ONE MISSED CALL 3: FINAL

A group of Japanese students is on a school trip in Korea, but on the first day, a strange death occurs that apparently seems like a suicide. In reality, the boys are receiving a call on their cell phone that announces their death; the only way to survive is to send a death text message to another number, whose owner will in turn be condemned to die immediately without any chance of salvation. Panic breaks out among the boys and only Emily keeps her cool because she understood that the origin of the curse lies in Aska, a girl victim of the bullying of her schoolmates and who is now in a coma following her suicide attempt. A sinister and unknown melody comes from your cell phone; a call with no answer. In the voicemail message, a voice announces the future death: it's your voice! From this premise began "The Call - Don't Answer," a film directed by Takashi Miike in 2003 following the then rampant trend of ghost movies with a technological theme. The film received excellent success and soon a sequel (in 2005) directed by Renpei Tsukamoto arrived, which followed the subject of the prototype adding, however, interesting backgrounds to the story of the curse. A year later, this third and (perhaps) final chapter directed by Manabu Asou arrives, which, while taking elements from the first film, stages a completely new story. At the base is always the story of the curse that spreads through cell phones and the unsettling ringtone that foreshadows death, but the references to Miike's film, although present, are useless and pretextual. Rather, an attempt was made to build a derivative plot that takes notable cues from Fulcian's "Aenigma" (the girl in a coma) and the "Final Destination" saga (the boys who know about their imminent death and try to avoid it), giving life to the weakest chapter of the trilogy and rich in absurdities, but at the same time the most lively, still resulting in a pleasant and fun horror, far from the flatness of many Asian ghost movies. "The Call 3" follows the trend of American teen horror, making changes even to the way the curse is transmitted. In this film, the relevant novelty is the cursed text message that gives the direct recipient the possibility to save themselves "transmitting" the curse to someone else, thus providing a possibility of salvation at the cost of unleashing the worst instincts and condemning another individual to death. In reality, the screenplay of this film is a bit indecisive about which path to follow because before settling on the "chain of text messages" method, it goes from a death announced by a photograph via MMS and a voicemail message, complete with a red candy that comes out of the victim's mouth, just like in the first film. This indecision is a bit disturbing, as is the forced inclusion of Mimiko, the ghost child from Miike's film, who here turns out to be frankly useless for the unfolding of the narration. Even the deaths and tense scenes are a bit disappointing and "softened" (only the corpse in the washing machine and the final discovery of the bodies are memorable), not to mention the ridiculous and illogical solution that the protagonists devise to defeat the curse. Beyond these numerous flaws, "The Call 3" remains an honest genre film that manages to entertain with fun thanks to an unexpectedly fast pace that reflects that of slasher movies. Worth watching to spend an hour and a half of carefree viewing; it will surely be pleasant for those who are tired of the usual Asian-style ghost movies.