Horror Movie Review: One Missed Call
Horror Movie
September 16, 2021
One Missed Call begs the question “What would a movie look like if it had no plot or character development whatsoever?” This movie is the worst rated horror movie on Rotten Tomatoes, with a 0% critic rating and a 29% audience score. The plot follows Beth, a psychology major, as she watches her friends die after they each receive ominous phone calls containing their last words. She teams up with a detective, Jack, whose sister died after receiving one of these phone calls, and is the only one who believes Beth. While it seems this plot could potentially have promise, the execution was mediocre at best. The writing and acting both severely lacked depth. The plot was scattered, the scenes seemed rushed and almost incomplete, and the movie overall was void of substance. The best way to describe One Missed Call is that it is an excellent movie to have on in the background.
The visuals, although clearly low budget, weren’t awful, and were probably the best part about the movie. Graphics such as creepy dolls, restless spirits, and mucus-saturated centipedes provide a great laugh and are one of the only things keeping the audience engaged.
Shannyn Sossamon stars as the main character, Beth, and her performance was less than captivating. This is nothing against the actress herself, but Beth’s character was exceedingly mundane. After watching her three best friends die at the hands of an unknown entity, she shows absolutely no emotional disturbance as she continues performing daily tasks such as looking through her mail and flirting with Jack, the detective handling the case.
One Missed Call was released in the year 2008, and is an outstanding example of the 2000s stereotype. From the capri pants to the ever important presence of flip phones to the editing (which is reminiscent of an early 2000s episode of Criminal Minds), this movie feels deeply nostalgic. The two highlights of the film were the Pizza Hut/Taco Bell merged restaurant featured around minute 15, and the painful transition from Beth’s recollection of her father’s death to Jack answering the beloved flip phone with a cheerful “Yello!” within the span of 15 seconds around minute 50.
One Missed Call has a few great jumpscares (4, to be exact), some artistic editing, some lackluster acting, and has earned itself 3/10 stars from your beloved movie reviewers, Kaileigh Stoia and Lillian McMeekin.
