One Missed Call 2 (2005)

This is a superior sequel to the 2003 original, directed then by Takashi Miike. ONE MISSED CALL 2 is better because there's a better director on hand, Rempei Tsukamoto, who actually seems to believe in his source material, rather than Miike who adopted an offhand, workmanlike approach in the original film. This one benefits from similar scares but a deeper plot that goes further into the origins of the curse story to try and find out that makes the ghost tick, rather than just being a string of gruesome and inexplicable murders. It also recalls the kind of Hong Kong horrors of the 1980s in which characters head off to foreign locales (here it's Taiwan) and run foul of backwards characters and the kind of primitive superstition that's supposed to have disappeared in the modern world.The acting from the cast is excellent – whether it's the young couple caught up in the chaos or the female journalist trying to fix her own mental problems as well as solve the case. This is the main reason the film is better than the original – the actors just feel better here and the film goes off in a different direction, rather than just copying the formula of JU-ON: THE GRUDGE or RING, as did the original. That said, there are still plenty of effective scare moments and some grisly deaths, so fans who enjoy the formula will find something here for them as well. Camera-work and effects are fine. This may not be the loudest, most shocking or original horror film out there, but its mix of an intriguing and horrific storyline and solid chills and acting make it a superior one.

Most disappointing aspect about this sequel is that it falls incredible flat as an horror.It's a sequel to an already troubled first movie, that showed lots of premise with its main concept but was one that was not without its flaws and also fell kind of short as an horror movie.I just can't see how horror lovers, or fans of the Japanese horror genre in particular, can get any satisfaction out of this movie. Seriously, most of the time there isn't a whole lot happening and its horror moment mostly consists out of people looking scared whenever they receive a phone call. And the other moment, the feature some more classic Japanese kind of horror elements, you most of the time have no idea what is going on.Again, just like was the case with the first movie is that this movie becomes incredible confusing in its second half. I can't really say if this was because it was all hard to understand or simply because I had lost interest in this movie, halfway through. Whatever was the case, it ruined quite a lot for me. Before its second half I was still pretty much giving this movie the benefit of the doubt and was still willing to give this movie a better rating then I'm giving it now.What also really doesn't help this movie is that it has some incredible poor acting in it. It especially ruins a lot of the supposedly scary and tense moments.Otherwise, it's one fine looking movie, with a typical Japanese horror look and style all over it. Nothing about this movie is basically bad looking, so all the blame could be put on the movie its script and acting.Disappointing sequel to an already average movie.4/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

I tend to like Japanese horror, whether is it a gory slasher, or just a creepy film like this one. I prefer the characters over the WB actors they use in Hollywood remakes.There were some really good actors in the film: Mimura as Kyoko Okudera, Yû Yoshizawa as Naoto Sakurai, and Asaka Seto as Takako Nozoe.It was a little hard to follow all the characters, but it still was scary and well worth watching.It may have been better to see Takashi Miike's first part of this to have a better understanding, but it is not necessary to enjoy the movie.

"One Missed Call 2" is a slightly better sequel that does have some good points to it.**SPOILERS**After a strange death, reporter Takako Nozoe, (Asaka Seto) decides to interview friends Kyoko Okudera, (Mimura) Mei-feng Wong, (Haruko Wanibuchi) Madoka, (Nana Koizumi) and Naoto Sakurai, (Yu Yoshizawa) about their knowledge of a similar police case where the victims' cellphone called them broadcasting their future death. Unsure of what's going on, they realize that the story must be true when several of their friends are killed and the mysterious messages target them as being the next victims. Realizing that the source comes from Taiwan, they head over to Taipei, using her husband Yuting Chen, (Renji Ishibashi) for help in determining the exact story behind the calls, and realizing the danger and short time-span to do it all in, race to stop the chain of events.The Good News: This one had a couple of good points to it that really help it out here. One of the big ones is the final half of the film, down in the underground mines. This is a fairly involved and extended segment, with a lot of time devoted to it and it therefore really gets some outstanding moments in because of this. From the start, with the hauntings voices appearing to the lone wanderer, the action and setting working well to allow for plenty of goodness to come and allows for an outstanding opening to a grand segment. The later attacks deeper within, especially once the ghost has been fully revealed, are just fun, with the especially big highlight coming from the rock-projectile attack that is both inventive, clever and adds a special addition to a fun sequence. Even the ending to it has a lot to like, with the frantic escape attempts and the ghostly action being of a frightening type allows for some thrilling moments here and there. That it also decides to give us the true back-story, given in an abridged version earlier, is where it also shines across nicely, going into a lot more detail and being able to really get into the mystery is a nice plus, and it also manages to showcase the disfigured and incredibly freaky-looking ghost, a tie-in with the events that are shown in this sequence, all combine together with these other elements to give off a really fantastic time that marks the best part of the film. The connection it has with the first entry is also nicely explained here, making it exactly what a closely-related sequel should be like, as it takes the first one and expands upon the elements introduced, at times re-writing them but then that's to be expected since this one follows a different storyline to it than the first one but still keeps enough of it to appear as to not be trampling too heavily on it, and it comes off nicely. Scenes, plot points, even characters, from the first one are touched upon and give it a deeper connection than expected. The last plus here is the usual high-standard of extremely good ghost action present here, and the hauntings are just as good. The first one, where the video message is shown on the receiver but not to the broadcaster, is an immensely entertaining sequence that shows the real dangers of the technologically-minded ghost better than anything else, and the final outcome, though ripping a standout sequence from the first, is still as shocking. A couple of other brief pop-ups, from a suitcase to appearing off-in-the-distance are just as much fun. These here are the film's good points.The Bad News: There's only a few problems with this one to hold it down. One of the main ones is that there's a large segment of the film that really suffers from absolutely no action at all. In the middle segment, when they learn about the family's true origins and the trip to Taiwan is incredibly dull and slow-going, as hardly anything at all really happens during that time. From the fact that there's a lack of ghost action, or even appearance during this time, is the main factor here, as the film instead just has them wandering around talking for absolutely no reason, simply spouting off useless plot meanderings that really just amount to endless scenes building up with no payoff. That isn't even remotely interesting or exciting, and as a result leaves these scenes feeling so drained of life it's almost like putting a giant sleeping pill in the film during these scenes and it really suffers a lot from it's fun opening. The other problem here is the fact that, as good as the ending gag is and how clever it is, the fact that it's played out for so long is really tiring and quite irksome, going way beyond what it should've been. The gag starts off fine, but then when it just goes on, it really loses it's power and would've been fine if shortened. These here are the film's problems.The Final Verdict: Only slightly better than the original, even if the positives aren't as big, due mainly to the lessening of the flaws. Give it a shot if you're into the original, like these kinds of Asian ghost films or find it interesting, while those who aren't into the genre should heed caution.Rated R: Violence and Language