Arrow Video, out now

People mysteriously start receiving voicemail messages from their future selves, foretelling their deaths.

Arrow release the popular J-horror series from the early 2000s in this single volume edition, and it’s a great package. Inevitably, with all horror series, the original makes the greatest impact, and it’s helped that it’s directed by horror genius Takashi Miike. It’s an atmospheric film that relies as much on the creeping fear as the shocks.

2005’s One Missed Call 2 is fine by any standard, transposing the premise onto a new cast, while 2006: One Missed Call: Final (making its UK debut) feels like it’s just going through the motions. While the premise felt drained of any life by now (a Japanese TV series had already been made) it would be another three years before the inevitable 2008 US remake.

All three movies are presented in HD, the first featuring an audio commentary by Miike biographer Tom Mes, a one hour-long documentary and various archival features and an alternate ending. The sequel boast a half-hour documentary, deleted scenes and music video, with part 3, Final, getting a one-hour documentary, trailers and TV spots and a fun archival location tour.

Verdict: As this year’s remake of The Grudge has proven, there’s still an appetitive to make movies about vengeful Japanese spirits (Yurei) but unless you do something new, their USPs soon become one-note. Miike’s One Missed Call here is as good as in its genre, and the sequels are fine as far as they go, but franchise fatigue onsets pretty quickly. 7/10

Nick Joy