Customer Reviews

Dangerous Calling

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

We've seen it before, right? Half of the modern renditions of serial killers include religious motifs, with the cross, the Bible, and so on. As Steve Taylor once said in a song, "A Christian can't get equal time, unless he's a loony committing a crime."

In "Dangerous Calling," the loony committing a crime is indeed a church-going person, but the Daws Brothers refuse to let you settle into any expectations. The murder before the opening credits sets up a cat-and-mouse game in Small-Town, USA, when a young pastor and his wife show up to fill a position at a church torn by inner strife. The strife is instigated by one person: high-tithing, manipulative Miss Pat.

This is one lady you won't forget after seeing this film. She is certifiable and creepy, and yet on the surface she wants only the best for her church, her community, and her son. She quickly realizes that her "best" doesn't match with the new pastor's or his wife's, and this leads to increasing tension that turns creepy, then downright pulse-pounding. The misguided and delusional dreams of Miss Pat push her and her son to violent measures, and the young pastor's wife is son caught in their web.

It's hard to describe the levels of psychological suspense employed, because they are done so well. From TVs and phones, to snakes and chickens, all sorts of devices ratchet the tension while never neglecting character development and some tightly plotted scenes. At the end of this movie--once my heart was done pounding!--I sat back and realized that in a world full of religious extremists and Bible-toting psychos, we get a glimpse here of that deadly sickness compared to those who have Godly love for others.

"Dangerous Calling" is an extremely entertaining movie. It's also a call to Christians to stop complaining about the stereotypes and to start changing them by the way we live. This is one of those rare films that works both as psychological suspense and spiritual challenge. Now that's what I call a miracle.

Today there are a lot of generic movies out there and your 'horror' or 'thriller' movies are the worst. Most are purely about how realistic they can make the gore, but there is very little value in the story. This movie is more in the realm of an Alfred Hitchcock with some actual plot, mystery and drama. The only criticism would be that the action sequences and a few of the special effects don't have the smooth symmetry you may see in some much bigger budget films, but little is lost in this and the acting is solid throughout. In my opinion Jackie Prucha as 'Miss Pat' delivers the stand out performance as you find it both easy to sympathize and loathe her from one scene to the next. The movie does have a religious context, but doesn't get preachy, at least not to non-Christians. I have shown this movie to a number of friends and family and can honestly say they tend to get more emotionally involved than with most movies. Those who are afraid of snakes get particularly frightened. The scenery and cinematography are first rate. The score is solid, no John Williams or Jerry Goldsmith recorded by a major symphony, but much better than most synthesized 80-90s TV movies.

Acting: A (with A+ to Jackie Prucha)
Action: B-
Story Telling: A
Suspense Building: A+
Score: B+
Dialog: A
Cinematography: A+

I was tricked! The movie was intense, full of suspense, and scary at times. No one told me it was this kind of movie. We usually stick with comedies and dramas...not intense, scary movies. But we loved it. It was one of those movies where we...(okay, mostly me) where I found myself talking to the characters throughout the movie...that's how I deal with those kinds of movies. You're going to love this movie.

If you are a fan of Alfred Hitchcock and you have ever spent any time at all around a church or around "church people" you will like this film. Characters are developed quickly, you get absorbed into the setting and find yourself in the movie, experiencing some of the same emotions the characters are experiencing. Loved it and am giving as gift as well as recommending

This is the best Christian movie I've ever seen.. and okay, maybe that's not saying much to some people, but seriously, this movie was awesome. It's definitely low budget, but it makes up for it with an incredibly talented cast and a interesting plot that both scares you and gets you thinking about what it means to be a Christian. (And yes, I really was very scared in some parts!!)

I strongly recommend!

First off, this movie has a body count of 5 and the deaths are not tame in the least bit. Not for kids at all.

This movie explores the darker side of Church politics. Though the situation is pretty extreme, it shows that the church can be a killing field for pastors and other ministers.

I thought the acting was pretty good. The story was suspenseful and intriguing. The characters were very creepy and Stephen King-ish.

The only thing that makes me pull back though is that the violence is pretty intense at times and I wonder if that takes away from the message of the movie. Though I thoroughly enjoyed it the first time I saw it, I showed it to a friend and it disturbed her deeply which made think about the film on a deeper level. Does this film have to be as violent as it is? Does it really have a point in the end when everything is said and done? Did the directors go too far with film? Questions to ponder.

Something to watch cautiously.

The special features are worth checking out.

This movie kept me on the edge of my seat. Makes you stop and think that there are probably people like this woman in the world. Don't want to spoil it and say too much, but this was very well worth watching if you like Christian suspensful movies.

Christian film - pretty good, if somewhat in-your-face gruesome, with one violent act committed in the first 5-10 minutes.

Horror film - Okay, middling. Not as violent as "Saw" or as suspenseful as a Hitchcock or spy thriller. One can see through most of the plot holes.

There are certain conventions in a Horror movie, like the setting, chases, and endings, that this film utilizes. I kept yelling at the screen for the protagonists to resist, fight, stop whimpering, moaning, screaming and run, or just to wake up and come to their senses. A lot of these situations bordered on the clichéd, like when somebody discusses the rumors circling around an antagonist, or one character chases another throughout the town, yet it's all a red herring, a fake.

I don't usually like Horror but ordered this movie because of its take on church politics, and in that I wasn't disappointed. I didn't like the blood (I never do, close my eyes, but that's me personally) or the over-the-top violence at the end.

The characters - colorful, if a bit clichéd. The creepy-sweet yet controlling Miss Pat and her 'strange' offspring, the wants-to-get-along yet stands-by-his-convictions Pastor, his God-fearing yet spirited wife, the caring yet somewhat clueless Youth minister.

The setting - A small-town Baptist-type church, but the music, much of the dialogue, etc. was a bit too 'Christianized' for my taste. The 'Rock music' that Miss Pat rails against was guitar-led hymns and choruses with bongos. And her compound, a chicken farm set deep in the woods, with no cellphone reception? By the time I got to the end I was thinking of films like 'The Shining', which had a similar ending.

The issues - The main one IMO was Miss Pat's agenda vs. the true function of the church, which is to worship God and welcome others into His fold. Instead this small church with a large building, set in its ways, focuses on being a 'country club' for its own, a fortress against the encroaching world. The trouble with that is that mindset excludes the very people you are trying to reach, thus the decline in attendance, the generational drift and the attempts by the previous Pastor to modernize by hiring a Youth minister. The one thing about Miss Pat being the 'meddler' is that in real life she would not have controlled the church alone, but probably would have a whole faction in the church on her side, with others opposing her group, leading to a church scandal or split.

Overall, not bad...but not very thrilling or realistic, either...

This is one "great" movie. Hitchcock could not have done a better job. This movie truly deserves more attention than it has received.