PatWahlquist
Supporting Actor
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One Missed Call (Blu-Ray)
Studio: Warner Home Video
Rated: PG-13 (Intense sequences of violence and terror, frightening images, some sexual material and thematic elements.)
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
HD Encoding: 1080p
HD Video Codec: VC-1
Audio: Dolby TrueHD: English 5.1; Dolby Digital English 5.1, English 2.0, French 5.1, Spanish 5.1
Subtitles: English; French; Spanish
Time: 87 minutes
Disc Format: 1 SS/SL Blu-Ray disc.
Case Style: Keepcase
Theatrical Release Date: 2007
Blu Ray Release Date: April 22, 2008
As is with most Hollywood horror pics today, One Missed Call starts off with a hot college chick, Shelly (Meagan Good) getting killed by a mysterious hand in the coy pond at her parents house. One of her friends, Leann (Azura Skye) gets a cell phone call from herself…a few days in the future, seemingly predicting her impending death. Leann is friends and with fellow student Beth (Shannyn Sossamon), both girls majors, coincidentally enough, in psychology. As Leann gets the call, the specific date and time in the near future, she begins to figure out that something spooky is happening: she is seeing ghastly figures on the street, as if they are almost pushing her in a certain fateful direction. As the date and time of the call arrives, Leann, on the phone with Beth, meets a grisly fate. This apparent daisy chain of related calls strikes Beth as, yes indeed, odd, just as it does local police detective Jack Andrews (Ed Burns). Once Beth meets up with Andrews, they determine his sister’s death was related to these current deaths and they set out to uncover the disturbing and deadly truth. Their investigation leads them back to a horrible tragedy that has deadly repercussions in this life, and perhaps even, the next.
For a movie that’s a mere 87 minutes long, it sure is a pain in the ass. I dabble in Region 2 and 3 pictures often enough, but for the life of me, I don’t remember the Japanese horror picture this was based on, Chakushin Ari, and I bet there was a reason. Maybe it has something to do with French director Eric Valette trying to translate oh-so-Japanese director Takashi Miike’s poltergeist effort, or forcing us tech savvy Americans to see a cell phone as a conduit to the netherworld when a TV will be just fine for us, thank you very much.. As One Missed Call spun in my player, I had to think: poor Ed Burns. Here’s a likeable enough guy, through his roles in pictures such as The Brother’s McMullen, the underrated She’s the One and Saving Private Ryan. Not only did he star in the first two, but he wrote and directed both of them, leaving some to wonder if he could be a successor to Woody Allen. His string of pictures that followed seemed less and less promising as they went and while Allen’s career is still flourishing, Burns filmmaking career has been reduced to starring in such crap as this.
If the Japanese version of the picture is anything like its American brethren, they can keep it. Each of the damsels in distress are interchangeable and it was easy enough to imagine the only thing the casting director really ensured was that the girls had somewhat of a different hair style or color to tell them apart. Beth shows a bit more gravitas with her childhood demons (a subplot explored in minimal depth), while each of the girl victims are simply there to move along the plot. There is a cause and reason behind all this terror (outside of those pesky ringtones), but by the time I found out what it was, I was shrugging my shoulders in apathy. But wait, there’s another twenty minutes of movie to go, and in those twenty minutes, the plot only becomes more convoluted, ridiculous and eventually, unintelligible. As the screen cut to black, I was waiting for someone to come on and explain what just happened. However, no one ever came, and really I couldn’t care less. Excuse me while I answer my cell; hopefully Ed Burns is calling with some good news on his next project.
Video:
Note: I am watching this title using a Marantz VP 11-S1 DLP projector, which has a native resolution of 1080p. I am using a Sony Playstation 3 Blu-Ray player while a Denon 3808CI does the switching and pass through of the video signal. I am utilizing the HDMI capabilities of each piece of equipment.
The Blu-Ray disc is in the VC-1 codec presented at 1080p with an aspect ratio of 1.85:1. The picture is shot with a drab and muted color palate looking light everything was lit by florescent bulbs, but what is here looks good. Contrast levels seem to be slightly elevated to give it a bit of a sweaty and grimy feel. In doing so, black levels are deep and inky with good shadow delineation. Sharpness and detail were good, and there was some minimal edge enhancement.
Audio:
The Dolby Digital 1.0 soundtrack was attained by the HDMI connection of the Sony Playstation 3 to the Denon 3808CI.
The Dolby TrueHD 5.1 track provides an immersive experience, giving us adequate amounts of spookiness to enhance the action on screen. If I had to pick out one saving grace on this movie and disc (and I’m really having to stretch to find something), it’s the soundtrack. All of the channels contributed creaks, screams and other effects to provide a little bit of a chill down the spine. LFE’s show up in the bigger scenes and remain subtle otherwise. Panning effects are excellent creating a maelstrom of activity at times. Fidelity was good providing clear and natural sounds.
Bonus Material:
If there were any, it would require the cast and crew to speak fallacies about the depth of the story and the characters. Thankfully, they and Warner’s has spared us from ANY extras.
Conclusions:
Instead of watching this title, visit your favorite retailer and get any other horror movie.
[PG]118650804[/PG]
