When Evil Calls

This low-budget, enjoyably goofy British riff on cult favourite Wishmaster includes a bravura performance from Sean Pertwee. He energetically plays the tall tale telling school janitor/cryptkeeper with infectious glee! Not all the grisly interludes work, and dynamic French actor, Dominique pinon appears to be acting in an entirely separate film! Chris Barrie is unusually sedate, and the young, inexperienced, appealingly nubile cast do their breast!

The evilly wish-granting Djinn is a cliché horror clown, happy remedied by a lack of scream-time, but Pertwee's increasingly demented Janitor, and the gory film's trashy, Troma-esque exuberance ultimately won me over! In summation, the uneven feature's appeal is, perhaps, marginal, the more progressive B-movie cognoscenti might enjoy it, exploding warts an all!

Jennifer Lim stars in this flat-liner of a horror, cast too, in films such as Rogue Trader (1999), Hostel (2005) and 27 Dresses (2008) she, amongst others, is seen parading around school in what seems to be, literally, the bear essentials. Put together by Gatlin Pictures (Darkhunters (2004) and Forest of the Damned (2005), to date), Pure Grass Films (Beyond the Rave (2008 video)) and directed by Johannes Roberts, this was first released as a mini-series that was broadcast originally via mobile (cell) phones, and then ultimately released on 18 Certificate DVD with full extended footage.

Now in its entirety, and with stars as Dominique Pinon (Diva (1981), Delicatessen (1991), The City of Lost Children (1995), Alien: Resurrection (1997) and Amélie (2001)), Sean "Dog Soldiers" Pertwee and Chris Barrie (Red Dwarf's Arnold Rimmer) one would have hoped for a great film in tow, but alas, no. We can certainly see the target audience here, with the main attraction being these older teens to early twenty something's carrying their uniforms to maximum effect, with so little interest in production value, script and imagination, what merit is there for anything else? A bigger budget may have helped, after all and in all fairness, this is the two fledgling Production companies at their genesis, with hope and hindsight it may improve and no doubt, the overall experience for everyone may not have been a total waste.

The narrative isn't that new, a nondescript girl (Jennifer Lim) wishes only to be more popular in school, her wish comes true via an extremely evil looking clown (not a bad effort too) who has the ability to transform peoples wishes into reality via mobile phones, hence, when evil calls. This, of course, does not go according to plan; the butterfly effect has some pretty nasty (budget allowing) consequences.

The main cast here seems just as hyped, as too the short lengths of the girls skirts, then used to little effect but to add a name to the credits, then again, with only a running time of 75 minutes, it had to go one way or the other, and tails, the boys lost. It does have its moments, both of humour and fright, but they seem too dry, too fleeting and too far apart. Dominique Pinon's screen time here is tantamount to scandalous and Sean Pertwee's straight out of the rulebook script looked more inarticulate and uninspiring to say the least.

We know, or should have more sense to see, that this is more than straight-to-video; this is film-making on-the-knock. We can only hope that, in time, the two companies involved and their future projects will make a handsome return. If this were not to be the case, then the unfortunate evil Clown should stay behind after school and write out a hundred times: This tried its best, but it just wasn't good enough.

In the Willburn Hall, a Sixth Form College (Note: see the definition in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sixth_form_college), the janitor (Sean Pertwee) tells the story of the geek Samantha Neil (Jennifer Lim), the outcast Headmaster's daughter, in twenty episodes. Episode 1: The Wish – An evil Djinn (Oscar Pearce) dressed like a clown offers a wish to Samantha. In return, Samantha should indicate two schoolmates to receive a phone call offering a wish. She wishes to be popular and her wish comes true and she dates Daniel (Danny Parsons). Episode 2: Bad Trip – A girl wishes to be prettier than the gorgeous Victoria (Ebony Johnson), and she is accidentally deformed by acid in the laboratory. Episode 3: Passed Away – The unpopular Neville (Simon Nuckley) has acne on his face and wishes to have no spot. He is locked in a garbage can by the bully Kirsty (Lois Winstone) and rats eat his face. Episode 4: Die-T – The fat boy Kenny (Michael Buckster) wishes to be thin and he is pressed against a wall by a van. Episode 5: Beauty and the Geek – The alcoholic detective Ringwald (Dominique Pinon) comes to the college with his partner Detective Nelson (Sean Brosnan) to interview the Headmaster (Chris Barrie). Meanwhile, a nerd wishes to kiss the lesbian Molly (Gemma Chan) and he is murdered by her lover Kirsty. Episode 6: Dribbling – One student wishes to have X-ray vision to see the girls naked but things do not work as he had planned. Episode 7: Brain Dead – Charlie Parker (Benjamin Beechy) wants to cheat the exams and wishes to see into Ross (Jo Blacknell)'s brain. Episode 8: Pretty Dead – Victoria is in the hospital and wishes to be beautiful again. Episode 9: Dangers of Dieting – The anorexic Hilary (Vikki Blows) wishes to lose half- stone (meaning 7 pounds). Episode 10: What's Eating You – A girl sees Kirsty and Molly kissing each other and wishes to look good enough to eat; sooner Molly literally eats her. Episode 11: Drastic Surgery – Alice (Marysia Kay)'s boyfriend wishes he has bigger breasts and they blow-up. Episode 12: Guess Who Is Coming to Dinner - Samantha brings Daniel to be introduced to her parents and he wishes that his stepdad is not dead. When the bell rings, Samantha already knows who is coming to dinner. Episode 13: Smoking Kills – A girl wishes to be hot, and when her mate lights a cigarette, her wish is granted, Episode 14: Sight for Sore Eye – When Linda (Leila Reid) sees her beloved boyfriend Mark (James Rees-Hunt) cheating her with Molly, she wishes to never see Mark again. Episode 15: Gutted – Detective Ringwald reads the book "The Modern Djinn" and tells his findings to Detective Nelson. Meanwhile, a student wishes that people could see her beautiful on the inside. Episode 16: Overage Sex - Carol (Tieva Lovell) tries to seduce her teacher Mike Dale (Rick Warden) that tells that she is too young for him. When she sees Mr. Dale with Miss Nibb (Lucy Barker), she wishes to be old now. Episode 17: Good Night and Sweet Screams - Samantha has nightmares with the Clown. Episode 18: Deadly Embrace – Molly and Kirsty are having a shower together totally drunken with a bottle of booze. They stumble and the shattered bottle kills them. Episode 19: Eye Scream – Mark wishes that Linda could see again. Meanwhile, the Djinn captures Samantha. Episode 20: Homecoming Scream – Samantha wishes she had never met the Djinn and everything returns to the initial status quo, with Samantha unpopular.

"When Evil Calls" is a gruesome, unpleasant and boring rip-off of "Wishmaster" (1997). The character "The Janitor" is extremely annoying and disgusting and the host of the repetitive tales of wishes granted in the wrong way. The special effects are very poor and I believe that the low IMDb User Rating (3.4) is enough to tell how bad this film is. My vote is three.

Title (Brazil): Not Available

Having squinted hard at a less than good phone screen to watch episode one of Johannes Roberts' When Evil Calls I was more than excited to get sent an advance copy of the film to view! Ahh, the glory of the middle sized screen. Blood Splats better when its bigger. Episode one of the series was so cool. It sucked me in. Desperate to see the rest! Then finally getting to see the finished product with inter-cut scenes of fantastic Sean Pertwee and gore galore, When Evil Calls really satisfied my hunger! Director Johannes knows what he is doing with a film like this. Anyone that says different just doesn't quite get what he is trying to do.

The film should be an instant classic with horror fans as they will be able to nod to Johannes use of characters and bloodletting and his homages to horror films. I mean in this day and age of self referential film making who wants to see a horror film that isn't a nod to some other horror film throwback from the 70s or 80s. Thats part of the fun. So with a copy of 'It' in one hand and 'Wishmaster' in the other we venture into familiar territory but in a completely unfamiliar fashion.

The film is truly original in its portrayal of the narrative. Yeah we have probably seen the story before but its different this time around. We cut from Tony Scott style visuals of Sean Pertwee to the story in hand which is expertly done. The jokes never grow old and kept me laughing until the very end.

I think that what most impressed me about the film, apart from Johannes love for boobies, is that the camera work was top notch! I mean seriously. I lost count of the amount of crane shots in the film. It had such high production value and looked so slick. It was awesome! My only regret is that it wont be on the big screen! So to recap - Johannes Roberts' When Evil calls has it all! Its a great treat for the true horror fan! It kept me in great enjoyment for the whole time. Looking forward to seeing it again!

Let me get the flaws out of the way first (in no particular order except for the first one)

The Janitor who introduces all the segments is annoying as hell, REALLY bad digital effects (especially the CGI blood in parts of it), Some camera-work feels overdone, moving around too much w/out reason, The Janitor makes really bad, unfunny, annoying jokes, and feels the need to make really bad jokes and laugh like a maniac after each one, and The way that the wish text message is shown when people receive it is okay at first...but gets annoying after a few times

Side note (not a problem or a pro...just there): -The clown in this looks suspiciously like the one from Stephen King's IT

That's all the big flaws

--It does have an interesting enough story, is entertaining, and for those who look into this when getting a movie, it contains a decent amount of nudity.

I would't watch it again by myself (though I don't regret watching it)...i would watch it again with a few friends to have fun pointing out all the dumb things/mistakes and making fun of the movie