This is yet-another American remake of a Japanese horror film (this time "Chakushin Ari," directed by Takashi Miike). Even to the teen market it’s obviously intended for, "One Missed Call" will immediately remind them of better films, most notably "The Ring" and the "Final Destination" franchise. Highly derivative of both, it’s neither as scary as the former or as much gory fun as the latter.

This time it’s death-by-cell-phone. Not a bad idea, since cell phones are the chief reason for the increasing idiocy and wanton self-centeredness our culture. A pretty amusing movie could be mined from this concept, perhaps a black comedy with something to say about our increasing cultural dependence on cell phone technology. But instead, director Eric Valette serves up another humorless homogenized product aimed at the mallrat crowd; a horror movie for those who’ve never seen a REAL horror movie. All the usual cliches are trucked out: deformed figures staring back from a distance, ‘ominous’ signs another death is about to occur (it this case, a playful ringtone), false scares, needless flashbacks to explain the origin of this evil, and of course, a stupid resolution to remind us the evil ‘is still out there’ (i.e. leaving room for a sequel).

Aside from an obviously slumming Edward Burns (what’s HE doing in a movie like this?), every major character is a bland, twenty-something hottie, none of whom you’ll care about, who are picked off one by one.