Supernatural thrillers from Japan and Korea have become quite popular on this side of the Pacific in recent years--both in their original forms and even more so in English-language remakes such as The Ring and The Grudge. But Tartan's “Asia Extreme” series entry Phone is unlikely to equal their success. Basically a ghost story revolving around a haunted cell phone that's instrumental in making a little girl possessed (rather like Linda Blair in The Exorcist), the plot follows the efforts of the young journalist who owns the phone (and who's a close friend of the young girl's parents) to unravel the mystery. Skillfully directed by Ahn Byong Ki, many of the individual sequences in Phone are spookily atmospheric, but it's all rather ponderous (including a muddled subplot involving a sexual predator and serial killer) and the conclusion is far more conventional than one would expect. In fact, the only really outstanding element here is the astonishingly compelling performance by young Eun Suh-woo as the possessed girl. Optional. [Note: DVD extras include an audio commentary, deleted scenes, interviews, a “making-of” featurette, and television and promotional footage. Bottom line: a decent extras package for a mediocre film.] (F. Swietek)
Phone
Tartan, 100 min., in Korean w/English subtitles, R, VHS or DVD: $24.99 Volume 20, Issue 2
Phone
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