The Call (2020)

Amazing acting

The first thing I'll say is that this is not similar to Signal, the only similarity they share is that the past and the present was connected through phone but every other thing is different.

That being said, Park Shin hye blew me away with her acting in this movie, wow. She is one of the actresses i like and i know she is a great actress despite what some people say about her but this movie made me realise that she hasn't even shown a quarter of her talent all this while. She was amazing in Call. She showed every emotion she was feeling through her eyes and you will feel everything with her. Kudos to her for making us live the nightmare with her.

Jun jong-seo was an absolute delight in this movie, I'm adding her to the list of actresses i stan. I saw her in Burning and i thought she was good but Call shows her in another light, her acting here will make you want to empathize with her even though she is supposed to be a bad person.

The mothers too did their part especially Lee El, that woman is good.

This is a movie that will stay with me for a long time and i know I'll rewatch it many times.

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I’ve had this on my watchlist since March or April. It starred the most popular actresses in South Korean in Park Shin-hye alongside Jeon Jong-seo who starred in one of my all time favourite films, ‘Burning’. So the cast was what intrigued me but the plot is what hooked me. The synopsis is very broad and vague. Same with one of the trailers that I caught - at least compared to what actually happens in the film. This is Lee Chung-hyun’s first full length feature after a few short films, including Blue Dragon Nominated ‘Bargain’, and I must say that I thought it was excellent. The Call has me feeling very eerie and sort of distributed for large parts of the film. As we see our two characters, Young-sook & Seo-yeon, start talking with each other and connecting, we get hints of something stranger. Both bond throughout their isolation over the phone. It’s all nice. Seo-yeon teaches Young-sook about the internet, smartphones. Young-sook offers treats and sweats from the past. But there are lingering consequences, hints from other characters that go in the ear and out of the ear on first hearing but will cause disaster later in the film. We start to see the repercussion of changing one's destiny.

The Call did a great job at keeping you invested into the characters and the journey of seeing them be friends to something very dark. Young-sook is an abused (constantly tortured both physically and mentally) person due to her mental illness, which brings me back to the aforementioned key info that proved to be pivotal later. How is she ill? We don’t know, *yet*. All we feel is sympathy for her due to her evil Stepmom, and that’s the sucker. The Call has two protagonists that are both likeable until we don’t. The film has a tremendous twist that explores what has been set up and makes for a tremendous and nervous viewing. That ending had me clapping. Honestly, the final act, to me, was the weakest act of the film but the twist added a whole new dimension to the film. And turned a usually predictable ending into a brilliant one.

Jeon Jong-seo proved that her magnificent performance in Burning wasn’t just beginners luck. She again wow’d me in her gripping and convincing portrayal of Young-sook. The character itself is different from the first half of the film and the second half but in a subtle way. Almost unnoticeable until it’s too late. Incredibly sly and wicked. Well done to her. Two films; two tremendous performances.

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Suspenseful thriller with excellent acting from Park Shin Hye & Jeon Jong Seo

I watched this for Park Shin Hye, but came out a huge fan of Jeon Jong Seo. Wow. They both acted so well.
Like people have said, it's a similar concept to the drama Signal in where there is a parallel/time travel aspect happening through a phone call. From the 2nd half on, I felt like I was holding my breath the entire time. It was so creepy and suspenseful.
Jeon Jong Seo. I get why there is buzz about this rookie actor. This is only her 2nd film and her acting is so mesmerizing. She embodies her character and has such depth in her acting. If she's already this good at the beginning of her career, I'm excited to see what she can do in the future.
Park Shin Hye is great as always. There has never been a role that I've seen her in where I don't believe that she's her character. For someone so famous, that is hard to do, but she does it so effortlessly.
I'm glad I checked this film out!

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Scam-Likely just got real! o.O

It's been a while since I watched a good Korean Horror/Thriller so I was excited to see this. It may not be perfect but it won't disappoint fans of the genre. "The Call" plays on "when the past meets the future" tropes but I think the story is really fun (if you find creepy scares fun) and pretty original. It stars Park Shin Hye as Seo Yeon, who returns home resentfully to care for her sick mother. She loses her phone on the way there and so she starts using her landline phone at home. That's when things start to get interesting.

Park Shin Hye is good. I have found her performances to be a little boring lately, but she delivers on the tears and scared gasps necessary. She doesn't necessarily bring anything special to the role, but she does play it well. In contrast,
Jeon Jong Seo as Oh Yeong Sook is amazing! It's hard to say too much without giving the story away but she is the highlight and true star of this film. I will also give an honorable mention to Lee El for being just the right amount of sinister as Yeong Sook's mother. I loved how mysterious the past scenes were, especially in the beginning, but some of the beginning phone calls may seem like they drag for a horror movie. Just trust that it will all come together and the pace will definitely pick up to feel more like a traditional horror movie.

The rest of the cast is great too, although they definitely play up some of the campy and cheesy moments. It was nice to see actors I love in bit parts (like Oh Jung Se) too. Another cheesy aspect is the direction at times which relied on some pretty corny special effects. It didn't ruin it for me, they were still effective, but it made it less scary.

Would I watch this again? Yes! This is the kind of story that makes me want to rewatch it after knowing the ending. It's also fun to yell at the screen at all the stupid choices made and it doesn't lose that fun with repeat viewing. I admit that part of the story is slightly confusing and may be inconsistent, but I think it's well-told all the way through to the credits.

Overall, I can see this becoming a horror classic. It's not the best I've seen but it's memorable and fun, especially if you love amazing villains like I do! It's not too predictable and definitely delivers on thrilling and frightening moments. There's lots of violence but most of the gore is implied, which I prefer. If you look for flaws in the story timeline you can definitely find some, but I chose to just accept the fun of the story instead, especially the end. I say grab some gummy bear heads and enjoy the ride. Also, like a twisted "It's a wonderful life" this may even make you appreciate the life you have a little more. It will definitely make you think twice about talking to strangers on the phone.

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Tension-filled story with fantastic cinematography

I'm a sucker for anything time related and this was no different — I think they did the time rift thriller thing perfectly; the speed at which the timeline would change was so fast and it really instilled a feeling of high stakes. There are some questions about how time works and potential plot holes if you think more deeply but this was really one of those fun tension-filled films that I just immersed myself into, and the ability of the movie to make me suspend my disbelief is really just a testament to how it was made.

The cinematography was really great as well. I absolutely loved seeing the different timelines being differentiated through color filters. One of my favorite watches for this October.

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Watched for Park Shin Hye, stayed for the thrills!

I LOVE a good thriller and this was right up my alley and I was even happier to find out Park Shin Hye is in this one. She's definitely killing it in the thriller movie scene, even though I'm bias and would love to see her in more romcoms (Coffee Prince feels, AM I RIGHT??)

This movie got me on the edge of my seat and they did the whole time travelling well, it was easy to distinguish the time differences and it actually made sense. The acting was impeccable and wow Jeon Jong Seo can really act.

I have no idea why you aren't immediately clicking the 'play' button on this one!!

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A tense and wonderfully interesting fantasy thriller that sounds as good as it looks

PROS:
+ Netflix must have a ton of money, because the effects [both visual and audio] are outstanding
+ Well-constructed story that manages to keep the viewer engaged and thinking until AFTER the end
+ Wonderful performances from the cast [I could read the lead actress' emotions and actually FEEL the weight of more impactful scenes and I could even sense the evil from Young-sook]
+ The time manipulation plot device is executed in a brilliant way that also increases panic

CONS:
- There is a quick shot during the credits that is bothersome and requires some analysis to understand the intention

It is rare to find a movie that is of this high-caliber in the fantasy thriller subgenre! I loved how there is so much detail poured into the story and characters. I felt a wide variety of emotions during this film.

If you like serial killer or time travel movies, than you NEED to watch this.

Make sure to silence your phone. ;)

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One of the best stories ever written.

I'd like to note that I studied to become a writer. I wrote novel, short story, mainly thriller. I consider myself lazy to write this kind of thing, never wrote a review, but now here I am. I want to encourage writers and authors to watch this movie and learn from it. The Call, for me, one of the best stories ever written. So well made.

In literature especially for thriller, there's a concept called "stake". Basically, it means that the protagonist, who has a goal, encounter the antagonist who disrupts the goal, and the antagonist threaten the protagonist so that the protagonist has no choice but to pursue the goal.
This may sounded complicated, but listen. Most of the stories out there forget this thing. They write the protagonist need to pursue his/her goal because it's the goal, some sort of ambition. Wrong. Writers need to set the stake, for example, if the protagonist fails to reach the goal, they will die, or somebody die.

One thing that I'd like to note about The Call is there are no scene that useless. I hate this kind of useless scene. Most writers often uses scene for a simple "dramatic effect" that actually so silly. They fails to realize that those scene are garbage.
A scene must have one important key, "progression". Something yearns to progress. Either a new information, character development, relationship, etc. Two types of scene: action scene and reaction scene. Not trying to be a nerd with this but I analyzed everything in The Call, and it followed the basic theory of 27 structure.

This is how you write a story. All of the directors! Writers! whatever, watch this thing. Watch this. Learn.

"Oh, that concept of time paradox is very common."
Bro, shut up. I don't care about the theme. I'm not talking about the theme. If it's mainstream, so be it. I don't care. I watched lots of movie with great concept, big potential, but ended up as a waste, a dogshit.

Good or bad writing in movie is a preferences. But, correct or wrong writing in movie is a fact.

Spoiler:
It's just that police's death that felt off to me. That probably the only one plot hole nonsense in the story. Also, I felt it silly when the antagonist manages to avoid getting caught, somehow. I mean, starts from she killed her mom, especially when she killed the strawberry guy, it obvious that the police should know about this. However, they didn't. And it made the police looked dumb, disappointing the viewer and also insulting the viewer.
I think what should be done is the writer should create the antagonist more organized, not impulsive like that. This made the antagonist appeared smart, and the viewer would respect her and more scared to her. I mean, seriously? She killed the strawberry guy like it was Tuesday and the police really that one of an imbecile?

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LOADS OF PLOT TWISTS

So overall this is a great movie, although I don’t understand the ending (probably my fault for not understanding)

Pros: fast paced so even though it is a 2 hour movie I never got bored because something new is always happening. And i love their acting!!!

Cons: i feel like they need to explain more about the mother (the shaman) she is not the main character but I feel like she is crucial enough to the movie that she deserves more explanation.

And this is just my personal opinion but i wish they would also explain more about what actually happened in the past originally. They did explain it but it would be interesting to see what happened without just giving clips and bits of the past

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Just me being out of my comfort zone

This movie felt short but like in not a bad way ofc. I gave this review headline like this because it's true. When i look at my watchlist i can find there different genders but my least watched is "time traveling"(in this movie it was the connection between the present and past). The reason for it is that i will most likely get bored what didn't happened that much while watching this movie. I started watching this movie without knowing who will act in it and then i found out that i know at least one actor. The reason why i gave it 9.5 star rating and not 10 is because of the ending. I felt like that was something i did not expected to happen but it did. And right now i am going to sleep :)

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Just stick to your smartphone...

It started off as a beautifully friendship... the type that goes beyond time and space... you know that type of friendship that may just change the future type of deal, bringing people back from the dead and all... Cute, sweet and all fluffy... with gummy bears, pastels as far as the eye can see .beautiful scenery and a dysfunctional family or two... if you overlook the locking people up and performing an exorcism or three...

Had it not been a horror movie one would almost think it was as cute as cute can be... However this is a Thriller, Mystery, Horror, Schi fi... and boy does it live up to its name with gore. blood, suspense teaching us all never ever to take a call from the past... heck just stay away from all forms of old communication.

Things that did bother me: the killer portrayed as mentally ill... other then that it was really well made and had a decent plot. And though there may not be an appa as far as the eyes can see this movie proves once and for all that you can enjoy Korean content without them.

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Horror meets Butterfly Effect

I can't say this won't contain spoilers, so I'll just make that a fair warning now.

Now we all know Butterfly Effect with Ashton Kutcher, so I shouldn't have to explain that part. Let me say that first I thought maybe this movie was going to be about the two main leads trying to work together to stop a serial killer. Nope. As the movie progressed I was really struck by how the FL in the future asked the FL in the past to save her dad. All is well until the Seo Yeon (future FL) finds out that Yeong Sook (past FL) killed her mother. It all went down hill from there when the Seo Yeon tried to ignore the Yeong Sook. Desperately trying to break the past, the Seo Yeon knows she can't just ignore the phone calls because it will somehow effect her present. Every little thing that is done has to be the way Yeong Sook wants it, if not then Seo Yeon loses everything she holds dear. So instead of Seo Yeon allowing the past be the past and she saved Yeong Sook, she sacrificed her own freedom and future.

Overall:
It was a great movie. I'd never watched anything like it before and I was very impressed by the acting. Towards the end really kept me on the edge of my seat waiting to see what would happened next.

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