CABIN FEVER 3 :PATIENT ZERO – I wasn't a fan of the first one, and I could just about stand the second. 'Cabin Fever 3' remains true to the spirit of mediocrity celebrated by its predecessors. In it, some partying post-teens (at some kind of wedding do I think, although I wasn't really paying attention) end up on island where government scientists are toiling away in an underground lab. They've isolated an asymptomatic carrier of the disease from the first two movies, and he's not very happy about having to hang out in a jumpsuit waiting to be experimented on. Some bits of lack lustre gore follow lots of relationship angst. Sorry, if I write much more about this it'll just be to fill pointless sentences with pointless words when I could just say “'Cabin Fever 3' – it's shit” and leave it at that.
ONE MISSED CALL – Takashi Miike's original. I have vague memories of quite enjoying the remake, cardboard and tone-deaf though it may be (US attempts to re-do J-Horror usually are). Whilst it's not up there with the likes of 'Pulse' and 'Dark Water', both genuinely dark and affecting films, 'One Missed Call' is certainly pretty good stuff. Some students die after their future selves leave messages, recorded at the moment of death, on their mobiles. One such student teams up with the brother of another victim to track down the source of all this bad shit. Miike creates a sombre atmosphere around a bleak theme (child abuse), although the tech-angle seems tacked on and gimmicky. 'One Missed Call' opens strongly with an off hand vibe of spooky imminence, although it meanders a bit midway. The film comes into its own in a few powerful scenes, however – a TV exorcism which borders on hysteria, but also the strange moment when the lead character embraces a rotting ghost and weeps. Japanese horror films often have a strong undercurrent of sadness and melancholy (as opposed to only full on fear and dread) about them, and this is very much the case with 'One Missed Call'. Worth watching.
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