Directed by Lee Chung-hyun
Starring: Park Shin-hye, Jeon Jong-seo, Kim Sung-ryung & Lee-el
The Call is a South Korean horror/thriller movie and a remake of the 2011 filmThe Caller. Having not seen that original film I can’t say how alike or not they may be.
On its own, 2020’s The Call is a decent film. I never checked out a trailer, Thinking it would be delayed just like every new film in 2020. Luckily Netflix acquired it and we can see it now!
The Call centers around two young women at different times, whose lives become intertwined the more they speak to each other through this strange magical phone.
What originally caught my eye in this film was the addition of Jeon Jong-seo, whom I loved in 2018’s Burning. In this film she is good but not quite reaching the heights of a character like Hae-mi. Park Shin-hye is also great in the lead role. With this being more of a horror movie than I was expecting, I was glad the film got straight to the point early on. Unfortunately as things continue to happen, the maguffin only serves to limit the places the story can go. The longer the film goes on, the more obvious the moves the characters make are, and the less invested I found myself.
This is the kind of horror film that would have benefited from being seen in a theater with a medium to large crowd all having outward reactions and experiencing the plot together.
By the end I was still interested, but the scare and shock had left and I mostly stayed to see what happened. It must also be stated that this film demands a bit of attention from its audience, just like most films that deal with time travel.
The Call end up being a bit more ambitious of a film than it can really be. It’s a decent thriller with a messy premise that ends up falling a bit short of the heights it could have achieved.
