10 Terrifying Horror Movie Phone Calls You'll Never Forget

1. One Missed Call

Ring Ringu
Kadokawa Pictures

Does it get any more terrifying than receiving a screaming voicemail from a future version of yourself, implying that you will die in just two short days? No, no it doesn't.

That's the key plot point at the centre of Takashi Miike's 2003 One Missed Call.

This isn't just a one-off, for One Missed Call dives deep on this premise and delivers a movie where this horrifying happening is taking place throughout Japan. While authorities initially peg these deaths as suicides, it becomes apparent to even the biggest non-believers that there is something far more sinister at play than merely a host of coincidental suicides.

One Missed Call has a great selling point and a truly unique way of utilising the telephone, although the lustre was lost a little by the time the film was spun as a franchise and began to be milked dry through One Missed Call 2, One Missed Call Final, a ten-episode One Missed Call TV series, and of course the 2008 English language remake of the original picture.

Still, even to this day, Miike's 2003 offering holds up as an undoubtedly creepy, atmospheric movie that hits so many gloriously tense beats.

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Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.