Film Review: PHONE (2002)

I'm catching this film a little late as the Asian ghost story genre has finally run its course due to the repetitiveness of the subgenre itself. Being a fan of the genre when it was at its peak I was surprised that I missed this film but I didn't miss much.

"Phone" (2002) concerns a young reporter Ji-won (Hi Ji-wan) who is being hounded by a stalker who has threatened to kill her for her part in a scandalous investigation. In order to get away from it all she decides to hide out in her friend Ho-Jeong's (Yu-mi Kim) house and change her phone number in the process. If the stalker wasn't enough for her to contend with, her new phone starts to act weirdly and leaves her strange messages plus her friend's young daughter Young-joo starts to act strangely after playing with the cell phone. When Young-joo starts to act strangely towards her mother Ho-Jeong, Ji-Won starts investigating the history of the phone number that seems to have started all the strangeness. She soon learns that everyone who owned the phone number died mysteriously and that she is next in line.

It's all pretty standard stuff with nothing you've not already seen before (unless this is your first Asian ghost story film and you've missed the hundreds that came before). In fact, the only thing that's worth mentioning about the film is Ji-wan's great performance. All of these films need a strong leading woman to carry the film and Ji-wan is no exception. She is assisted by Yu-mi Kim who also gives a strong performance given that she is suppose to be the less flashy of the roles. By the end of the film the big reveal (although you can see it coming from a mile away) is made stronger by the fact that the film has many strong performances. "Phone" is not a perfect film but it does has its moments.