| One Missed Call 2
is the kind of movie that's disappointing
and awesome at the same time. There have been
plenty of negative reviews, be it on horror
sites or here at Toho Kingdom. This won't
be one of those negative ones, not quite.
Although the movie is inferior to the original,
it's hard to live up to the first.
The movie's opening is one
of its high points. On a gray, rainy afternoon,
the kids are dismissed from daycare. Once
they leave, two teachers discuss plans to
go out that night, although one of them is
reluctant. The reluctant teacher stays behind
as the other leaves. As she applies a contact
lens, she is startled by one remaining pupil.
She tells her teacher that when it rains,
the spirits of the dead pour down to Earth.
Though the teacher calls the girl Rika, it's
plain to see that it is, in fact, little Nanako
Mizunuma from the first film.
A woman in white with an umbrella
covering her head of long, black hair and
hiding her face walks into view. We make the
connection right away: it's the ghost of Marie
Mizunuma, still looking out for her good daughter.
She doesn't say a word, but as she walks away
with her daughter, Nanako turns around and
waves goodbye to someone who doesn't seem
to be there. In the ever-pouring rain, the
red swing in the playground begins to sway
by itself.
The opening is beautifully
shot, incredibly atmospheric, and softly powerful.
Nothing much is said; we don't know why Nanako
is being called Rika, presumably it's some
sort of witness protection. We are never explicitly
told it even is Nanako or Marie, we determine
it for ourselves. And we are never told who
she was saying goodbye to, but are left with
the haunting, startling impression that just
as Marie is still with Nanako, so is her cruel
sister Mimiko.
It's a wonderful prologue that,
if it had truly set the tone for the film,
would have heralded an excellent piece of
horror and suspense that may even have surpassed
the original. However, it was not to be.
Nanako and Marie disappear
for the rest of the film, and the focus shifts
to the two teachers out at the restaurant.
This just happens to be the restaurant where
the shy girl Kyoko's boyfriend works. The
restaurant owner, working in the kitchen,
hears an eerie ringtone coming from his daughter's
cell phone. Thinking it's her deadbeat boyfriend,
he answers, only to hear his daughter's voice
talking about not leaving oil on the stove
for too long. A clank. A spill. A sizzle and
a scream, and the message ends.
A shadow stands behind the
sliding door to the kitchen. A hand pulls
the creaking door open with great effort.
It's his daughter, alive and well. But when
he asks her about the call, she explains that
she'd never made it.
Back at the teacher's table,
Kyoko and her bubbly friend Madoka are chatting
when the restaurant owner's daughter sits
down with them to show off her new cell phone
- the same one from which her father had received
the bizzare call. Madoka is impressed and
exchanges numbers with her. Meanwhile, back
in the kitchen, Kyoko's boyfriend, the waiter,
is looking for the owner. He calls into the
darkness, yet receives no reply. All is nearly
silent until Madoka's phone rings with an
eerie, familiar tune. When he turns around,
the waiter discovers the dead body of the
owner, his face boiled in a pan of cooking
oil.
At the scene of the death,
the cop from the first film is inspecting
the body. There is no red ball of candy in
the owner's mouth. Outside, he is confronted
by a reporter asking about the victim. She
is Takako, and is also amazed to learn about
the absence of candy.
As the deaths continue and
Takako investigates, it becomes increasingly
clear that Mimiko was never the origin of
the curse, but just a different branch of
a Taiwanese one. So the newly cursed Kyoko,
the curious Takako, and Kyoko's dedicated
boyfriend Naoto travel to Taiwan in an attempt
to solve the entire mystery of the curse -
and save Kyoko's life.
I'm going to get the negatives
out of the way. Firstly, the acting is largely
below average. Asaka Seto as Takako is generally
pretty good; however, Mimura as Kyoko and
Yu Yoshizawa as Naoto overact furiously. Their
strained screams and bizarre facial contortions
would be right at home in a stage play, but
on film it often looks silly. Nobody in the
film is ever as believable as Kou Shibasaki
was in the original. Also, the visual style
is rather generic, a far cry from the moody
cinematography that graced Miike's film. The
sole exception to this is the opening, which
almost seems as if it was led by an entirely
different director and cinematographer. Finally,
the structure of the film is awkward. At first
it's a rapidly-paced thriller, but after the
first 20 minutes it dilutes into a slow moving
drama/mystery. There are a few scares thrown
into the middle act, but not enough to keep
you on the edge of your seat. When the film
returns to a more horrorific atmosphere in
the finale, you aren't quite as revved for
the scares in the mine. There are a few excellent
jump scares, but once you've lost the expectation
of scary things happening, the suspense disappears.
That said, the movie's not
a total loss. There are a few very scary scenes,
if you can accept that most of them are just
quick jolts. The little ghost girls (yes,
there's more than one) are suitably creepy.
And the ending, despite what you may have
heard elsewhere, is brilliant. It's one of
those Sixth Sense type endings where
once you find it out, you won't be able to
believe you didn't see it coming. Unlike the
main review on the site, I'm not going to
give it away. But keep in mind that multiple
viewings (and possibly a trip to the deleted
scenes) may be necessary to fully "get
it". And even then, there are parts open
to interpretation. There is nothing contradictory,
just things left for you to ponder.
It should be understood that
this is certainly an inferior film to the
original, and not a classic by any means.
What we have is a strictly average J-Horror.
Though a little slow in the middle, it's sandwiched
by an excellent opening and finale. If you
like twist endings (and are willing to work
for them), give this film a viewing. Also,
if you loved the original (like I did) or
just want to get a little scared, those are
superb reasons to give this movie a chance
as well. Just don't expect the quality of
"Part One".
|
(3/5)