Sunday, October 21, 2012

The Caller

(2011) ***1/2

Upon JPX's mostly-positive review of this one and JSP's impeccable Netflix queue updating skills, I was skeptical of The Caller because of some of the film flaws JPX pointed out -- that the protagonist has a threat that doesn't seem very threatening -- but overall I enjoyed how this played out.

Mary (whom I thought bore a strong resemblance to Selma Blair) has been recently divorced and has enough on her plate to stress out about when she gets harassed on the phone by a woman named Rose. (I can't imagine anyone other than Betty White on the other end of the line, and it confuses me to this day.)

I will usually scoff at time-space continuum stories such as this -- Rose is calling from 1979 and Mary is living in the present as of 2011 -- but there is one integral scene with (surprise, surprise) a scientist who explains the whole thing. It reminded me of a video I once saw about living in 10 dimensions, String Theory, and parallel universes. For your viewing pleasure, here is one of my favorite short videos about the topic (the 4th and 5th dimensions are the ones that I think applies to the film):

The Caller kept me guessing who was going to be gone, how the ending would pan out, all the while not getting too gratuitous or boring with dialogue or meaningless relationships between characters. I would definitely recommend it to people who like to stick to classic horror, e.g. no cheap scares and things jumping out at you, and want to branch out to paranormal horror (but not necessarily paranormal activity).
Describe to me again the paradox of how future actions affect past ones that affect future ones.

5 comments:

DKC said...

Cool! This does sound intriguing to me based on it's premise, and two mostly positive reviews from thonners doesn't hurt!

Octopunk said...

Holy crap that video was great! No 11th dimension? I want a refund!

Amazing to think all of that theory at the beck and call of some crazy lady on the phone.

JPX said...

That last shot is funny because his drawing ends up being so silly. He tries to make what's happening seem very complicated but all he really has to say is, "The woman in 1979 can affect your life by making changes in your past".

Nice review!

AC said...

sounds watchable, even by us biddies!

Johnny Sweatpants said...

Haha, you're right - that could only have been Betty White calling!

My review of this is coming soon but I will say that this is one of the better movies I've seen this month and I encourage anyone who can squeeze it in to do so.

Malevolent

 2018  ***1/2 It's 1986 for some reason, and a team of paranormal investigators are making a big name for themselves all over Scotland. ...