The Call (Korean: 콜; RR: Kol) is a South Korean supernatural thriller film directed by Lee Chung-hyun, and starring Park Shin-hye and Jeon Jong-seo. The story revolves around two people living in different times - Seo-yeon in 2019 and Young-sook in 1999 - who are able to communicate through a phone call, changing their lives irrevocably. The film is a loose remake of the 2011 British and Puerto Rican film The Caller. It was released on Netflix on November 27, 2020.
Contains examples of:
- Abusive Parents: Young-sook's stepmother Ja-ok is a shaman who physically and mentally tortures her daughter and even kills her in the original timeline.
- Bare-Handed Blade Block: Seo-yeon's mother grabs hold of Young-sook's knife during their fight. She retains the scars 20 years later.
- Exactly Exty Years Ago: Seo-yeon and Young-sook are separated by exactly 20 years of time.
- Foreign Remake: This film is one of The Caller.
- Foreshadowing: Young-sook initially seems like an innocent victim. However, once she gains some agency, we get a close-up of her biting the heads off of all her gummy bears, which foreshadows her sadistic turn.
- From Nobody to Nightmare: Young-sook goes from helpless victim to serial killer over the course of the film.
- Make Wrong What Once Went Right: Young-sook, after she discovers that she will be arrested for her murders and sentenced to life imprisonment, coerces Seo-yeon into telling her about the evidence that led to her arrest. Once Seo-yeon does so, she is able to get rid of the evidence, thus preventing her capture and altering her future.
- Mama Bear: Seo-yeon's mother comes to her rescue when she fights the knife-wielding Young-sook and ultimately tackles her over a railing, killing her.
- Manchild: Young-sook is 28 years old, yet her behavior is more like a teenager. She's under the thumb of her stepmother, and her only interests seem to be candy and rock music.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: All of Seo-yeon's problems resurface when she saves Young-sook's life.
- Portal to the Past: A cordless phone which allows Seo-yeon and Young-sook to communicate across 20 years.
- Ret-Gone: Happens to the 2019 versions of characters who are killed in 1999. This includes the strawberry farmer Sung-Ho, Seo-yeon's father, Young-sook, and in The Stinger, Seo-yeon's mother Eun-ae.
- Repressed Memories: Implied to be the case with Seo-yeon. She believes that the gas explosion that killed her father in the original timeline was caused by her mother not turning off the kitchen stove. Later in the film however, we learn that her mother did turn off the stove, and it was Seo-yeon who turned it back on. It seems that she repressed the memory of doing so, and thus spent the next 20 years blaming her mother for her father's death.
- Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory: Every time the past is altered, Seo-yeon retains her memories of her original timeline.
- Scars Are Forever: Seo-yeon's mother still bears the scars from her fight with Young-sook 20 years ago.
- Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: Young-sook's stepmother, Ja-ok, apparently used her shamanic powers to predict that her stepdaughter will become a serial killer, and so tries to kill her first. But her failed attempt to do so (caused by Seo-yeon warning Young-sook from the future), leads to Young-sook killing her, and the beginning of the latter's killing spree.
- Set Right What Once Went Wrong:
- Seo-yeon asks Young-sook to prevent her father's death in a gas explosion at home in 1999. Young-sook prevents the explosion, and the timeline is altered so that Seo-yeon's father is now alive in 2019.
- Seo-yeon thinks she's doing this when she warns Young-sook of her impending death at her stepmother's hands. Considering that this leads to Young-sook not only surviving, but becoming a serial killer, it arguably turns out to be a case of Make Wrong What Once Went Right.
- Spoiler Cover: The poster spoils the twist that Young-sook is a psychopath.
- The Stinger: The film ends with a mid-credits scene showing Seo-yeon's mother Eun-ae being Ret-Gone in 2019, followed by a flashback of 2019 Young-sook warning 1999 Young-sook over the phone about her impending death, followed by Seo-yeon regaining consciousness after her seemingly fatal fall, followed by 2019 Seo-yeon being held hostage (presumably by 2019 Young-sook).
- Wicked Stepmother: Young-sook's stepmother tortures her in various shamanic rituals to banish the evil from her. It's not clear whether she's right about Young-sook or her abuse became a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy.
- Write Back to the Future: At one point later in the film, Young-sook writes "Pick up the phone Seo-yeon" on the floor of her house in 1999, so that Seo-yeon will see the message in 2019. After Seo-yeon does pick up her next call, Young-sook scrubs the message off in 1999, erasing it in 2019 as well.
