Chakushin ari (2003)

User Rating:

6.3/10   

Director:

Takashi Miike

Writers:

Yasushi Akimoto (novel)
Minako Daira (screenplay)

Release Date:

17 January 2004 (Japan)

Genre:

Horror | Mystery

Tagline:

Death cannot be put on hold...

Plot:

People mysteriously start receiving voicemail messages from their future selves, in the form of the sound of them reacting to their own violent deaths.

Plot Keywords:

Death | Message | Hospital | Asthma | Friend

Cast

Kou Shibasaki	...	Yumi Nakamura
Shin'ichi Tsutsumi	...	Hiroshi Yamashita
Kazue Fukiishi	...	Natsumi Konishi
Anna Nagata	...	Yoko Okazaki
Atsushi Ida	...	Kenji Kawai
Mariko Tsutsui	...	Marie Mizunuma
Kumiko Imai
Keiko Tomita
Kayoko Fujii
Yoshiko Noda
Azusa	...	Ritsuko Yamashita
Tetsushi Tanaka
Mitsuhiro Sato
Kaoru Hanaki
Hassei Takano

Also Known As:

One Missed Call (Philippines: English title) (USA)
You've Got a Call (Japan: English title)

MPAA:

Rated R for violence, disturbing images and brief nudity.

Runtime:

Japan:112 min | USA:111 min | Argentina:112 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Argentina:16 | Italy:T | Portugal:M/16 | Australia:MA | Germany:16 | Malaysia:18SG | Malaysia:U (cut version) | South Korea:15 | Peru:14 | UK:15 | New Zealand:R16 | France:-12 | Finland:K-15 | Netherlands:12 | Norway:15 | Philippines:R-13 | Singapore:NC-16 | Sweden:15 | USA:R | Spain:18

Company:

Kadokawa-Daiei Eiga K.K.

Trivia:

In the Philippines, the movie poster carries the tagline "For the creators of The Ring and Juon: The Grudge 2." The two mentioned movies have no connection with this movie (except both movies also came from Japan where this movie was originated).

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: When the hand is reaching for Yumi in the hospital, the finger twists backwards, however, you can see someone’s hand holding up the arm when the arm and finger start to contort backwards.

Movie Connections:

Version of "Chakushin ari" (2005)

Soundtrack:

Ikutsuka no Sora

A stylish addition to Miike's portfolio

After "Audition" and "Ichi The Killer", I had great expectations for this movie. What it delivers is essentially the "greatest hits" of Asian horror. There's more than a passing resemblance to "The Ring", with bits of "Ju-On" and other films thrown in for good measure.

The film revolves around mobile 'phones. A girl has a message left on her mobile 'phone answering service - only it's been left by herself and in the future! To make matters worse, it ends with a blood curdling scream! Well, it soon turns out that the message is the girl's final words on this mortal coil.

The girl is not alone. It's only a matter of time before the body count starts rising and a race against time begins to solve the mystery of the bizarre calls.

Despite being more than a shade Ringu-clone-esquire, I heartily enjoyed this film. It has some great set-pieces (including a memorable death), some spooky moments, a few "jump" sequences, etc. What the film didn't deliver, though, was any real fear. It was a case of "seen it all before" (a criticism that some levelled at "Ju-On").

The plot unravels in a logical manner and there's a decent pay off. It may not be a future classic, but this is a very well made example of Asian horror cinema.

My rating: 8 out of 10 for a stylish addition to Miike's portfolio