I’m always on the lookout for hidden horror gems. Which, unfortunately, means I’ve come across my fair share of hidden horror turds, too. Anyway, let’s talk about The Call!
The Call (2020) is the kind of movie that will lull you into believing it is just about worth checking out, if you’re a fan of the horror genre as I am. That’s certainly the mistake that I made, when I convinced myself to give it a try after seeing a little buzz about it online – it’s produced by Jeffery Reddick, the man behind the enduring ridiculousness of Final Destination, even if the director himself, Timothy Woodward Jr, has a slightly less starry horror history to his name. But hey, what about that cast, huh? It includes horror icons Lin Shaye and my beloved Tobin Bell. Sure, they’re not actually the leads of the film; some (me) might say that they’re actually barely in it at all. And perhaps, like me, you’d ignore how dreadfully formulaic the first twenty or so minutes of the film are, as they follow a group of teens draped in enough 80s tropes to fuel an entire new season of Stranger Things – gum-snapping disaffection that borders on parody, performed by actors whose obvious weaknesses are only underlined by the brief screentime they share with the far more accomplished Shaye and Bell.
But what of the actual story? Well, here’s where I went wrong, because I was foolish enough to think that the premise had enough potential to make the rest of the film worth checking out. A group of teens are invited to the house of the late Edith (Shaye), where her husband Edward (Bell) asks them to carry out her last wish: make a phone call to a receiver installed in Edith’s casket. Some (me, again) might say that this is a cynical attempt to get Tobin Bell as close to saying “I’d like to play a game” as possible without incurring the wrath of Billy the Licencing Puppet, but hey, it’s a cool idea – a bit of an urban legend, a bit of psychological drama, a bit of a ghost story. Right?
But that’s where I was wrong. The Call blows this genuinely interesting premise with a predictable and thinly-executed trudge through the psyches and major traumas of our central teen foursome – and look, I’m not saying that you can’t make this exploration of abuse, suffering, and pain compelling just because the characters are relatively unlikeable, but it’s a fine line to tread, and one Woodward Jr scuffs completely. The nightmare hellscapes they navigate through as they confront their traumas are giving sub-sub-Silent-Hill in design and execution, and the childhood trauma drama never elevates into meaningful exploration, but rather po-faced box-ticking that feels downright exploitative in how shallow it is.
So, here’s my advice: don’t make the same mistake I did, and hang up on The Call. And feel free to vent about some of your recent horror hate-watches in the comments below!
If you enjoyed this article and want to see more stuff like it, please consider supporting us on Ko-Fi. You can check out more of my work on my personal blog, The Cutprice Guignol!
By Lou MacGregor
(header image via IMDB)
No But Listen 