The Caller (2011)
This is definitely an above-average little horror film that is genuinely creepy. I thank everyone on the forum for bringing this movie to my attention because, honestly, it is SO REFRESHING to see a horror film that is trying to do something new.
What I really like about it is that, with a title like
The Caller, you definitely go into it with preconceived notions in terms of what type of movie it's going to be (Is it going to go the
When a Stranger Calls route? Or the
One Missed Call route?), but I ultimately found it different, interesting, and unpredictable.
I can't stand it when a movie tries to be clever but it's ultimately predictable - To me, this was
not one of those films; I thought that it had strong pacing and while the very
very end was obvious to me, for the most part I kept thinking,
well, where will this movie go next?
My biggest complaint is the casting of Stephen Moyer (or you may know him as Bill Compton from
True Blood). To be honest, I love
True Blood, but I hold no delusion that anyone in that show can actually act worth a damn. And my friend Moyer is no exception... A native Australian, it's painful at times to hear him attempt a Southern drawl in
True Blood - In
The Caller, at least he's not Southern, but his Northern American accent is really no better... Plus, in the movie
HE'S SUPPOSED TO BE ITALIAN. WHAT ABOUT STEPHEN MOYER SAYS I AM ITALIAN?!
derf
Anyhoo - I gave the same complaint to the boyfriend and rationalized it by saying that they must have cast him because he was the biggest name they could find to play the leading man... But my counter-argument is: With a script this strong, they don't need "big" actors; in fact I found Moyer more distracting, with his bad accent, poor acting, and non-Italian-ness (plus the whole time I wanted him to say (
SOOKIE)
Regardless, despite the above, I actually thought that the relationship he had with our heroine was genuine - Sweet, believable, and the love scene was genuinely romantic. I find love relationships in horror movies especially to be two-dimensional, but I actually really liked this one.
Also - Minor complaint: They kept using this constant chirping sound effect in the apartment that wound up driving me MAD by the end of the film.
All-in-all, I really recommend this movie. I do. I left it feeling similarly as I did after watching
Triangle; that I had seen a solid little horror film and that there should be more like this (that is unlike everything else ;)) out there. Plus it really was genuinely creepy and did a great job at making this audience member uneasy.
3.75/5.