The Call
You know what I've never understood? Why does filling out a job application involve so much busywork? Before I renewed my contract, I was applying to different universities across the country. On so many of the sites, I had to send them my resume and then fill out the same thing later in the application. I've been working in news for going on 15 years now, and I've made six different stops along the way. Why do I need to do that? You literally have my resume already! But I digress; let's talk about...
The Call (2020)
This is an example of a really cool premise that doesn't have the legs for an entire race. A good example of that is the book Cabin at the End of the World. That had an awesome premise, but it kind of falls apart at the end because there's only so much you can do to keep the plot moving to where the writer wants it to end up. Take away about 75 pages, and it would have hit much harder.
The movie starts with a new kid and his first day at high school. He's walking around, listening to a Walkman while everyone ignores him. Right off the bat, I liked that the movie didn't start by telling you it takes place in 1987. You're just supposed to pick it up from the context clues. We don't need everything spoon-fed to us. Anyway, he catches the attention of every 80s movie bad-ass chick (Tonya), and they hit it off, and she introduces him to her group of friends.
They all go to a carnival, and when it starts dying down, they decide to go to the home of Edith and Edward for some routine pranking. Tonya's sister disappeared after spending the day at Edith's daycare years ago. Tonya blames Edith, and ever since then, they make a habit of vandalizing her home. This time, they throw rocks, only for them to be caught by Edith. After a screaming match, they split, and Edith hangs herself.
The next day, Edward calls them and invites them over, telling them that each will get 100,000 money if they can stay on the phone with Edith, who happened to be buried with such a device. That's an awesome and actually super creepy premise, and for a while, it's pretty good. The big problem was, and why I didn't get that invested in the movie, is that I didn't really care or feel much for the characters, because outside of the new guy, Chris, they're not good people. As each call takes them on a different route, I was a little disappointed that each of their personal Hells that Edith cooked up for them all eventually end up in the same set of dank hallways.
The reason the movie works for as long as it does is for two reasons: Lin Shaye and Tobin Bell. They play Edward and Edith, and they do the bulk of the heavy lifting. I enjoyed the one scene they shared together; it was sweet in a depressing type of way, and I loved how he was explaining the game to the teenagers assembled in his house. I'm convinced they were channeling John Kramer. He sounds and looks so old and tired, but there's something that's just barely hiding behind his forced politeness that is so menacing. This movie flat-out doesn't work without them.
It's entertaining enough for the most part, but I was not a fan of the ending, like at all. There's a twist that I'm kind of meh on, but after we get that reveal, one character in particular goes out of their way to get killed. While trying to escape, they find that the front door is locked. Instead of breaking a window, like they did earlier in the movie, they run back up the stairs because the phone room has a door that leads to the backyard. One of them gets trapped and starts losing it because the phone starts ringing. Instead of ignoring it, ripping out the cord or smashing it, because she knows bad things happen when you pick it up, she yanks it off the cradle and starts chatting. Then we get another thing that didn't make a whole lot of sense, but whatever, I had checked out.
It's fine, and it's entertaining enough for the majority of it; it just couldn't stick the landing or find a compelling enough reason for them to keep subjecting themselves to the paranormal shenanigans.
The Rating
Comments