Over the years Asian horror has fallen into the trap of being very copycat and similar to one another. Phone, a Korean entry into the genre, also falls victim to that problem with obvious moments imitated from Ringu, Ju-On: The Grudge, and various other films while containing a story that's pretty "been there, done that". In fact, director Byeong-ki Ahn even admits to cribbing his idea for this from Ringu in his interview on the DVD!

After her article on an underage sex scandal causes an uproar (even managing to get her her very own stalker), reporter Ji-Won Ha decides to take-off to stay at a house owned by her sister's family and also to change the number on her cellular phone.

However, things start to get a little bit strange when she continues to get odd phone calls, her little niece (Seo-Woo Eun, who gives probably one of the best "evil child" performances in years) seems to be possessed by a vengeful spirit, and she starts having nightmarish visions.

As with most films of this type (you know: Asian and with the main heroine being a reporter...) when she starts looking into it she finds that her new cell phone number seems to be a gateway and it's connected to the twisted story of an affair gone wrong.

If you can get past the somewhat confusing and iffy first half you'll probably get enough out of Phone to enjoy it as it's steadily directed, contains some okay imagery, and has a final third that sports an unexpected menace and twists that are fairly satisfying. In fact, if it wasn't for the finale being so well done (and tying things together enough to make it somewhat coherent) this might've been just another passable import, but instead this ends-up being a quite watchable time. (Chris Hartley, 2/20/05)

Directed By: Byeong-ki Ahn.
Written By: Byeong-ki Ahn, Yu-jin Lee.

Starring: Ji-won Ha, Yu-mi Kim, Woo-Jae Choi, Ji-Yeon Choi.

Picture Ratio: 1.78:1 Widescreen.

Picture Quality: The transfer here can get a little soft at times, but overall it's a solid picture with only a few moments of noticeable grain.

Extras: As one of the first releases from Tartan's "Asia Extreme" line (the other being Doppelganger) they've come up with quite a batch of extras with a TV spot, promo reel (basically a trailer), an "epilogue" which is just footage of the movie's wrap, 2 deleted scenes, scene specific commentary with young co-star Eun, six interviews with the director and cast, 3 featurettes on the making of the film, and trailers for other releases under the Asian Extreme banner (Doppelganger, Oldboy, and A Tale Of Two Sisters).