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9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Apparently the world's first horror series for mobile phones, January 30, 2008
This review is from: When Evil Calls (DVD)
"When Evil Calls" is the sort of horror movie you put on if you are having a party comprised of guys drinking mass quantities of beer, even though I am sure this film will disappoint in the nudity department with the exception of one obvious sequence. The film has an interestint genesis in that it was originally produced as a "mini-series" for mobile phones, which explains why it is basically a compilation of shorts links by episodic title cards. The premise is simple: a demonic clown sends text messages to the kids at some English prep school telling them they have won a wish. They text the wish, forward the message to two friends, and it gets granted. The cover art makes it look like this is going to be a standard low-budget horror flick but really it is a horror comedy. You know it is not to be taken seriously since all of these kids get all excited when their cell phones tell them that they have won a wish and actually make wishes (Has the concept of spam not crossed over to mobile phones?).
So the wishes get granted but apparently nobody in this school has every read "The Monkey's Paw" or any of its descendants which make it clear that when an evil force grants your wish there is going to be some sort of catch. Making a simple wish like "I wish I was prettier than Victoria" or "I wish I was skinny" becomes an invitation to very bad things happening. By time one of the characters says "I wish that I never see you again" you know full well what is coming with this runing gag (which really goes not involve anything that really would make you run and gag). Like I said, this is done for laughs, albeit it sick laughs and a grim lesson in why you should never wish that your girlfriend had bigger breasts. The ones that end up standing out are the ones that are the most tongue in cheek, such as "I wish that I had X-Ray vision" and the twisted little twist on "I wish that I could kiss Molly." The episodes here run the gamut and if the hits do not outnumber the misses in the end, then do not be surprised.
It is ironic that the various episodes are narrated by the Janitor (Sean Pertwee) in pseudo-Crypt Keeper style because watching "When Evil Calls" reminds me of when I when I got The Complete Tales From the Crypt and started reading the classic E.C. comic books one after another. It does not take you long to start anticipating the "E.C. Twist" in each story (known prior to that time as the "O. Henry Twist" and after those days as "The Twilight Zone Twist"). So reading them back-to-back-to-back starts to wear on your pretty quickly, and that is what happens with the episodes in this movie. Delivered periodically over your mobile phone works a lot better with these stories than watching them all in one run. That is why I can see it going over well with a bunch of guys who are partying hard, because it does not offer a complete narrative, the episodes are brief enough to be easily comprehended, and the humor appeals to the stereotypical mentality of this, um, stereotype, because this is a hoot-n-holler horror comedy.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
GOOD TRY! BAD OUTCOME!, February 14, 2009
This review is from: When Evil Calls (DVD)
Don't waste your time on this movie. The idea behind the story for the movie was good...but the movie did not measure up. It was a low budget horror flick, with low budget special effects.
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2.0 out of 5 stars
A film that doesn't know its audience, October 24, 2011
This review is from: When Evil Calls (DVD)
When Evil Calls is a series of linked four- to five-minute-long vignettes tied around the theme of a chain text message that grants one wish to people who pass it on. These stories are joined by a janitor who sets up the events and then delivers a pun-filled lesson at the end. The film begins somewhat like The Neverending Story with a boy apparently fleeing bullies and finding himself in the janitor's office, where the story begins. The main story that goes through the vignettes surrounds Samantha (Jennifer Lim), a girl who longs to be popular. No sooner does she voice this wish than a clown appears, looking very much like Pennywise from Stephen King's It. The clown informs Samantha that her wish will come true, "whatever the cost," if she forwards the wish-granting message to two friends. She complies and finds herself popular. Meanwhile, the message spread virally throughout the school, and people wish to be thinner, to be hot, to be more beautiful than someone else, and so forth. The results are, for the most part, predictable. The big problem with this film is that the vignettes seem to be aimed at preteens and young teens, mostly boys. The jokes are sophomoric at best, and there is no significant character development or other reason to care about any of the characters' fates. In the context of a cell phone message, a single vignette might have been good for a small chuckle. Edited together as a film, they aren't. But, though the material might seem suited for young viewers à la Goosebumps, the language and nudity probably are not. This is hardly the worst film I've ever seen, but nor is it remotely entertaining.
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