Asian horror is beginning to grow old already. Following the success of "Ringu" and "Ju-On" (both of which have been remade
with American actors, gone onto box office success and are spawning sequels), "Phone," a South Korean film, is the latest to make it to American audiences - and will subsequently be remade almost identically with American actors.
"Phone" is not a bad movie. In fact, it''s pretty damn scary at times, especially when you have a freaky little girl possessed by an angry ghost and a barrage of spooky images that pop-up every time a character turns around. As scary films go, "Phone" does the job - there''s only one problem... I''ve seen the same damn movie way too much in the last couple of years. Since Naomi Watts'' "The Ring" came out, I''ve seen "Ringu," "Ju-On," and "The Grudge," four movies that are all very similar in mood and visual effects. "Phone," an equal blend of both movies (since the four aforementioned movies are actually only two stories made twice), would have been received with open arms... had it not been an equal blend of both movies.
The plot revolves around a woman named Ji-won who unfortunately ends up with an evil phone. Okay, so the idea isn''t quite as hokey as that, but the number she is given is a haunted number that has the tendency to kill all those who had it before her. When her friend''s little daughter answers the phone one day (after more than enough creepy phone calls that would suggest to any ordinary person that they should throw their phone and number away forever), the girl becomes possessed with a ghost. As you can probably guess, the ghost isn''t a happy one, but it has come back for a reason - to reveal a living killer, of course!