User reviews

Well SUMMONED is by no means as suspenseful nor as cleverly written as the 1967 Wait Until Dark. I compared the two to identify what is a really suspenseful and great movie and what is not. By now you have guessed that SUMMONED did not do it for me.

Cuba Gooding Jr is credited as one of the stars but he plays a minor part and a dumb cop to boot. So if you are watching Summoned because you admire Cuba Gooding Jr's body of work, you will be even more disappointed.

The two main actors Ashley Scott and Bailey Chase do a pretty good job trying to carry the movie but no matter how good the acting is, a poor script will create a poor movie, thus my 3 star rating. The plot surrounds a convicted murderer who is put to death and shortly after his execution the jurors start dying under mysterious circumstances.

Most irritating for me was the continuous use of the violins as the background music to try and hold our suspense. If you fast forward and skip to the last 15 minutes of the movie you will get the gist of the plot and find out who the killer is. Not a very creative movie and not one that will hold most movie fans heart in their throat.....at least not like Wait Until Dark does.

Lifetime adds it's touch to the supernatural thriller genre about former members of a jury who sentenced a man to death. One by one they start dying - is it a ghost or natural? It's moderately predictable in a reassuring lifetime way. It's also a bit weak especially in the romance part.

Ashley Scott is in a lot of LMN movies these days and she is a bit painful to watch at times. There is an inadvertently funny part with James Hong. Poor Cuba, what are you doing in this kind of TV movie? Overall okay for a relaxing watch if you just want to unwind and switch off your brain for a couple of hours.

This felt more of a day time TV movie with a bit of a jump scare thrown in. A supernatural crime movie but with a weak anti climax. I think we expected more and were left a bit annoyed at ourselves for ensuring the rest of the movie.

The worst sort of "made for TV" cliches make up every bit of this movie.

No back story to give any foundation whatsoever. General shots of San Francisco, but every location setting is somewhere nowhere near SF. Generic TV wardrobe cop uniforms. Loaded with little "scary" flash scenes with no meaning. In the end, the "heartfelt" revelation is worse than the most cheesy Hallmark movie ever.

Don't waste your time or money on this!

This thriller kept gore and sex to the minimum and tried to blend the detective story with supernatural ;add a "pattern" (which the slayer follows) ,the kind of stuff Agatha Christie and Ellery Queen lent credibility too , and was brilliantly treated in one of the best thrillers of the nineties "seven" .But Peter Sullivan who not only directed but also wrote the screenplay in neither Christie nor Queen :his story has as many plot holes as Swiss Cheese , and its action is too hurried for comfort.

What the police and the judges were not able to do five years ago, Ashley Scott effortlessly did it. Single-handedly , cause ,although at the top of the bill ,Cuba Gooding Jr is only supporting ,and Chase "Longmire" Bailey is only an attentive escort , it's Scott who discovers the "clues". Like Demi Moore in "the juror" ,she might die (on the third day after the last murder) ,for a mysterious assassin is doing away with the members of the jury of a trial which took place five years ago. Her dead child is only a trick to justify the last scene ,which does not review the genre ;the professor and her 1% are here to give the de rigueur cultural alibi to a far-fetched story.

Entertaining at best;very average MTV film.

Can someone explain why there is a letter to the police from madeleine McCanns parents.in this movie.

"Saw him again this afternoon. Seems to be stalking me wherever I go." Five years ago serial killer Simon Bourdias was found guilty of murder and sentenced to death. Now mysterious deaths are occurring to the members of the jury. Juror number 5 Laura Price (Scott) starts to investigate and begins to wonder if the deaths are a coincidence or something more mysterious then she ever imagined. I have to say that after the last Cuba Gooding movie I watched I was very worried that this one would be bad too. Not to spoil anything but he is in this for about 10 minutes. That said this movie was not that terrible. While it does have the feel of a made-for-TV movie it is watchable and I have seen much worse. The movie is a little slow at times and a little repetitive but it does keep you watching and interested all the way till the end. Overall, one of the better B-rate movies that I have seen in awhile. Nothing amazing but this is worth watching. I surprisingly give it a B.

Defo an afternoon type film. The acting is pretty bad. The suspense it there though which is probably why I gave it a 4 rather than a 3 rating.

Definitely feels like a made for TV film, but I really enjoyed it. Made me jump quite a bit for only a PG rating too.. bit embarrassing I know.

This one starts like your typical ghost story. Someone dies at the beginning, a mystic presence is involved and then we move on. We learn a little more about the situation here, who's involved, about our 2 main characters as Cuba Gooding Jr. even tho he holds the poster, makes short appearances, and the ghost.

OK, we have a ghost, but it will be like NOTHING you expect, it's more of a police movie and it doesn't work as good as anyone would think. Because through this film, the supernatural just faydes away little by little till we are left with nothing more than bang bang, this is my riffle, this is my gun.

So there you have, a truly short inside of what you'll find here. Action police story meets a ghost, the ghost leaves, the cops remain, and confusion reigns!

Overall, I give this a 6, probably a little more than it deserves, but what the heck, I'm feeling generous today! I don't recommend it tho, it's not what you would think so: little Cuba Gooding Jr., little ghost story, and almost no horror. Cheers!

...

And the premise is better than the actual movie... Take the premise, make a better film with it.

Make a film like Shocker, Shocker was a billion times the movie this is.

Skip it, it's awful.

Other than a couple of fairly jumpy moments, this is about as bad as it gets... poor plot, script and acting - and not at all scary. That's an hour and a half of my life I won't get back!

This is a really bad movie , it is really Ashley Scott's movie - she is almost every scene and very often alone ! Looking worried - Cuba hardly in it all , a third lead ... doesn't do much till a scene or two at end - trued to be supernatural- little 6th sense a bit / but the natural explanation pretty weak and didn't hold up - if a natural killer how Duke he do that or this ? And ending an oh hum no tension . A slow waste of time , and not very invested in Ashley Scott walk around and closing her 6 window curtains 2 or 3 times in the movie - Bailey pretty weak in it as well. Thought it would be better - I liked murder of crows , but this was a stinker ...

So I was surprised to see this film was made in 2013, because it does have a very old school/90s feel to it, and it looked old with some of effects as well. Some of the effects were a little cheesy in the way you'd see an older film pull it off too. So the lower budget did show a little. I can see why some reviews said it looked made for TV.

I really liked the detective angle of trying to get answers with what's going on supernaturally, and with the murder case. I thought it was a good way for the characters to get the answers they needed. I thought the plot was mostly well thought out, but did get a little weaker at the end.

Overall a decent job and I did actually enjoy watching it. I've seen much worse.

Part horror movie, part mystery, "Summoned" is a ghost story about a serial killer who was executed years ago and has come back to haunt the victims who convicted him. Despite the fact that it's about a serial killer, it's more like "The Ring", where its about the tone and little jump scares than it is about killing or gore. In fact, there's very little violence in it at all. But it's still very creepy. The character development is good, and Ashley Scott does an amazing job as a former juror whose life was ruined by the case. The movie is full of twists and turns around every corner which keeps everything entertaining and fast moving. There's a big twist towards the end that catches you off guard and makes the story even more tragic. Mixing the legal and horror genres is something I've never seen before, and the result is really fresh. Cuba Gooding Jr has a small but important role and he ends up playing a much bigger part than the movie hints at early on. Overall, if you like movies like "The Ring" or "The Grudge," I would definitely recommend this movie.

I really enjoyed Summoned as it had a slight old school feel to it similar to Denzel Washington's 90's film "Fallen" but this was obviously a lower budget production, a t.v movie i believe but as such it was very well done & very interesting. A very old school 90's B-movie Cop Thriller feel to it.

A group of former Jury members from a big high profile murder case called the "Midnight Murders" are suddenly being killed off one by one in the order of their seat numbers from year's before of their Jury time. This comes to the attention of the beautiful Ashley Scott as Laura who was also one of the Jurors & she starts to investigate into these suspicious deaths. Ashley gives a decent performance & is believable as she tries to find out why this is suddenly happening to the jury members years later. Bailey Chase is the lead Detective on this case & teams up with Laura, he's a very basic serious cop character but ok. I liked having the veteran actor James Hong (Big Trouble In Little China) also as one of the older Jurors in a small part. The Coolest part of this neat Thriller is having Cuba Gooding Jr (Judgment Night) in the supporting role of Detective Callendar, the lead Detective from years before on the Midnight Murders case. Gooding Jr is always a decent actor & I've always liked him & here he plays his part like an old school Cop from the 80's or 90's with his look, a mustache & gun holster hanging around his shirt as he sits at his desk, just such a cool cop image & the type of part a character actor would play such as Tom Atkins for example. Gooding Jr brings some class to this cheap film & is good in his role.

I liked the nice mix of Detective Mystery & Supernatural Thriller & the really beautiful setting of San Francisco. The the famous city is shot really beautifully especially the night time view of the city & the huge famous bridge & the lovely sunny day time scenes. The music is really good too, it's basically proper daytime "Thriller movie" music & works perfectly.

There's little to no gore but that's to be expected from a daytime t.v film but there is a silly soft erotic scene that is out of place.

I liked the whole investigating stuff & Detective work & the supernatural stuff is very minimal & not scary at all but that's fine & it all makes sense at the end with a neat little twist.

Why are these Jurors being picked off one by one?

Why now? These are the main questions & the answer was good.

Honestly a well done & Decent little Thriller with a good little cast & really nice Cinematography & music make this a good entertaining movie.

Really alot better than it probably should be.

Suspenseful till the end. Despite only a few minutes on screen, Cuba Gooding stole every scene he was in. A mixture of legal thriller with the supernatural, I had no idea it was a made for TV movie. Some scenes are actually creepy. Great movie to enjoy on a Sunday. The score added tension to the scenes, and every minute you keep wondering what is going to happen next. The key strength to the movie is how the it manages to keep you hooked by keeping you guessing. First you guess whether the characters would make it to the end. Then you start to guess what actually happened that led to this story in the first place. The director slowly drops small hints throughout the scenes till the ending. It was refreshing to see a genuine mystery combined with the supernatural without any distracting special effects.

I enjoyed this made-for-TV movie, partially because I liked Ashley Scott so much in Jericho. Wish she hadn't cut her hair. This movie doesn't have any gore or slashing, but relies on creepy clues and great lighting to manufacture the chill. The ending was unexpected despite the fact there were a sufficient amount of subtle clues. Perfect way to spend a rainy Sunday afternoon. There is also a strong possibility of romance between appealing characters, as a good LMN movie should provide. The heroine shows compassion for elderly characters, which I hope becomes a common trend. This compassion leads to some valuable information for her, demonstrating that courtesy always helps. The houses shown belonging to various characters are amazing, so we have to assume these are professional people called to jury duty, which is, in itself, unusual. The title,"Summoned" refers to the fact that citizens are "summoned" to jury duty, or in this case, summoned to an untimely death. Worth watching in my opinion.

I like Summoned. It's the thrill genre I enjoy. Ashley was pretty back then.