Phone Movie Review by Jordan

Phone is about love, anger and revenge all rolled up in one delightfully horrifying package.  Now some people will be turned off by this movie immediately due to it’s familiar nature (very similar to the throng of ‘Evil spirit possessing things’ movies coming out of Asia lately) but don’t let that turn you off of this gem.

We mainly follow two sets of characters, one is Ji-Won a young and beautiful journalist who is forced into hiding as her last report (on a child sex scandal) has gotten her into trouble.  The other group of characters is a young family of husband and wife Chang Hoon and Ho Jeong and their little girl Young Ju.

Ho Jeong (who I believe is Ji-Won’s sister, although I’m not entirely sure, it’s never really told in the movie) hears of Ji-Wons plight and invites her to stay at their 2^nd home in Bang Bae.  Ji-Won settles into her new surroundings but begins to get strange calls in her cell phone and has someone following her now and again.  Other strange things begin to happen at the home such as her computer freezing up and flashing a number on the screen (6644), she hears music that seems to have no source and also feels just an overall creepiness in the house.

Still, she decides to keep living there and she changes her cell phone number to something else.  Once she changes the number, however, the phone calls become even weirder and spookier.  Something is definitely happening and she doesn’t know what.  One day when she is at the museum with Ho Jeong and little Young Ju her phone rings.  Young Ju picks it up and begins to scream as a screeching noise can be heard from it.  The two women eventually pry the phone from her hands although she continues to scream.  After taking the girl to the doctors she seems to be OK and they think nothing more of it.

Needless to say the little girl is not OK and doesn’t seem to be herself, lashing out at her parents, in particular her mother, and doesn’t quite seem herself.  From there things begin to unfold as Ji-Won, not content to stay afraid and in the dark, begins to seek out the truth.  She finds out that the last people who had her phone number died in strange ways.  From her further investigation she begins to unravel a detailed and sordid mystery that ends in a most shocking way.

Phone was an excellent addition to the Asian horror genre.  Director Ahn Byoung-Ki has a very artistic eye and the shots that he uses in Phone are very effective.  Perhaps it was the overall ‘darkness’ of the film and they shots he used, but his style seemed very similar to Hideo Nakata (of Ringu fame).  There was a lot of emphasis on contrast between light and dark which worked well in defining the characters of the film.

I also enjoyed the story and found it to be well thought out.  It was full of twists and turns and just as you think you had it figured out (and having been watching these types of movies for a while now, I tend to think I know everything right from the get go) the movie takes a harsh U-turn and your thrown right back to square one.  Lets just say that the end of this movie will definitely shock you right out of your seat!

I thought everyone played a very good role, especially little Young Ju who, despite being only 6-7 years old, was very good in her role as the possessed little girl.  She could go from being a sweet innocent little girl to a little hellion in no time and was very very creepy when she had to be.  She was no Sadako (from Ringu) but still creepy!