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TIT

One Missed Call Trilogy: Special Edition [Blu-ray]
(Ko Shibasaki, Shinichi Tsutsumi, Hisashi Yoshizawa, Renji Ishibashi, Maki Horikita, et al / Blu-ray / NR / 2020 / Arrow Films UK)

Overview: An iconic trilogy of J-horror films comes to Blu-ray for the first time!

Tapping into the same brand of terror as the Ring and Grudge movies, visionary director Takashi Miike (Audition, Blade of the Immortal) presents a modern, high-tech twist on that mainstay of Japanese folklore, the yurei or vengeful spirit, in the form of its own iconic antihero the terrifying Mimiko.

Blu-ray Verdict: In the original 'One Missed Call' (2003), people mysteriously start receiving voicemail messages from their future selves, foretelling their deaths.

Student Yoko (Anna Nagata, 'Battle Royale') receives a phone message from her future self, ending with her own death scream. Two days later, she dies in a horrific rail collision.

As the mysterious phone curse spreads, claiming more young lives, Yoko's friend Yumi (Ko Shibasaki, 'Battle Royale,' '47 Ronin') joins forces with detective Hiroshi (Shinichi Tsutsumi, 'Space Battleship Yamato'), whose sister met the same gruesome fate.

But can they unravel the mystery before the clock runs out on the next victim Yumi herself?

Now, and 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.

In 'One Missed Call 2' (2005), a Japanese restaurant cook/owner dies after answering his daughter's cellphone. Other people are getting strange, same ringtone calls as well and dying painfully.

It happened in Taiwan as well so can the police stop it if it's a ghost?!

Since one of the deaths in the original film occurred on television, both our central characters Kyoko and Naoto are familiar with the urban legend and find themselves at a loss as to how to solve the problem.

Luckily for them, a plucky journalist named Takako is on the case, enlisting the help of Detective Motomiya (a returning Renji Ishibashi) who's pieced together quite a bit about how the curse works by now.

For me, 'One Missed Call 2' (aka 'Chakushin Ari 2') is scary like most of the Asian horror movies, and has a promising beginning supported by a good body of a storyline.

In the last of the trilogy, 'One Missed Call 3: Final' (2006), the timid, young Asuka is bullied by her classmates. When they embark on a class field trip to Korea, Asuka plans revenge by sending them a cursed phone message they can either pass on or die.

Not as good as the first two, but still a great joy to behold, this film has got nine death scenes (seven of them were done very well and two of them too funny to comment on!).

Every death scene is sort of unique from one another which is one of the reasons it still manages to be a strong entity in the trilogy. So, yeah, I still found this film to be very scary; especially the washing machine scene and the last death scene which the victim actually vomited blood!

This film is good because you can actually sense the fear on the teenagers faces when they receive the death messages. They desperately do whatever it takes to save their own lives. These are all Wide Screen Presentations (1.78:1) enhanced for 16x9 TVs and comes with the Special Features of:

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 3: Final, an hour-long archival documentary on the film's production
Maki and Meisa, an archival behind-the-scenes featurette on One Missed Call 3: Final with actresses Maki Horikita and Meisa Kuroki
Behind the Scenes with Keun-Suk Jang, an archival featurette with One Missed Call 3: Final's South Korean star
The Love Story, a short film tie-in for One Missed Call 3: 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

'One Missed Call Trilogy: Special Edition' Blu-ray Purchase Link

www.MVDshop.com





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