Pluskylang Great Film overall

Dotbankey A lot of fun.

Curapedi I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Jakoba True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

MikeA Korean chiller that initially appears to poach elements from better known J-horrors 'Ringu' and 'One Missed Call', amongst many others. Fortunately, with the very important advantage of having a decent plot, 'Phone' is clearly far better than the latter, and perhaps even as good as the former.Ji-won is a journalist who receives menacing phone calls after exposing a paedophile ring. She decides to lie low in an empty house belonging her best friend Ho-Jeong and her husband Chang-hoon, and their young daughter Yeong-ju.All's well, until her new cell phone starts ringing, and all that can be heard down the line are disturbing noises and disembodied voices. Worse still, when little Yeung-ju accidentally answers the phone, she's possessed by a malevolent spirit that turns her from cutie-pie to scowling devil child. Ji-won desperately seeks the reason behind the possession, but will she be prepared to find the source of the evil is so close to home? Refreshingly edgy horror, delivered with atmosphere and style, a little welcome humour, and perfect timing. Too many recent horror flicks seem to rely too heavily on their concept, and forget to tell a good story. In Phone, the twists keep coming, and every time you think you've got the film pegged, it pulls the rug out from under you - right up to its freaky, memorable climax.The adults are perfectly fine actors, but all their thunder is stolen by See-woo Eun, who plays the little girl. A large part of the unease and sinister atmosphere the film generates is from how uncomfortable you feel seeing such a very young actress in such a role. I was watching the Tartan DVD, and felt much better after watching the behind-the-scenes footage included - which showed little See-woo clearly loving being the centre of attention, and the more intense scenes being filmed in small doses and in a light-hearted fashion.

refresh daemon After watching this movie, my girlfriend at the time made me change my mobile phone ringer, because it sounded just like the ones used in the movie. From the reactions of my fellow movie watchers, this film appeared to be sufficiently scary to be called a scary movie. Again, I remained unfazed by the film, but perhaps it's because I'd seen the movie before.The basic plot is that there is a ghost stalking our protagonist through her mobile phone and people die and other bad stuff happens. Like many Korean films, there are twists and turns to the plot as information is released in bits and pieces. There is some very impressive child-acting with this film--the little kid very effectively portrays menace, hatred, rage and jealousy.The film has plenty of "boo" moments to keep people on their seats, a couple minorly humorous moments and so forth. In the end, the film is a decent scary movie that is, like most scary movies, a little shallow in the end. But it's effective enough as a scary movie. Not bad for a once-over. It doesn't hold up as well the second time because all the plot twists are already known.Not a must-see, but a decent film, as far as horror films go. If you're looking for some goosebumps to appear on your arms, you might give this a try. 6/10.

zingbot Pon or Phone has all the elements that you would expect from the current range of Asian horror/thrillers, the long black hair, a really freaky child, lots of shocks and hinted at horrors and slight glimpses of things you don't want to see.The biggest difference for me was that although there was some supernatural references and ideas, the film never really came across as a horror film, more a ghostly whodunit.The main protagonist in Phone is a reporter who is exposing an underage sex racket. She has also donated some eggs to a couple who she knows to allow them to have a child. Whilst she is staying in the couples spare house, she starts to receive some nuisance phone calls we think from someone she is trying to expose or has exposed. Things escalate and after many plot twists the film comes to a pretty good conclusion which I must admit I didn't see coming.The little girl in the film does a great job, she really is horrible and alarming,with pure evil written across her face. Phone uses a lot of musical cues, sharp effects whenever a shock is coming, which is unlike a lot of the earlier Asian horror films, more in keeping with Hollywood shockers that use telegraphed musical effects.Overall a decent enough film, a bit derivative, it doesn't really add to the Asian horror film genre, not really a must see but generally entertaining.

lost-in-limbo Ji-won is a reporter who's has just exposed a child-sex crime ring and from that break through she starts receiving threatening phone calls from a stalker. So, she moves into her sister's vacant house and also switches her mobile number to escape it. But the harassing phone calls still keep on coming and one day her niece Yeong-ju answers it and not too long she starts acting rather unusually. Ji-won continues to receive these eerie phone calls, which she comes to learn that her new number happens to be cursed by the spirit of Jin-hie, a love-struck girl.Asian horror films really love their fashionable technology or either vengeful female ghosts. And this one is no exception to the trend. Now it's the dreaded phone's turn for some paranormal activity in the form of the medium. This is definitely the phone call from hell! You'll be hoping they'd put their mobile on silent with the constant ringing. You can only take so much within a short time. Now you're probably thinking it'll be the been-there-done-that musty modern Asian ghost story and I can't say it isn't at times. Some scenes and ideas absolutely resemble "Ringu", "Ju-on" and "Dark Water". Although saying that, the Korean entry "Phone" does provide an effectively, glum mystery-thriller, where the supernatural tone is more a smokescreen to the bigger picture. The twists are not so predictable and I found it to offer many surprising revelations… mainly the climax. Inconsistencies and lack of logic makes its way into the knotty story, but at least it wasn't terribly convoluted like most of the same field. It was definitely a compelling slow-burn type of story that slows up drastically in the mid-section, but really picks up for the final third. Mixed through the plot are interesting side-stories, the traditional flashbacks and the investigation into the curse that all ties in. Sounds derivative, but it's far from uninspired. The strongest aspect of the film has to be that it's a highly polished and slick looking production, which manages to invoke such a menacing claustrophobic feel from its murky backdrop. Director Ahn Byeong-ki does well in streamlining the film with eerie set pieces and visually striking images without so much of telegraphing them. Helping the subdued air of mystery and dread is the elegantly pulsating score and a good mix of bone rattling sounds. Special effects are steadily controlled within the story and they're executed to perfection. The performances were mild by the leads Ji-won Ha and Yu-mi Kim, but with the exception of Seo-woo, who's very good as Yeong-ju, the scary little girl who can't stop pulling ugly faces and hissing.After watching this you'll won't be waiting by the phone for too long. A traditional Asian entry into the contemporary tragic ghost story, which is entertaining and technically well made.