One Missed Call

One Missed Call: Chronicle of a Death Foretold

Takashi Miike's One Missed Call, from 2003, is a creepy horror effort that investigates the legacy of child abuse. The film is a game of phone tag with young women dying after receiving messages that foretell the date and time of their deaths. Logically, the film doesn't hold up and characterization is not Miike's forte. He does, however, have an eye for unsettling images. What sticks in one's mind about Miike's films, particularly his masterpiece, Audition, are not the conscious tropes of narrative and character, but images that conjure the dread and power of the unconscious. Miike is a master of slow tracking shots and pans that capture a peculiarly modern sense of unease. He is also expert at crafting soundtracks that have an unnerving tactility. Cronenberg is an obvious influence and Miike shares with the Canadian master a gift for evoking an alienating atmosphere from modern interiors and exteriors.