Reviewed by Stuart O'Connor
Stars Shannyn Sossamon, Edward Burns, Ana Claudia Talancón, Ray Wise, Azura Skye, Johnny Lewis, Jason Beghe,
Margaret Cho, Meagan Good, Rhoda Griffis
Written by Andrew Klavan & Minako Daira
Certification UK 15 | US PG-13
Runtime 87 minutes
Directed by Eric Valette
Another week, another dumb Hollywood remake of a Japanese/Korean/Chinese horror movie. And this particular example is probably the weakest of the recent glut. The premise is that a bunch of teenagers are receiving voice messages on their mobile phones. From themselves. At the time of their death, which is some time in the very near future — and usually by some nasty means.
That's about it as far as plot goes. One of the teenagers is played by Sossamon. Her name is Beth. She's a college student of some sort. And that's about all we know about her, apart from the fact that she has no personality. But then neither do any of the other characters. It's as though this film has been invaded by the pod people from one of the many incarnations of Invasion of The Body Snatchers (though not the dumb Nicole Kidman one). There's also a cop, named Jack (Burns), whose sister is one of the victims. He believes Beth when nobody else does, so investigates the case. But we all know that he just wants to get into her pants, don't we kids?
There's an incredibly funny scene midway through where a reality TV show host (Wise) performs an exorcism on a mobile phone. But that's the only highlight in this lame excuse for a scary thriller. Sossamon virtually sleepwalks through the whole thing, the killings are as derivative as all hell and even comedian Cho can't brighten up the proceedings. Watch the Takashi Miike original instead, and give this one a miss.