''The Call'' (), is a 2020 South Korean

thriller film Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre ...

directed by Lee Chung-hyun, starring

Park Shin-hye Park Shin-hye (, born February 18, 1990) is a South Korean actress and singer. She gained recognition as a child on TV shows such as ''Stairway to Heaven'' (2003), and ''Tree of Heaven'' (2006). Later on, she would achieve further success when ...

and

Jeon Jong-seo Jeon Jong-seo (born July 5, 1994), also known as Rachel Jun, is a South Korean actress. She rose to fame with the role of Hae-mi in the 2018 acclaimed South Korean thriller '' Burning'', and has won Best Actress at the 57th Baeksang Arts Awards ...

. Based on the 2011 British and Puerto Rican film '' The Caller'', ''The Call'' revolves around Seo-yeon (

) and Young-sook (

), two women from different times who connect through a phone call which interchanges their fates. The film was originally going to be released theatrically but cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. It was released on

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fi ...

globally on November 27, 2020.

Plot

In 2019, 28-year-old Kim Seo-yeon loses her cellphone while traveling to visit her sick, estranged mother in a rural area. Arriving at her rundown childhood home, she finds a decades-old cordless phone, and through it receives calls from a distressed woman who says she's being tortured by her mother. After investigating the house, Seo-yeon figures out that the woman on the phone, Oh Young-sook, is living in the same house but in 1999. The two are able to communicate across time through the phone, and exchange information about their lives. Young-sook is orphaned and lives with her adoptive mother, who is a shaman, while Seo-yeon lost her father in a fire that she blames her mother, Eun-ae, for. Young-sook, acting on information from Seo-yeon, sneaks out of the house to prevent the fire that killed Seo-yeon's father. She is successful, and Seo-yeon's reality changes: her parents are both alive and healthy, and their house lavish. Young-sook, however, is punished by her mother, and becomes resentful that Seo-yeon's life is improved while hers is the same. Seo-yeon searches the internet and learns that Young-sook was killed by her mother during an exorcism. During the next phone call, Seo-yeon warns Young-sook, who saves herself and kills her mother instead. Now freed, Young-sook becomes a serial killer. Seo-yeon realizes what has happened when Young-sook's victims disappear in the present day. During a phone call, Seo-yeon confronts Young-sook, but inadvertently reveals to her that she'll be arrested. In 1999, Young-sook is visited by an 8-year-old Seo-yeon and her father, who have come to the house to close their purchase of it. Young-sook kills Seo-yeon's father and takes young Seo-yeon captive. In 2019, Seo-yeon's reality changes again: her father is dead and the house in even worse condition. Young-sook calls Seo-yeon and tells her to find out how she'll be arrested. At first Seo-yeon feeds Young-sook false info, but when Young-sook threatens to kill Eun-ae next, Seo-yeon breaks into the local police station for the notebook used in 1999. Young-sook taunts Seo-yeon that they're the same when she reveals that Seo-yeon caused the fire that originally killed her father, and lied about Eun-ae being responsible. Seo-yeon gives Young-sook the correct info, and her reality changes again: the house is now owned by an older Young-sook, who has continued as a serial killer. The content of the notebook changes as well, with a note that Eun-ae came to the house with a police officer and made a call on the cordless phone. Seo-yeon waits in the house for the call and uses it to warn Eun-ae. In 1999, Young-sook kills the police officer and chases Eun-ae. In 2019, older Young-sook reveals herself and similarly chases Seo-yeon. Eun-ae uses the phone again, and Seo-yeon picks up and encourages her to fight. Eun-ae seemingly sacrifices herself to kill Young-sook, and 2019 changes, with the house becoming derelict and old Young-sook disappearing. Seo-yeon leaves the house and is reunited with Eun-ae, who is alive and well, albeit with scars. In a mid-credits scene, older Young-sook called her younger counterpart to warn her about Eun-ae and the police officer arriving, allowing Young-sook to alter her own history, resulting in the erasing of Eun-ae from present day Seo-yeon's side. The scene then cuts to the torture room where a person tied to a chair and covered in a white cloth is screaming for help. The cloth is removed, revealing a frightened adult Seo-yeon, once again a captive of Young-sook.

Cast

as Kim Seo-yeon *

as Oh Young-sook *

Kim Sung-ryung Kim Sung-ryung (born February 8, 1967) is a South Korean actress. After winning the Miss Korea beauty pageant in 1988 (she later represented her country at the Miss Universe 1989 pageant), Kim began her career as a reporter on KBS's showbiz ne ...

as Eun-ae, Seo-yeon's mother. *

Lee El Lee El (born Kim Ji-hyun on June 26, 1982) is a South Korean actress. She is best known for her supporting roles in the film ''Inside Men'' (2015), the television series ''It's Okay, That's Love'', '' Guardian: The Lonely and Great God'' (2016� ...

as Ja-ok, Young-sook's mother *

Oh Jung-se Oh Jung-se (born February 26, 1977) is a South Korean actor. He is best known for his roles in the television series ''Missing 9'' (2017), ''When the Camellia Blooms'' (2019), ''Hot Stove League'' (2019), and ''It's Okay to Not Be Okay'' (2020) ...

as Seong-ho *

Lee Dong-hwi Lee Dong-hwi (born July 22, 1985) is a South Korean actor and singer. He gained recognition through his role in the critically acclaimed television series ''Reply 1988'' (2015–2016). Lee starred in the film '' Extreme Job'' (2019), the secon ...

as Baek Mi-hyun *

Park Ho-san Park Ho-san (박호산; born October 18, 1972), birth name Park Jung-hwan (박정환), is a South Korean actor. He is notable for his supporting roles in television series like ''Prison Playbook'', ''My Mister'', ''Lawless Lawyer'' and '' The Pe ...

as Mr. Kim (Seo-yeon's father) * Park Hyung-soo as Man-voice *

Kim Min-ha Kim Min-ha (; born September 1, 1995) is a South Korean actress. She gained international recognition for her role as teenage Sunja in Apple TV+ series ''Pachinko is a mechanical game originating in Japan that is used as an arcade game ...

as Young Seon-hee

Production

Principal photography began on January 3, 2019, and wrapped on April 2, 2019.

Reception

On the review aggregation website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film holds an approval rating of based on reviews, with an average rating of .

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Call (2020 South Korean film), The 2020 films 2020 thriller films South Korean thriller films Films set in 1999 Films set in 2019 Films set in 2020 South Korean remakes of foreign films Next Entertainment World films Films postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic Films not released in theaters due to the COVID-19 pandemic Korean-language Netflix original films