One Missed Call 2 Blu-ray Review

Feb 162020

One Missed Call 2 may not be as strong of a film as its predecessor and certainly plays fast and loose with any rules, if there are any, seemingly making it up as they went along. Having said that, I did like the two lead actors and still managed to be entertained.

One Missed Call 2
(2005)

Genre(s): Horror, Supernatural
Arrow Video | NR – 105 min. | February 25, 2020

Date Published: 02/16/2020 | Author: The Movieman

MOVIE INFO:
Directed by: Renpei Tsukamoto
Writer(s): Yasushi Akimoto (novel); Minako Daira (screenplay)
Cast: Rie Mimura, Asaka Seto, Chisun, Hisashi Yoshizawa, Renji Ishibashi, Peter Ho

DISC INFO:
Features: Featurette, Deleted Scenes, Music Video, Short Film, Trailers
Slip Cover: Yes
Digital Copy: No
Formats Included: Blu-ray
Number of Discs: 1

Audio: Japanese (DTS-HD MA 5.1), Japanese (PCM 2.0)
Video: 1080p/Widescreen 1.85
Subtitles: English SDH
Disc Size: 49.48 GB
Total Bitrate: 25.25 Mbps
Codecs: MPEG-4 AVC
Region(s): A

Arrow Video provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray I reviewed in this Blog Post.
The opinions I share are my own.

THE MOVIE — 3.5/5

Plot Synopsis: One Missed Call 2 takes place one year after the events of the first movie. As before, a spirit is out for vengeance and targets a new set of young adults who receive calls from their own phones with a text or video of the date and time of their demises. But it would appear this is a new vengeful spirit of a girl.

Quick Hit Review: This follow-up to the very well made first film might not be as tight storywise, however I still immensely entertaining and also maintained plenty of chills and genuine scares, alongside the creepiness that’s kind of inherent with these J-horror supernatural flicks featuring these gray toned kids. I also found the two leads, played by Rie Mimura (formerly Mimula) and Chusun, who were rather likeable. And for her part, and playing an actual journalist versus the citizen jornos these kind of films feature, is Asaka Seto; with her character receiving a backstory involving her deceased twin sister.

On the downside, the plot isn’t terribly cohesive and beyond that, which often times the pacing and editing of some J-horror films aren’t always the best, there didn’t seem to be a set of consistent rules for the supernatural elements or how/why things happen, including a twist at the end that makes little sense, and perhaps something cultural that’s lost in translation.

That being said, I still found One Missed Call 2 more than engaging and although some of the plot doesn’t make much sense, looking beyond that, it’s still a well made follow up to the already solid original.

SPECIAL FEATURES – 3.0/5

This is part of the One Missed Call Trilogy set which comes with a nice textured slip cover. This movie is shared with One Missed Call: Final.

The Making of One Missed Call 2 (32:46) — Archival documentary on the film’s production featuring interviews with the cast and crew, along with behind-the-scenes footage.

Gomu (3:51) is a short film tie-in by Renpei Tsukamoto.

Deleted Scenes (10:10) — A couple scenes that were cut with intros by Tsukamoto.

Music Video (4:46) — “A Prayer for Love” by aki.

And last up is the Theatrical Trailer (1:38), Teaser Trailers (1:37) and TV Spots (1:17).

VIDEO – 4.5/5

One Missed Call 2 comes to Blu-ray through Arrow Video and the 1080p high-definition transfer, shown in the original 1.85 aspect ratio, was provided by Kadokawa. The picture here looks great, detail is incredibly sharp throughout with the fine grain and noise present while black levels are fairly stark yet you can still discern elements, like a creepy girl emerging from a dark closet. There were some specs and dust from time to time, nevertheless it was nothing terribly distracting.

AUDIO – 4.75/5

The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track provided was significantly stronger than the one for the first film. Here, the depth is on display with every channel coming to life, particularly when the creepy girl arrives on screen and the LFE kicks on for an extra measure of that foreboding feeling the filmmakers were after. Beyond that, dialogue comes through with good clarity and there were no discernible pops or hisses.

OVERALL – 4.0/5

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