Director: Timothy Woodward Jr
Writer: Patrick Stibbs (Screenplay)
Starring: Lin Shaye, Tobin Bell, Chester Rushing, Erin Sanders, Mike Manning, Sloane Morgan Siegel, Judd Lormand
Plot: In the fall of 1987, a group of small-town friends must survive the night in the home of a sinister couple after a tragic accident brings them to the couple’s door.
Runtime: 1 Hour 37 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: The Call starts when new kid Chris (Rushing) moves into town, becoming friends with Tonya (Sanders), Zack (Manning) and Brett (Siegel) who have had a grudge against the Cranston family after Tonya’s younger sister went missing in her care years before.
When Edith (Shaye) takes her own life, she leaves her late husband Edward (Bell) a will that has a surprise involved, a gift for the four would be harasses. They are offered a chance to earn the money she has left, the stipulation is to make a phone call for one minute, a phone call which will send them to a world of nightmare.
Thoughts on The Call
Characters & Performances – Edith Cranston is the woman that gets harassed by the youngster most days, she once had a nursey which saw a child go missing from, which led to them being known as the person who was at fault, she isn’t afraid of them thought and after taking her own life, she has planned her own form of revenge. Lin Shaye is now one of the icons of horror, this is why she is so well respected in the genre, with a small creepy performance. Edward is the husband that has set up the meeting to make the meeting happen, he isn’t happy about it, but will look to honor his late wife’s wishes. Tobin Bell gets to put on his best line, its time to play a game, where he gives the calm moments, we don’t see enough of his character here. Chris is the new kid in school who has a secret past that is welcomed into the group, being left to wait to see what his secret is. Tonya, Zack and Brett are the other three in the group that welcome Chris, they each have their own secret which could come back to haunt them. The four younger actors do well in their roles fitting into the 80s theme of the film.
Story – The story here follows a group of high schoolers that have clashed with an outsider family in the town that are given a chance to inherit some money with a simple task of making a phone call, only the nightmares it will show will leave them begging for their lives. This is a nice spin on what could be seen as a revenge style story, seeing how one family is torment and invites the tormentors into their home to discuss the problems. The nightmares the characters go through are similar to most of what we would normally see, without being anything outside the ordinary, leaving a few twists behind a couple of the characters too.
Themes – The Call is a 80s inspired horror that will have that theme running throughout, with the use of music, clothing and past times. When it gets into the horrors, it gives us the nightmare fuel similar to what we saw from ‘Flatliners’ with the secrets coming back to haunt the characters.
The Call is a fun 80s inspired horror, which grabs the atmosphere of the era to go with the horror style of secrets and regrets.
