The Call (2020)

Directed by: Timothy Woodward Jr. | 97 minutes | horror, thriller | Actors: Lin Shaye, Tobin Bell, Chester Rushing, Erin Sanders, Mike Manning, Sloane Morgan Siegel, Judd Lormand, Randy J. Goodwin, Brooklyn Anne Miller, Leah Contreras, Toby Leeder, Aidan Bertola

What is the most important element when making a horror movie? An attractive setting? Intrusive characters? Enough massacres? You can make up an argument for all these things. But there is one element that is indispensable in any case: the film must be exciting. Let that be the building block that ‘The Call’ didn’t use.

‘The Call’, directed by Timothy Woodward Jr. and written by Patrick Stibbs, announces in the first minute that it wants to live up to the horror films of the 70s and 80s. We are introduced to a handful of stereotypical high school students, given a dose of synthesized music and soon end up in a grim old house that is not quite right. Nothing in the film is an original creation. We’ve seen every idea before. These aspects, which include expressly lazy tricks and cheap clichés, have all been adopted. Here you’ll find classics such as scenes of scary sightings in mirrors, objects that change places and the thumping music in preparation for scares.

Even worse, Woodward and Stibbs try (and fail) in the second half to suddenly give their one-dimensional characters more depth. As so often in the horror genre, it’s flashbacks and visions that should give viewers insight into their souls. However, the half-hearted script regularly undermines this intention, leaving no real appeal. We simply don’t care about these characters and when they are in danger, the outcome will be our worst.

Rather than examining the main characters’ thinking in more detail, “The Call” usually shifts towards ticking off ghostly factors. Creaking doors. Scary dolls. Moving rocking horses. Ominous music. And several times the camera slides around like a ghostly presence. Also annoying, and completely misplaced, is the idea that the elderly are supposedly scary. This seems to be a recent trend in movies. Here it is actress Lin Shaye, who has to play a creepy old lady. The film does not give any reason why we should be afraid of her. When she is hiding under a sheet or is screaming demonically again, with bloodshot eyes and all, you as a viewer can only laugh. This is not horror. This is comedy.

‘The Call’ is the kind of movie that was made in a limited time to be sold as quickly as possible. This means that there is no room for originality or feeling. There is only self-delusion here and an enormous amount of clichés. Even die-hard horror fans will enjoy this only moderately. An hour and a half has rarely felt so long.