One last Call

Initially when I sat down to watch the 2020 movie titled "The Call", I must admit that I was sort of having some hopes for the movie, as it had two horror icons on the cast list.

Well, as it turned out then the storyline in "The Call" was definitely interesting enough, if it wasn't actually being original. However, the movie's writer, Patrick Stibbs, just didn't really manage to deliver where it mattered for a horror movie. Sure, I mean, the movie was watchable and sort of entertaining enough, but it just was way too bland and generic for my liking.

And yeah, it was because of Tobin Bell and Lin Shaye, two iconic names, faces and voices in the horror genre, that I initially sat down to watch it. And I will say that they both definitely did spruce up the overall enjoyment of the movie.

The acting was good for a movie such as this. It wasn't outstanding, but it was adequate enough. Perhaps it was because of the limitations of the script and the directorial hand of Timothy Woodward Jr. that sort of restrained the performers to fully give what they had.

Visually, for a horror movie, then "The Call" just didn't deliver. I mean, the atmosphere in the house was interesting and lots of nice details to the house, but the otherworldly sequences were just too flaccid, and didn't really feel like being scenes of personal hell and anguish enough.

"The Call" is the type of horror movie that came and went without as much as leaving a dent in the horror genre. I mean, I didn't even know about the movie before I had the chance to actually sit down and watch it. And having watched it now, I can honestly say that I highly doubt that I will ever be sitting down to watch "The Call" a second time.

Perhaps if you are a newcomer to the horror genre, then you will find some proper entertainment in "The Call", or even some spooky stuff and scenes. But for a seasoned horror veteran such as myself, this was but a stroll in the park.

My rating of "The Call" lands on a very mediocre five out of ten stars.

They story follows a group of four friends who torment an elderly woman because they suspected she's a witch. After her unexpected death, they're invited to her home and are forced to call a phone that's installed in her casket.

This movie manages to keep me glued to my seat half way through, The story has an interesting set-up and the conflict isn't that bad. The characters are introduced well even tho they aren't much developed. The scene where Tobin Bell's character explain to them what to do and how to do it, is handled very well, when he says "let's play a game" it felt like Saw all over again. But the film loses its status of excellence when the whole "calling" thing started. It resorts to typical horror elements like jump scares and fiddling with the character's mind, and the ending fails to make an impact. However, the film's cinematography is great with fantastic camera work and lighting that adds to the ominous feel in conjunction with Samuel Joseph's score with its piano and synths that add to the creepier moments. The costumes and hairstyle are fitting to the time period. The performances are good with the best coming from Lin Shaye and Tobin Bell, the actors that played the four main characters are decent as well.

Inspite of having horror veterans like Lin Shaye and Tobin Bell, the film is not at all interesting. It aint scary n has a lousy n ridiculous screenplay.

Honesty, i got enticed into seeing this cos of the two veterans starring together in a horror film.

Firstly the film takes almost 45 mins to pick up n then when the action starts, it gets filled with cliches, traumatized childhood, teenage secret, etc.

It has the same lol demon/possessed fella doing hyper extension of the joints but this time the demon/possessed fella looked as if it were doing break dance movements. Why these demons/possessed fellas gotta do unnecessary hyper extention of joints is beyond me. Ther is unnecessary annoying screaming, unnecessary red color n one helluva lousy screenplay. The end is a big wtf.

Lin Shaye and Tobin Bell are horror Icons. Unfortunately they can't save bad writing, scare less deaths, poor dialog and a weak story.

Set in the mid eighties, the dialog is far more cliche than real, unlike Stranger Things and the recent It Ch 1. The acting is maybe a notch above a soap opera, but I'll give the lead credit. At least he's trying unlike the other 3 "teens." Seriously the line delivery felt straight out of Not Another Teen Movie.

The plot, the dreadful plot. Teens harass an old woman one of them suspects of witchcraft and the disappearance of her sister. Something happens to old woman. Teens must face their past...yada yada.

It is as cliched as it sounds but unlike movies like Saw, the past of a few of them is not their fault. So badly done.

I'd recommend watching any movie with Tobin Bell or Lin Shaye besides this one. It stinks.

What the heck is Lin Shay and Tobin Bell doing in this mess - Yes you guessed it, to give it that poster appeal to all the Saw and Insidious fans out there and really is shameful exploitation of us the viewers who will pay for this thinking it is going to be of the same level of cinematic excellence!

Exceptionally good actors appearing in sub average nonsense like this; it seems they have joined the Ron Perlman, Lance Henriksen, Nik Cage and John Cusack brigade in the let us just take any old rubbish for a paycheque club - very sad!

Do not get me wrong the acting for the main part is good and it had a good build up but the denouement and idea just fizzled like a wet, limp little firecracker. I did love the homage to the 80's with the old style John Carpenter'esque analogue synths in keeping with when the movie was supposed to be set and I didnt see a smartphone or tablet anywhere so they got the setting right and the premise had promise, so where did it all go wrong?

Well, for a start there is no real horror, zero scares and crucially the idea behind the call was....well just a telephone call to the dead woman that really did not give us an oooh or an ahhh like movies like Saw or Final Destination did and so just followed the sad old tropes of budget bin horror basket movies of yesteryear and so it fails execrably in every way almost.

I am not so harsh as to give it a 1/10 as many of the reviewers have as this means it is the worst movie you have ever seen and we have movies like the Bad Batch with Keanu Reeves for that and many others; the acting is good, it is well filmed and professionally made unlike a lot of the shaky cam, dreadful acting Netflix ordure pouring out of film schools these days, so I give this one a harsh but fair, harsh but fair...4/10 hatchets!