Just as I was about to watch "One Missed Call", the American remake of "Chakushin Ari", a Japanese horror movie that was directed by Takashi Miike and released back in 2003, I had a feeling that I had already done it once before during its original theatrical run. However, for some odd reason, I couldn't remember it. Well,... now I know why. It is utterly forgettable. Aside from the fact that it follows the same basic premise as the original movie, where people start receiving voicemail messages from their future selves with the exact date and time of their deaths, this movie simply ignores most of the elements that made the Japanese version so creepy and intriguing. But this didn't just end up being another pointless attempt by an American studio at remaking a Japanese horror movie. It actually killed the public interest in the genre and was also considered to be the worst movie of 2008, as well as one of the worst movies of the decade. Some of you are probably wondering what went wrong, so I'll be pointing out some of the reasons that led to this epic fail. Firstly, it was directed by Eric Valette, a French director with an unremarkable resume, who hadn't really done much outside of television prior to directing this movie and was also making his directorial debut in America. It appears that he had made the decision not to watch the original and asked his actors to the same. Frankly, I don't see the point in remaking a movie if you have no interest in watching the original or, at the very least, reading the novel from which it was adapted from, but that is just me. Anyway, rumour has it that, while on set, no one really saw eye-to-eye and that the writer, the director and the cast had very different ideas regarding what they thought the movie should be and that most were dissatisfied with the end result because of it. To give you a clear example of this, the screenplay that had been written by novelist Andrew Klavan was intended to be a horror-comedy, which kind of explains why the dialogue feels so clunky, but the movie itself ended up having a much more serious tone. Besides, you can't help but notice that this movie borrows a lot more from the far superior "Final Destination", a horror movie franchise that had begun in the year 2000 and had already spawned two successful sequels, than it does from the actual source material. And, even though it's half an hour shorter than the original, it's impressive how it still manages to be inexplicably plagued by filler scenes. But it wasn't all down to sloppy execution. The acting itself was just as bad and, regardless of how hard I tried, I was unable to find a saving grace from anyone at all. Not only that, but the special effects, which relied heavily on CGI, looked fake and detracted from the story. The studio executives are also to blame for this stinker, as they'd decided to make this horror movie PG-13 after they had already wrapped up principal photography, stripping away all creative control from the director. I could go on, but you probably get the point. In conclusion, it is my opinion that this was a boring, flat and lifeless horror movie that I don't plan on watching ever again... and neither should you.
Review by WebSorveBlockedParent2020-05-06T15:45:22Z
Just as I was about to watch "One Missed Call", the American remake of "Chakushin Ari", a Japanese horror movie that was directed by Takashi Miike and released back in 2003, I had a feeling that I had already done it once before during its original theatrical run. However, for some odd reason, I couldn't remember it. Well,... now I know why. It is utterly forgettable. Aside from the fact that it follows the same basic premise as the original movie, where people start receiving voicemail messages from their future selves with the exact date and time of their deaths, this movie simply ignores most of the elements that made the Japanese version so creepy and intriguing. But this didn't just end up being another pointless attempt by an American studio at remaking a Japanese horror movie. It actually killed the public interest in the genre and was also considered to be the worst movie of 2008, as well as one of the worst movies of the decade. Some of you are probably wondering what went wrong, so I'll be pointing out some of the reasons that led to this epic fail. Firstly, it was directed by Eric Valette, a French director with an unremarkable resume, who hadn't really done much outside of television prior to directing this movie and was also making his directorial debut in America. It appears that he had made the decision not to watch the original and asked his actors to the same. Frankly, I don't see the point in remaking a movie if you have no interest in watching the original or, at the very least, reading the novel from which it was adapted from, but that is just me. Anyway, rumour has it that, while on set, no one really saw eye-to-eye and that the writer, the director and the cast had very different ideas regarding what they thought the movie should be and that most were dissatisfied with the end result because of it. To give you a clear example of this, the screenplay that had been written by novelist Andrew Klavan was intended to be a horror-comedy, which kind of explains why the dialogue feels so clunky, but the movie itself ended up having a much more serious tone. Besides, you can't help but notice that this movie borrows a lot more from the far superior "Final Destination", a horror movie franchise that had begun in the year 2000 and had already spawned two successful sequels, than it does from the actual source material. And, even though it's half an hour shorter than the original, it's impressive how it still manages to be inexplicably plagued by filler scenes. But it wasn't all down to sloppy execution. The acting itself was just as bad and, regardless of how hard I tried, I was unable to find a saving grace from anyone at all. Not only that, but the special effects, which relied heavily on CGI, looked fake and detracted from the story. The studio executives are also to blame for this stinker, as they'd decided to make this horror movie PG-13 after they had already wrapped up principal photography, stripping away all creative control from the director. I could go on, but you probably get the point. In conclusion, it is my opinion that this was a boring, flat and lifeless horror movie that I don't plan on watching ever again... and neither should you.