I only saw the R2 Tartan edition, and was horrified by the excessive ghosting on the screen. This had to be due to NTSC source being converted to PAL. But I also got Tartan's A Tale of Two Sisters and the picture was fine. So I wonder why Phone was f*ed up. I haven't seen the R1 edition of Phone yet, but figure it's probably the same since it's also from Tartan. I also saw the Korean-made DVD edition of Phone and it didn't have any problem.
Also, the featurettes in the supplement sections of both Tartan's Phone and A Tale of Two Sisters sometimes look too dark to see. Somebody at Tartan didn't know how to adjust brightness.
Even though certain elements in Phone resembles a few of the recent Asian horror films like Ringu, I still find it enjoyable. It has a pretty good performance by an actress who couldn't be more than 5 years old.
Here's a clip. It's tough to babysit a kid that acts like this:
The following semi-hidden text contains SPOILERS about the film.
There is also the unspoken theme of an infertile, jealous woman wreaking revenge on the world. The wife in the film not only kills the high school girl impregnated by her husband, but also attempts to kill the egg donor who enabled her to give birth.
There is also a memorable closeup shot of goose bumps suddenly appearing on the back of the heroine's neck. Very cool moment. (This occurs in the scene where the heroine meets the blinded girl near the sea.)
There are some visual trickeries that are used in quite a few of the recent Korean horror films -- flashbacks that come and go without warnings, unexplained moments or visions that are echoed later, etc. They are becoming a bit cliched, but I still enjoy them when a film does them.
And then there is some good-ass acting by a 5-year-old actress.