Chris (Chester Rushing), Tonya (Erin Sanders), Zack (Mike Manning) and Brett (Sloan Morgan Siegel) are all friends in high school. The year is 1987 and they’re the typical types of teenagers you may find in a horror movie such as this from the era. However, the urban legend of a couple who live down the street drives the story as it’s said that Edith Cranston (Lin Shaye) was responsible for a child’s death.
So, being the bored and rebellious teenagers that they are, they decide to show her exactly what they think of her and start throwing things at her house. However, she soon comes out to tell them exactly what she thinks of them and retreats back into the house, a broken woman.
Later on, they hear that Edith has killed herself and it’s all their fault, however Edith’s husband, Edward (Tobin Bell) invites them into their house. Because despite what she thought of them while she was alive, Edward says she’s left them money – and he wants to play a game.
The Call is an 80’s throwback horror movie with a contained concept which may remind audiences of many other films they’ve seen before. As the game begins, the teenagers are all sent to separate rooms and told to pick up a phone when it starts ringing, although what they don’t realise is that the call will force them to fight for their lives.
With supposed homages to other movies like Stephen King’s IT and of course the Saw franchise, horror fans may know exactly where this is going. Unfortunately, they may very well be right as although The Call has an interesting premise, it offers little to no originality to keep the audience invested.
Shaye and Bell are the obvious attraction for horror fans as they’ve made their names in the Insidious franchise and the Saw Franchise respectively. The problem is that much like the teenagers in the movie, once they’ve got to a certain point, they may start to realise that they were brought there under false pretences due to the horror icons lack of screen time.
The Call is far more interested in its visuals than telling a coherent and compelling story, so after a while audiences may be forgiven if they wanted to hang up.
We hope you're enjoying BRWC. You should check us out on our social channels, subscribe to our newsletter, and tell your friends. BRWC is short for battleroyalewithcheese.
Pingback:The Call: Review – film reviews, interviews, features – 123 Movie News 29th September 2021