Reviewed by: trenty Date: 08/07/2000 Summary: No fun with 0 scare. "Phantom Call" is a movie that you should just leave it alone without renting it to watch, no to say IN the theatre. If you do, it will be a total waste of your money and time to suffer another HK movie. The plot of this movie is simple and nothing more than an old ghost story. A guy was killed and he wants his revenge but first he needs help from a person in which later they both exchange favours to help out each other. The subplot was developed very slowly and much of the movie time were wasted on the subplot than the main plot itself. And if you want scary moments, not this time, zero scare with nothing but watching time pass by. As to the performances, the cast is not strong but only Anthony/Sam fans may interested. Anthony had a role of being a ghost in which I think was a very dumb move by the director. Anthony as a ghost whose face was painted with somewhat red? So what? It's even worst than watching a bloody gore 3 category HK movie. It's not scary but rather embrassing! However, though Anthony's part was a waste with his average acting, Sam's part was okay. To conclude, don't let the VCD cover or the poster fool you into this movie. It's just another dumb non-horror flick with no fun at all.

Reviewed by: ryan Date: 03/21/2000 Summary: Another Crappy Anthony Wong Movie With the success of the Japanese horror movie "The Ring", there has been tons of Hong Kong movies imitating its style over the past few months. After a break for the Chinese New Year films, these movies come back to the theatres (this week there are two of them). "Phantom Call" is a movie with a relatively strong cast. Debt collector Bruce has unusual collection methods, including torture by rock music. After having a bad day, he comes home to find his wife having sex with another man and is then confronted by triad boss Bill who gives him just three days to collect all outstanding debts. He then gets caught up in a heist with robbers Lung and Keung, is kidnapped and forced to dig his own grave..... By chance, Pui Lau finds Bruce's haunted mobile phone. They enter into an arrangement : Bruce will help Pui seduce pretty Maggie away from her rich boyfriend Royie if Pui helps Bruce punish Bill, Lung & Keung. "Phantom Call" borrows from "The Ring" by duplicating the Chinese titles. However, the whole structure of the movie is very close to the more usual Hong Kong style ghost stories. The structure is the same - it starts with the tragic death of the leading actor who then asks another guy to help him gain revenge. The plot is too old fashioned to give audiences a reason to stay in the theatre. The first ten minutes of the movie are a failure. During the later part of the movie we find out that Bruce would like to punish Bill but at the beginning there is not enough evidence showing why he hates Bill so much. The lack of reason for the hate means there is little grounds for the plot. Bruce's death shows how casual the production is. The death of Bruce results from a kidnap but the kidnap itself is ridiculous. Having two thieves stealing a bag of gold without concern as to whom they pass the bag to makes no sense. In addition the kidnap process is odd - I wondered why they didn't ask for money from Bruce's wife before they asked him to dig his own grave. Anthony Wong doesn't come out of the film with a lot of credit. He is OK in the movie but not great. The interaction between Bruce and Pui in training for the supernatural "function" shows that Anthony lacks interest in his role. Sam Lee has got a good role to play and at least he is not a triad jerk. However , his annoying dubbed voice ruins all his work in the movie. Other characters in the movie are also unconvincing due to the poor plot. There should have been more tricks played by Royie (insulting Pui more). There should also have been more variation in the love story between Pui and Maggie. Though the movie is very predictable, at least everything is not too bad when compared with the other two new Hong Kong movies opening this week. In short, "Phantom Call" is more like a duplication of the late 80's Hong Kong ghost stories rather than "The Ring". The film is very typical. Anthony Wong does not have anything special to do in this movie while Sam Lee has got a good role but his dubbed voice is a great annoyance.