Quartile rating: 8/10 · 1 rating
Connected by phone in the same home but 20 years apart, a caller puts a woman’s past — and life — on the line to change her own fate.
The Call is a tightly constructed Korean thriller that uses its time-spanning telephone premise to brilliant effect. The plot escalates relentlessly, with each twist raising the stakes in genuinely inventive ways as changes ripple across timelines. The two leads — Park Shin-hye and Jeon Jong-seo — deliver powerhouse performances, with Jeon in particular delivering a memorably unhinged, chilling turn as the antagonist. Cinematography is competent and atmospheric but not especially distinctive. The premise of two people communicating across time has been explored before (e.g. Frequency), so Novelty is solid but not groundbreaking. The ending, however, is audacious and deeply unsettling — committing fully to its dark logic in ways most thrillers wouldn't dare.