re:mote voices

Title: Phone

Cast: Ha Ji-won, Kim Yoo-mi, Choi Woo-jae, Eun Seo-woo

Director: Ahn Byeong-ki

In some ways, even from the title alone, this Korean film can be seen to be riffing off the whole success of the Japanese horror The Ring. In this case the focus is instead on a killer cellphone rather than video cassette. Though in this case there are more layers, providing more of a sense of depth than many of the current crop of post-Ring cinematic offerings.

A woman is involved in the exposure of an underage sex ring. As a result she is getting threatening phone calls, and being stalked by a knife wielding nutter. With the closure of the case she changes her number, though the computer only offers up one option, which does not bode well. When even stranger calls start coming through on her new phone she starts to learn that each of the previous owners of the phone number in question have died strange deaths. Things escalate when her niece answers one of the threatening calls.

The layering threads of threat are what provide a greater sense of tension than much of Phone’s competition. The classic themes of Asian horror films are all here – especially the malingering and spooky dead Asian girl. However the addition of what happens to the little girl is one of the things which makes Phone more memorable. Unlike the little boy in Ju-On, with his not-very-threatening pancake make-up, the little girl here is an example of strong casting. Covering the range from hyper-emotional and bratty, to emotionless and knife carrying.

Phone takes many of the strong points of this kind of film and brings them together. Combining the atmosphere and suspense provided by glimpsed images and the guidance of sound. The combination of threats makes the film denser, and keeps the story twisting about.