AKA: Chakushin Ari - The TV Series Year: 2005 Genre: Horror Runtime: 10 episodes / 45min Country: Japan Language: Japanese Subtitles: English (external - srt) IMDB: Chakushin ari
Cast
Natsuko Hoshino, Ken Ishiguro, Rei Kikukawa, Takeshi Masu, Chiaki Satô, Kanji Tsuda, Ikkei Watanabe, Shinji Yamashita
Synopsis / Plot
TV series based off of the film One Missed Call. Following a different plot than either the novels or films, TV series tells the story a mysterious curse that travels between cell phones. Includes 10 different episodes, each with a distinctive beginning and ending and yet each reveals a piece of a puzzle that is the curse.
As a TV thriller, this is less serious in tone than the similar Ring: The Final Chapter series, in fact this is even more tongue-in-cheek than the One Missed Call movies - there's a sort of Mulder and Scully pair of detectives, backed up by a posse of Lone Gunmen net detectives. The bloodless death scenes include homages to horror movie death scenes lifted from classics like The Omen and even Ju-on. But this is for TV and quite a low budget affair, so apart from the spectacular fire stunt in an early episode, the action relies mostly on editing and ingenuity rather than FX.
More of a detective series with dollops of horror, it also adds humour with the interplay between the regular cast. The ensemble players are charismatic and the main characters likeable.
The series works at a tangent to the mythos of the movies, but provides just enough drama and horror to entertain.
One Missed Call - The TV Series (Chakushin Ari)
