Phone (film)
A cursed phone connects the living to a vengeful ghost.
**Phone** (Korean: 폰; RR: Pon), also released in the Philippines as *The Phone*, is a 2002 South Korean supernatural horror film. It was written and directed by Ahn Byeong-ki and stars Ha Ji-won and Kim Yoo-mi.
**Plot** Journalist Ji-won receives threatening calls on her mobile phone after writing about a pedophilia scandal. She changes her number and moves into a house owned by her sister Ho-jung and brother-in-law Chang-hoon. Ho-jung’s daughter Young-ju answers an anonymous call to Ji-won’s new number, screams, and faints. Young-ju later develops a disturbing attraction to her father and rejects her mother. Ji-won receives more anonymous calls and sees a ghost playing Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata” on the piano. She learns her number once belonged to a missing teenager, Jin-hee, and that its two previous owners died mysteriously.
Ji-won visits Jin-hee’s mother and finds a diary and a photo of Jin-hee with her best friend, Sang-mi. Sang-mi, now blind and deaf, says she stabbed her own eyes and ears to escape Jin-hee’s spirit. She explains that Jin-hee was obsessively in love with an older man, practiced “Moonlight Sonata” to impress him, became pregnant, and was abandoned. Ji-won warns Young-ju’s parents of danger, but Chang-hoon refuses to listen. A flashback reveals Ho-jung was infertile, so Ji-won donated an egg for in vitro fertilization to conceive Young-ju, making Ji-won her biological mother.
Investigating Jin-hee’s diary, Ji-won discovers Jin-hee’s lover was Chang-hoon. He had brought Jin-hee to the same house, then broke off the relationship despite her pleas. Jin-hee became pregnant and called him repeatedly, but he ignored her. Ji-won threatens to tell Ho-jung unless Chang-hoon cooperates. Young-ju, possessed by Jin-hee’s ghost, jumps down stairs and is hospitalized. Ji-won finds Jin-hee’s dead body hidden in a wall. Chang-hoon arrives, and both are knocked unconscious by Ho-jung.
Ho-jung confesses she discovered the affair, confronted Jin-hee, and accidentally pushed her down the stairs during a fight. She hid the body in the wall. Ho-jung admits jealousy of both Jin-hee and Ji-won for sharing motherhood of Young-ju. She stages a suicide for Chang-hoon, making it appear he killed Jin-hee and Ji-won before killing himself. Ho-jung plans to burn the house, but Jin-hee’s spirit awakens and strangles her, saving Ji-won.
Quick Facts
- Director
- Ahn Byeong-ki
- Writer
- Ahn Byeong-ki / Lee Yu-jin
- Starring
- Ha Ji-won / Kim Yoo-mi
- Music
- Lee Sang-ho
- Cinematography
- Mun Yong-sik
- Editing
- Park Soon-duk
- Studio
- Toilet Pictures
- Distributor
- Buena Vista International Korea
- Released
- 26 July 2002
- Runtime
- 103 minutes
- Country
- South Korea
- Language
- Korean
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
The plot centers on journalist Ji-won (Ha Ji-won), who changes her cell phone number after receiving threatening calls related to her articles on a pedophilia scandal. She moves into a house owned by her sister Ho-jung (Kim Yoo-mi) and brother-in-law Chang-hoon (Choi Woo-jae). Their daughter Young-ju answers an anonymous call to Ji-won's new number, then screams and faints. Young-ju begins showing disturbing attraction to her father and rejection of her mother. Ji-won discovers that her number previously belonged to a missing teenager, Jin-hee, and that its two subsequent owners died mysteriously.
Ji-won investigates and learns that Jin-hee was obsessively in love with an older man, practicing Beethoven's 'Moonlight Sonata' to impress him. She became pregnant but the man broke off the relationship. Ji-won discovers that the lover was Chang-hoon, who had an affair with Jin-hee. Ho-jung later confesses that she killed Jin-hee in a fight and hid her body in a wall. Ho-jung also reveals jealousy toward Ji-won, who had donated an egg for in vitro fertilization to conceive Young-ju, making Ji-won the biological mother. Ho-jung stages a suicide for Chang-hoon and plans to burn the house, but Jin-hee's spirit strangles Ho-jung to death. Ji-won drops the cursed phone into the ocean, where it rings after sinking.
Reader's Guide
Phone is a notable entry in the early 2000s wave of Asian horror films that gained international attention. It was among the highest-grossing domestic productions in South Korea in 2002, selling over 2.18 million tickets. The film received theatrical distribution in the United Kingdom in August 2004 and was released in the Philippines as The Phone in October 2003. Imprint Entertainment bought the rights for an American remake in 2009. Critical reception, as noted by Jason Gibner of AllMovie, acknowledged the film's effective scares but noted its reliance on visual frights familiar to audiences of Ring, The Eye, or Ju-on. The film's themes of motherhood, betrayal, and technological haunting reflect broader trends in Korean horror cinema.
Did You Know?
- The film was produced by Toilet Pictures and released by Buena Vista International Korea.
- The cell phone number originally belonged to a missing teenager named Jin-hee.
- Ji-won is revealed to be the biological mother of Young-ju through egg donation for in vitro fertilization.
- The ghost of Jin-hee plays Beethoven's 'Moonlight Sonata' on the piano.
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