I gave up on J-K-L-M-N-O-P-horror after having to sit through half a dozen films that were either A: Exactly the same as the rest or B: Just genuinely crap. No longer did I believe that horror films from the far East were better than those from Hollywood, because I realised that both industries were just rehashing ideas in order to part me from my cash.
So imagine my non-surprise when Phone revealed to me the usual cavalcade of vengeful ghosts, spooky kids, hair coming out of taps, ominous storms, a scene in a lift, ghostly phone calls and crazy Asian schoolgirls. The only thing that genuinely shocked me was the realisation that, clichéd though it is, Phone manages to be one of the better horror flicks that clog up the world cinema racks of Global (Video?) A journalist chick has just exposed an underage sex scandal that forces her to go into hiding to avoid stalkers and that. Luckily for her there's an empty house owned by her sister and brother in law in which she can hide out in. Unluckily for her this is a horror film and empty houses don't bode well for people (plus she seemed to be out in public rather a lot for someone being stalked by a psycho).
Level-headedly changing her mobile number, she selects a number that appeared seemingly at random on her computer while she was looking at gory pictures of herself that her stalker had sent - and that when the troubles begins. Well, the supernatural trouble, not the old 'getting killed by a stalker' trouble.
While hiding out in public with her sister and niece, journalist chick manages to draw even more attention to herself by letting her niece pick up her phone when it rings and start throwing a complete screaming fit. One thing this film has got going for it above all else - the kid in this one can act creepy, instead of just staring at things and looking bored like the kid in the Grudge.
The kid begins to act up in a way that reminded me of the kid in Beyond the Door 2 - that is, disturbing sexual advances towards their parents and the hostile attitude to their mothers. But what has this to do with the phone? What has moonlight sanata got to do with the phone? What about that giant hairball the chick dreams in on her bed? Eh? EH? EHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH? This is one of those films where there's many twists and turns into more of an investigation than an all out fright fest, and to be honest is all the better for it. Quite a bit of the last portion of the film is told in flashback and what I've learned from this film is that I'm never having an affair with a Korean schoolgirl nor indeed doing any DIY ever. It did have all the clichés up the kazoo but at least had a good story to draw you in. And for those of you who like things falling downstairs you get that too.
So imagine my non-surprise when Phone revealed to me the usual cavalcade of vengeful ghosts, spooky kids, hair coming out of taps, ominous storms, a scene in a lift, ghostly phone calls and crazy Asian schoolgirls. The only thing that genuinely shocked me was the realisation that, clichéd though it is, Phone manages to be one of the better horror flicks that clog up the world cinema racks of Global (Video?) A journalist chick has just exposed an underage sex scandal that forces her to go into hiding to avoid stalkers and that. Luckily for her there's an empty house owned by her sister and brother in law in which she can hide out in. Unluckily for her this is a horror film and empty houses don't bode well for people (plus she seemed to be out in public rather a lot for someone being stalked by a psycho).
Level-headedly changing her mobile number, she selects a number that appeared seemingly at random on her computer while she was looking at gory pictures of herself that her stalker had sent - and that when the troubles begins. Well, the supernatural trouble, not the old 'getting killed by a stalker' trouble.
While hiding out in public with her sister and niece, journalist chick manages to draw even more attention to herself by letting her niece pick up her phone when it rings and start throwing a complete screaming fit. One thing this film has got going for it above all else - the kid in this one can act creepy, instead of just staring at things and looking bored like the kid in the Grudge.
The kid begins to act up in a way that reminded me of the kid in Beyond the Door 2 - that is, disturbing sexual advances towards their parents and the hostile attitude to their mothers. But what has this to do with the phone? What has moonlight sanata got to do with the phone? What about that giant hairball the chick dreams in on her bed? Eh? EH? EHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH? This is one of those films where there's many twists and turns into more of an investigation than an all out fright fest, and to be honest is all the better for it. Quite a bit of the last portion of the film is told in flashback and what I've learned from this film is that I'm never having an affair with a Korean schoolgirl nor indeed doing any DIY ever. It did have all the clichés up the kazoo but at least had a good story to draw you in. And for those of you who like things falling downstairs you get that too.