The Call

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.

This film isn't too bad. It is not a horror gore fest, and it is more about the story of the characters than anything else.

The acting is good, and the production (a la 1980s theme) is well executed.

The ending is a bit weak, otherwise it is a reasonable watch.

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.

Besides a few creepy bits with Lin Shaye, the movie was pretty crap. No real story and boring.

I believe this is the third movie I've watched now called 'The Call'. The first two were pretty good. This one not so much. Firstly, it wasn't the type of film I was anticipating. The synopsis implied a very different film to what I actually got. I was not expecting the supernatural to be the basis for the film. Secondly, my goodness these were some awful characters to be expected to root for. The film didn't do itself any favours in that regard.

I'll get some positives out of the way before I further discuss what I didn't like. If you have Lin Shaye and Tobin Bell in your film then you are very lucky. Regardless of the material, they are going to be fantastic, as they rightfully are here. Bell is more of a guide for the film, which we know he does so well. Shaye is relied on to be the horror - and she is the one thing that is actually scary in this movie. Her unhinged character works perfectly and is very disturbing.

The film also has a decent concluding sequence. At the point where most horror films tend to fall apart, this one actually manages to find its footing and become a little unsettling.

The problems though outweigh the good stuff. Very little works in the way of scares. Things just get too unrealistic, too quickly and it feels very fake. The main four teenagers (who I can only guess were intended to be the film's protagonists) are detestable people and not the type that anyone wants to be rooting for. If anything you should be rooting for Shaye's character.

'The Call' is a film that is going out of its way to be original and creative and it has to be given props for that. It rarely hits the mark, but hey you miss 100% of the shots you don't take. And some of the shots in this film do indeed stick the landing. It's far from perfect, however I don't believe it's as bad as a 4.2/10 IMDb rating implies.