved 2008-01-05. 
5. ^ "Ed Harris and Gabriel Byrne Join Cast". countingdown.com. http://www.countingdown.com/movies/3894273/news?item_id=3896404. Retrieved 2008-01-04. 
6. ^ "One Missed Call at IMDB". imdb.com. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0479968/. Retrieved 2008-01-05. 
7. ^ "One Missed Call pushed back to 2008". countingdown.com. http://www.countingdown.com/movies/3894273/news?item_id=3936871. Retrieved 2008-01-04. 
8. ^ "Watch the Trailer For "One Missed Call" Online Now!". countingdown.com. http://www.countingdown.com/movies/3894273/news?item_id=3988414. Retrieved 2008-01-05. 
9. ^ "First Official Poster For One Missed Call". bloodydisgusting.com. http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/9965. Retrieved 2008-01-05. 
10. ^ "New 'One Missed Call' Stills Fail to Impress, Again". bloodydisgusting.com. http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/10293. Retrieved 2008-01-05. 
11. ^ ^{a b c} "One Missed Call Official Site". onemissedcallmovie.warnerbrothers.com. 2008. http://onemissedcallmovie.warnerbros.com/. Retrieved 2008-01-04. 
12. ^ "CONTEST: Win Gigantic Prizes from One Missed Call!". movieweb.com. http://www.countingdown.com/movies/3894273/news?item_id=3896404. Retrieved 2008-01-05. 
13. ^ "'One Missed Call' Contest - WIN An iPhone!!". bloodydisgusting.com. http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/10726. Retrieved 2008-01-05. 
14. ^ "'One Missed Call' at Box Office Mojo". boxofficemojo.com. http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=onemissedcall.htm. Retrieved 2008-01-05. 
15. ^ "Critical Consensus: Atonement is Certified Fresh, One Missed Call Not Screened". rottentomatoes.com. http://au.rottentomatoes.com/m/atonement/news/1700786/. Retrieved 2008-01-05. 
16. ^ "'Missed Call' surprises w/$5.2M opening". fantasymorguls.com. http://news.fantasymoguls.com/originalcontent/2008/01/friday-weekend.html. Retrieved 2008-01-05. 
17. ^ "One Missed Call - Rotten Tomatoes". Rotten Tomatoes. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/one_missed_call/. Retrieved 2008-04-16. 
18. ^ "International Box Office Results". Box Office Mojo. http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=intl&id=onemissedcall.htm. Retrieved 2010-04-08. 
19. ^ "One Missed Call (2008): Reviews". Metacritic. http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/onemissedcall2007. Retrieved 2008-01-10. 
20. ^ "Review: One Missed Call". filmschoolrejects.com. http://www.filmschoolrejects.com/reviews/one-missed-call.php. Retrieved 2008-01-05. 
21. ^ "'One Missed Call' dials wrong number". startribune.com. http://www.startribune.com/entertainment/movies/13039491.html. Retrieved 2008-01-05. 
22. ^ "MOVIE REVIEW: The ghost men always ring twice". freep.com. Archived from the original on 2008-01-17. http://web.archive.org/web/20080117112114/http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080104/ENT01/80104032. Retrieved 2008-01-05. 
23. ^ "One Missed Call (2 stars out of 5)". orlandosentinel.com. http://www.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment/movies/orl-db-moviereviews-searchresults,0,3279701,results.formprofile?Lib=turbine_cdb_lib%3Aresult_doc_id+result_doc_rank+document_id+cdb_num+cdb_01_txt+cdb_02_txt+cdb_03_txt+cdb_04_txt+cdb_05_txt+cdb_06_txt+cdb_07_txt+cdb_08_txt+cdb_09_txt+cdb_10_txt+cdb_11_txt+cdb_12_txt+cdb_13_txt+cdb_15_txt+cdb_14_txt+cdb_16_txt+cdb_17_txt+cdb_18_txt+cdb_19_txt+cdb_20_txt+cdb_21_txt+cdb_22_txt+cdb_23_txt+cdb_24_txt+cdb_25_txt+cdb_26_txt&PageSize=1&Page=1&MinCoarseRank=500&QueryType=CONCEPT&Query=&turbine_cdb_lib__cdb_01_txt=One%20Missed%20Call&Find+it%21=Submit+Query. Retrieved 2008-01-05. 
24. ^ "If Death asks for your number, just say you're not dating right now". Chicago.metroxmix.com. http://chicago.metromix.com/movies/movie_review/one-missed-call/276089/content. Retrieved 2008-01-05. 
25. ^ "One Missed Call". oneguysopinion.com. http://www.oneguysopinion.com/Review.php?ID=2397. Retrieved 2008-01-05. 

External links

• Official site
• One Missed Call at the Internet Movie Database
• One Missed Call at Rotten Tomatoes
• One Missed Call at Metacritic
• One Missed Call at Box Office Mojo
• One Missed Call at AllRovi
• One Missed Call on Myspace