When American studios remake Japanese horror hits, they often tend to replace the quiet, creepy and unexplainable Asian spirits with noisier and more graphic CGI ones. As a result, the sound levels only go up while the mystery level goes down. The worst offenders are Pulse and the Ju-On movies, which had fans of the originals foaming at the mouth.

The only exception is Hollywood's version of The Ring, which wisely stayed true to the phantasmagorical aspects of the mysterious videotape, while simultaneously expanding its story universe to accommodate American audiences' preference to have their mysteries more clearly explained. The Ring is by far the best adaptation of a horror film in cinema's history.

Unfortunately, Hollywood's new version of the massive Japanese hit, One Missed Call, is not as smart as The Ring. The story of a group of young people who die just days after they hear the sound of their own deaths on their mobile phones is truly ingenious and screenwriter Andrew Klavan was wise to keep much of the original plotting.

But director Eric Valette is a far more boring helmer compared to the original movie's director Takashi Miike (who also helmed Audition and Ichii The Killer). Eric's direction is mediocre, his visuals are bland, and his scares are short-lived. They don't rouse and stir the imagination the way Takashi's does. As a result, this One Missed Call is a just another routine scare-fest compared to the extraordinarily unique Japanese one.
Forget this version, save your money, and try to look for the original in HMV.