Phone

PHONE concerns a young investigative journalist named Ji-Won, who begins to receive menacing calls on her mobile phone. Suspecting it is one of the men she recently wrote an exposé on, she has her number changed, but what she hears when her phone rings next is even more disturbing. After her best friend's daughter accidentally receives one of the calls, the girl begins behaving erratically. The only clue Ji-Won has to go on is the phone number that keeps appearing on her laptop, so she begins to look into the people who had her number previously, and what she finds is interesting indeed.

I'll be the first to admit that the premise of a supernatural force utilizing a cellular phone seemed hokey, but as the story progresses, the device is shown to not be a contrivance at all. Even if this weren't the case, I'd still rate the movie highly. It's simply a very effective scary movie, especially during the first half. It won't get under your skin and haunt you like 'A Tale of Two Sisters,' but it should satisfy while viewing. It's also a beautiful movie in all respects. Ignore the clunky title and check it out.

The DVD is of very high quality with many extras including trailers, and cast interviews, including one with the little girl from the movie, who is very funny. There are two deleted scenes, and the little girl gives hilarious commentary on selected scenes (prompted by an interviewer.) There is also a lot of behind the scenes footage. A nice package for a fairly obscure movie, one that puts many major studio home video releases to shame.

I looked through the reviews below and many of them are chock full of spoilers. Perhaps it's best that you just watch this movie without finding anything out about it first as it's the sort of movie that is far more enjoyable if you go in without knowing too much about it.

As for my commentary, this is not really a horror, but more like a mystery and dark drama involving a ghost. It's not really scary, and I don't think it's really meant to be. It has a very mysterious style, but the plot is what this is about.

If you thought the plot of The Ring was great, but don't need the horror aspect so much, then you will love this one. It's a very similar style, in which a person must investigate the ghost that haunts her and the plot turns in many directions as it unfolds to gradually explain the meaning of the haunting. I thought this movie was absolutely brilliant, but if you go in just looking for a good scare, you'll be disappointed.

Koreans have been big players in the Asian horror boom of the last few years, producing acclaimed genre fare such as "Ring Virus", "A tale of two sisters" and the sadistic revenge thriller "Oldboy" among others. One of the more successful was the 2002 Korean box office smash "Phone" just now released in America through TLA Entertainment Group. No doubt "Phone" owes part of its success to the splash that Ringu made on the international horror scene. However, knocking off "Phone" as a Ringu ripoff would be a mistake. This is an excellent film in its own right.

Ji-Won, a successful journalist, is being stalked. Her revealing sex-scandal articles have made her quite a few enemies lately including a creep who keeps phoning her cell and following her around so she changes her phone number and accepts her friend's offer of a retreat into a secluded country cabin. But even with new digs and a new phone number, Ji-Won is still getting creepy calls. Even worse, she finds out that the last 3 people who were registered under the same phone# have died mysterious deaths...

"Phone" wastes no time getting started. The initial elevator scene is a real chiller as are the initial stalker calls that Ji-Won receives. Barely 20 minutes into it and this one is a full-blown creepfest. The incessant ringing is a clever way to scare the viewer; the first few had me on edge but after a half dozen rings and a bunch of Red Herrings later my nerves were pretty well fried. At this point, however effective it may be in scaring us, "Phone" does feel derivative of Ringu. But halfway through the movie the plot takes a very interesting turn of events, involving a complex backstory of the events surrounding the birth of creepy kid Yeong-ju and a hidden affair between one of the main characters and a schoolgirl who may or may not be a vengeful ghost, all the while as Ji-Won tries to uncover the mysteries surrounding the deaths of the previous owners of the same phone #. Got all that? I know "Phone" seems routine on the surface when you haven't seen the movie, but trust me it is anything but.

As in "Ju-On The Grudge" these backstories are told in a non-linear style that keeps us wondering what is a dream and what's not? Is this in the past or in the future? It's all rather confusing in parts but this is what makes "Phone" even better upon repeat viewings. This is yet another fine addition in the cannon of mind-blowing Asian horror films to come out in recent years. Oh, one more thing. Why not just chuck the darn phone or let it ring? Doesn't make much sense but then again we ARE living in the 21st century. People have become way too attached to the ghastly things...