One Missed Call (2008)

One Missed Call is a 2008 American supernatural horror film directed by Eric Valette and written by Andrew Klavan. It is a remake of the 2003 Japanese film of the same name directed by Takashi Miike, which itself was based on the Yasushi Akimoto novel Chakushin Ari. The film stars Shannyn Sossamon, Edward Burns, Ana Claudia Talancón, Ray Wise and Azura Skye.

Plot
When Beth Raymond (Shannyn Sossamon) witnesses the deaths of two friends, she knows there is more at work than just a tragic coincidence; days before they die, both victims hear their terrifying final moments on cell phones. Though the police think Beth is crazy, detective Jack Andrews (Ed Burns), believes her. Together the pair try to unravel the mystery behind the horrifying messages before their own phone numbers come up.

Why It Missed It's Call

 * 1) Despite being a remake of Chakushin Ari, the film is notable for strongly stealing ideas from other horror and thriller films such as Phone Booth, Scream, Final Destination and especially The Ring.
 * 2) * For Scream, the killer calls up on the phone and the person responsible for the murders is revealed at the end.
 * 3) * For Final Destination, it involves the characters all being killed one by one as a result of bizarre accidents.
 * 4) * For The Ring, the deaths are delayed for a few days, a few hours or even a few minutes. Also, they both have demonic kids.
 * 5) * For Phone Booth, the killer is psychologically torturing the main character.
 * 6) It tarnishes the reputation of the original film, which was actually pretty scary.
 * 7) Bad acting, with many of the actors not showing emotion on their faces.
 * 8) High amounts of clichés in the movie, such as dumb horror characters, jump scares, etc.
 * 9) The deaths are filmed horribly, probably to get a PG-13 rating.
 * 10) It is completely unfaithful to the original, as it leaves out many key points, such as the elevator scene.
 * 11) * Also, it changes the ringtone from the original, and uses a bland and generic one instead.
 * 12) The director didn't even bother seeing the original movie!

Redeeming Qualities

 * 1) The poster is actually quite creepy.
 * 2) The quality is just so poor that it can be unintentionally hilarious.

Box Office
One Missed Call opened in 2,240 theaters on January 4, 2008. The film earned US$5.2 million on its opening day and $12,511,473 on its first weekend, ranking #5 at the North American box office. The film grossed $26,890,041 in the United States and $18,957,710 overseas for a worldwide total of $45,847,751

Critical Response
One Missed Call was not screened for critics and was strongly criticized for borrowing plot elements from and being similar to Phone Booth, Scream, Final Destination, The Ring, The Grudge, Dark Water, and Pulse. The film was universally panned by both critics and audience alike who considered it as the worst film of 2008 and the worst J-Horror film to be released. It received a rare 0% "rotten" rating and an average score of 2.5/10 based on 79 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, who gave it their "Mouldy Tomato Award" for the worst-reviewed film 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 is rated the second worst film of the 2000s decade behind Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever. Metacritic reported that the film had an aggregate score of 24 out of 100, based on 14 reviews. Rotten Tomatoes ranked it #1 on their list " The Worst Horror Movies of All Time".