The Call ~ A Phone Connects Past and Present

“The Call” is a 2020 Korean drama movie, based on the 2011 British and Puerto Rican film The Caller, and categorized as Science Fiction (Sci-Fi), Psychological Thriller, Suspense, Crime and Mystery, and Time Travel.

♦ Are We in the Same House?

In “The Call”, two women from different time periods connect via a phone and discover they both live/lived in the same house. What happened was Kim Seo-Yeon returned to her childhood home which some folks think is still the “best house in the village”. However, on her way home she lost her phone on a train. When she arrived at her old house, she found an old cordless phone and to her surprise, it still worked. She called her own phone number and when a person responded, she asked them if they had found her phone and how can she get it back. That was the beginning.

Since the phone worked she kept using it because she really wanted to get her phone back. However, she made a phone call and got connected to a woman named Oh Young-Sook. The initial phone calls were not alarming; they were baffling. However, as time went on Kim Seo-Yeon came to believe that Oh Young-Sook was in some sort of danger but she did not know how to help. She didn’t know how to help because she realized that both of them were living in the same house, just living in different time periods.

Oh Young-Sook was calling Kim Seo-Yeon from her childhood home but she was in the year 1999. Kim Seo-Yeon was in that same home however it was 20 years later. Being in the future was an advantage because she could do research and find out what had happened in the past. Kim Seo-Yeon still grieved the loss of her father and never really got along with her mother. But her mother was still alive although in poor health.

Oh Young-Sook knew about Kim Seo-Yeon’s past because she was there when her parents bought the home and moved in. On a day in 1999, when her parents were at the house, she let Kim Seo-Yeon hear her father’s voice. She told Kim Seo-Yeon that she could bring her father back to life. In exchange for that, they had to continue talking over the phone that connected them. Kim Seo-Yeon was elated that she could be with her father again. How wonderful!

But was it wonderful? Kim Seo-Yeon would eventually find out that Oh Young-Sook from the past was going to turn her life in the present into a torturous hellfire! Kim Seo-Yeon realized based on information she gathered about events from the past, Oh Young-Sook was a murderer who had killed several people. But Kim Seo-Yeon was now trapped in Oh Young-Sook’s murderous game. Kim Seo-Yeon wondered if there was a way to prevent the murders from occurring and to escape from Oh Young-Sook’s time trap.

Main Characters:

• Kim Seo-Yeon (played by Park Shin-Hye, “The Royal Tailor”, “Doctor Slump”, “Sisyphus: The Myth”)
• Oh Young-Sook (played by Jun Jong-Seo, “Wedding Impossible”, “Money Heist 1 and 2”, “Ballerina”, “Bargain”)

Where to Watch

Viewership and Rating:

• IMDb: 7.1 out of 10 stars
• My Drama List: 8.3 out of 10 stars
• Common Sense Media: 3 out of 5 stars

My personal rating is the same as My Drama List.

I agree with the description provided by Matt Rodgers in his review via Flickering Myth:

• “Terrific fun, with plenty of wickedness and gory surprises, all topped off by a captivating turn from Jong-seo Jun, The Call is well worth answering.”

Also, the film cast two South Korean actresses who always bring their characters to life: Park Shin-Hye and Jong-seo Jun. They both met my expectations.

LINKS OF INTEREST:

Movie Review – The Call (2020) | Flickering Myth

Asian Horror Movie Reviews: The Call – Horror Book Reviews | Reelybored Book Reviews

‘The Call’ Netflix Review: Stream It Or Skip It? | Decider.com

The Call review – a phoned-in mix of ghouls, ghosts and well-worn tropes | Movies | The Guardian

TRAILERS/TEASERS:

Asia, Netflix. “The Call | Official Trailer | Netflix.” YouTube Video. YouTube, October 29, 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxkKeniT-0Q.‌