One Missed Call (Takashi Miike)

There's not a lot to say about this one. Miike is a wildly original filmmaker, but this time he's decided to make a straightforward horror movie, using the cliches and staples of the modern Japanese horror film (a curse jumping from person to person caused by a thin, long-haired girl who died full of rage). The plot will be familiar to those of you who've seen "The Ring" and "Ju-On (The Grudge)" or their American remakes, as it's a combination of the two, though I think much better than either, especially "The Grudge." A girl with long, black hair dies full of rage, causing a curse that travels from one cell phone to another. The victim gets a message on his/her cell from his/herself, two days in the future, containing the sound of his/her own death. Two days later, he/she dies. Miike does amazing stuff with this generic material, and the final thirty minutes are scary as hell. If you like horror movies, this movie is absolutely satisfying in the most primal way. I don't normally drop advertisements for movie theaters in the middle of the text, but if you live in Austin, this is only playing at the Alamo Drafthouse South at 9:30 p.m. and it's the kind of movie that's a lot more effective (i.e. scarier) on the big screen.