One Missed Call Trilogy Review

4 stars of superbly packaged creepy Japanese horror.

One Missed Call Trilogy is based on the novel by Yasushi Akimoto with screenplays written by Minako Daira. One Missed Call is directed by Takashi Miike (Blade of the Immortal, Audition) and originally released in 2003. One Missed Call 2 is directed by Renpei Tsukamoto and released in 2005 and One Missed Call 3: Final is directed by Manabu Asô and released in 2006.

“Same day, same time, same words as that message. It’s weird right? But they’re calling it suicide.”

Yoko (Anna Nagata – Battle Royale) is a young girl with her whole life ahead of her. That is until she receives a strange phone call from her own number, but not with her ringtone, which seems to come from two days in the future. She hears her own voice followed by screaming and then silence.

Sure enough, two days later, as she is speaking to her best friend Yumi (Ko Shibasaki – 47 Ronin) she is tragically killed in a horrendous rail accident. The police believe it is suicide, but when more of her friends begin to receive the call and die as predicted she realises that supernatural forces are at work.

Realising that the curse is passed on through the victim’s contact list, she joins forces with Yamashita (Shin’ichi Tsutsumi – Space Battleship Yamato), a detective whose sister died from the same curse. Together they must try to stop what is happening before there are any more victims.

 

One Missed Call 2 starts with school teachers Madoka (Chisun – Nagareboshi) and Kyoko (Rie Mimura – A Yell From Heaven) enjoying a meal out at the restaurant where Kyoko’s boyfriend Naoto (Hisashi Yoshizawa – Crossfire) works. While they are there, a phone call predicts a death and so the cycle begins again. This time Kyoko teams up with journalist Takako (Asaka Seto – Death Note) and their investigation takes them to Taiwan.

“When it rains, the souls of the dead pour down on the Earth…”

One Missed Call 3: Final has a slightly different premise. Young girl Asuka (Maki Horikita – A Samurai Chronicle) is distraught after her best friend hangs herself due to bullying.

Also bullied herself, she vows to take revenge using the curse combined with her computer to take out her classmates. This time it’s a little different, they can forward the message to someone else, sacrificing them to save themselves. Set mostly in Korea, Emiri (Meisa Kuroki – Lupin the Third) and her Korean boyfriend Ahn Jin-Wo (Keun-Suk Jang – The Happy Life) must try to stop her before it’s too late.

One Missed Call Trilogy is a very enjoyable series of films. It was very popular, having spawned both a T.V. series and an American remake and it’s not hard to see why. As you might expect, the first film, directed by Takashi Miike is the best of the three, but they are all surprisingly good.

The premise will be familiar to anyone who is a fan of the J horror genre, but these offer a fresh and modern take on the traditional Japanese ghost story. Although they are all a little confusing in places, they way they take on bold topics such as bullying and child abuse is to be applauded, as is their stark and unapologetic depiction of human nature.

Well written and with plenty of both jump scares and gore, this special feature packed box set is well worth adding to your collection.

“Is it life or is it death? Can our team protect her?”

One Missed Call Trilogy is available to buy now on Blu-ray.

SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS

 

• • High Definition Blu-rayTM (1080p) presentations
  • Lossless Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and PCM 2.0 soundtracks
  • Optional English subtitles
  • New audio commentary on One Missed Call by Miike biographer Tom Mes
  • The Making of One Missed Call, an hour-long archival documentary on the film s production
  • Archival interviews on One Missed Call with actors Ko Shibasaki, Shinichi Tsutsumi and Kazue Fukiishi, and director Takashi Miike
  • Archival interview on One Missed Call with director Takashi Miike
  • Archival footage from the One Missed Call premiere
  • Live or Die TV special
  • A Day with the Mizunuma Family
  • One Missed Call alternate ending
  • The Making of One Missed Call 2, a half-hour archival documentary on the film s production
  • Gomu, a short film by One Missed Call 2 director Renpei Tsukamoto
  • One Missed Call 2 deleted scenes
  • One Missed Call 2 music video
  • The Making of One Missed Call: Final, an hour-long archival documentary on the film s production
  • Maki and Meisa, an archival behind-the-scenes featurette on One Missed Call: Final with actresses Maki Horikita and Meisa Kuroki
  • Behind the Scenes with Keun-Suk Jang, an archival featurette with One Missed Call: Final s South Korean star
  • The Love Story, a short film tie-in for One Missed Call: Final
  • Candid Mimiko, an archival location tour with the series iconic villain
  • Theatrical trailers and TV spots
  • Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Matt Griffin
  • FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Collector s booklet featuring new writing on the films by Anton Bitel