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"When Evil Calls" More at IMDbPro »
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| Index | 14 reviews in total |
20 out of 27 people found the following review useful:
Just Awful, 31 January 2008
Author:
Jeff Fitzgerald (BlackSox1919-1) from United States
It is difficult to imagine anyone making a worse movie on purpose. Even my current Worst Movie Ever Made, "Night Divides the Day," was made by a bunch of clueless college kids with home video cameras and no money. This movie was made by professionals, with real actors and a budget. Deliberately trying to cash in on the current J-horror craze (even going so far as to cast a vaguely Asian-looking woman as the "star"), the story of an evil force spreading mayhem through text messages sounds promising but ultimately turns into an enormous pile of crud. Stupid jokes, unconvincing special effects, gratuitous nudity, and frankly ridiculous and predictable vignettes. Avoid this movie at all costs, even if it means renting "Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector" instead. "When Evil Calls" is *that* bad.
14 out of 16 people found the following review useful:
I wish, I wish...that Evil calls someone else., 16 November 2008
Author:
Cinema_Fan from An English Shire.
Jennifer Lim stars in this flat-liner of a horror, cast too, in films
such as Rogue Trader (1999), Hostel (2005) and 27 Dresses (2008) she,
amongst others, is seen parading around school in what seems to be,
literally, the bear essentials. Put together by Gatlin Pictures
(Darkhunters (2004) and Forest of the Damned (2005), to date), Pure
Grass Films (Beyond the Rave (2008 video)) and directed by Johannes
Roberts, this was first released as a mini-series that was broadcast
originally via mobile (cell) phones, and then ultimately released on 18
Certificate DVD with full extended footage.
Now in its entirety, and with stars as Dominique Pinon (Diva (1981),
Delicatessen (1991), The City of Lost Children (1995), Alien:
Resurrection (1997) and Amélie (2001)), Sean "Dog Soldiers" Pertwee and
Chris Barrie (Red Dwarf's Arnold Rimmer) one would have hoped for a
great film in tow, but alas, no. We can certainly see the target
audience here, with the main attraction being these older teens to
early twenty something's carrying their uniforms to maximum effect,
with so little interest in production value, script and imagination,
what merit is there for anything else? A bigger budget may have helped,
after all and in all fairness, this is the two fledgling Production
companies at their genesis, with hope and hindsight it may improve and
no doubt, the overall experience for everyone may not have been a total
waste.
The narrative isn't that new, a nondescript girl (Jennifer Lim) wishes
only to be more popular in school, her wish comes true via an extremely
evil looking clown (not a bad effort too) who has the ability to
transform peoples wishes into reality via mobile phones, hence, when
evil calls. This, of course, does not go according to plan; the
butterfly effect has some pretty nasty (budget allowing) consequences.
The main cast here seems just as hyped, as too the short lengths of the
girls skirts, then used to little effect but to add a name to the
credits, then again, with only a running time of 75 minutes, it had to
go one way or the other, and tails, the boys lost. It does have its
moments, both of humour and fright, but they seem too dry, too fleeting
and too far apart. Dominique Pinon's screen time here is tantamount to
scandalous and Sean Pertwee's straight out of the rulebook script
looked more inarticulate and uninspiring to say the least.
We know, or should have more sense to see, that this is more than
straight-to-video; this is film-making on-the-knock. We can only hope
that, in time, the two companies involved and their future projects
will make a handsome return. If this were not to be the case, then the
unfortunate evil Clown should stay behind after school and write out a
hundred times: This tried its best, but it just wasn't good enough.
13 out of 16 people found the following review useful:
Digital Tech Makes Movie-Making Cheap... and this is the side effect, 1 December 2009
Author:
rcbridii from United States
It's kind of like someone saw Wishmaster and said "Gee... I'd like to
take a whack at that." I understand the movie was meant to be "funny"
but the humor was so low-brow and juvenile that it made most zombie
flicks seem like art films.
The twists on the wishes were not creative... the wishes themselves
were worded in such a way that you can see what's coming. The drunk
French cop schtick is annoying. And worst of all... the breaking into
"episodes". What kind of youtube crap is that?
I kind of wish celluloid was still the medium so that amateurs like
this could be priced out. Not every film student is a Sam Raimi... and
some aren't should not be allowed near a camera.
12 out of 16 people found the following review useful:
Too predictable to hold your attention, 23 January 2008
Author:
goods116 from United States
*** This review may contain spoilers ***
The first 10 minutes were mildly interesting. Then you knew exactly what was going to happen. Teens were given wishes, they made them, and then they were granted LITERALLY. You could predict the unfortunate realization of the wish a mile away. Then the quirkiness and stupid reactions of all the other characters started to get annoying and made no sense. And the "narrator" was filler, added basically nothing to the movie. Like a horror movie made for local television. I found myself fast forwarding through half the film and I didn't miss anything. Some T&A (but nothing worth renting for) and a lot of blood, a few shocking moments perhaps, but again, too predictable. Pass.
9 out of 11 people found the following review useful:
Gruesome, Unpleasant and Boring Rip-Off of Wishmaster (1997), 21 February 2011
Author:
Claudio Carvalho from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
In the Willburn Hall, a Sixth Form College (Note: see the definition in
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sixth_form_college), the janitor (Sean
Pertwee) tells the story of the geek Samantha Neil (Jennifer Lim), the
outcast Headmaster's daughter, in twenty episodes. Episode 1: The Wish
– An evil Djinn (Oscar Pearce) dressed like a clown offers a wish to
Samantha. In return, Samantha should indicate two schoolmates to
receive a phone call offering a wish. She wishes to be popular and her
wish comes true and she dates Daniel (Danny Parsons). Episode 2: Bad
Trip – A girl wishes to be prettier than the gorgeous Victoria (Ebony
Johnson), and she is accidentally deformed by acid in the laboratory.
Episode 3: Passed Away – The unpopular Neville (Simon Nuckley) has acne
on his face and wishes to have no spot. He is locked in a garbage can
by the bully Kirsty (Lois Winstone) and rats eat his face. Episode 4:
Die-T – The fat boy Kenny (Michael Buckster) wishes to be thin and he
is pressed against a wall by a van. Episode 5: Beauty and the Geek –
The alcoholic detective Ringwald (Dominique Pinon) comes to the college
with his partner Detective Nelson (Sean Brosnan) to interview the
Headmaster (Chris Barrie). Meanwhile, a nerd wishes to kiss the lesbian
Molly (Gemma Chan) and he is murdered by her lover Kirsty. Episode 6:
Dribbling – One student wishes to have X-ray vision to see the girls
naked but things do not work as he had planned. Episode 7: Brain Dead –
Charlie Parker (Benjamin Beechy) wants to cheat the exams and wishes to
see into Ross (Jo Blacknell)'s brain. Episode 8: Pretty Dead – Victoria
is in the hospital and wishes to be beautiful again. Episode 9: Dangers
of Dieting – The anorexic Hilary (Vikki Blows) wishes to lose half-
stone (meaning 7 pounds). Episode 10: What's Eating You – A girl sees
Kirsty and Molly kissing each other and wishes to look good enough to
eat; sooner Molly literally eats her. Episode 11: Drastic Surgery –
Alice (Marysia Kay)'s boyfriend wishes he has bigger breasts and they
blow-up. Episode 12: Guess Who Is Coming to Dinner - Samantha brings
Daniel to be introduced to her parents and he wishes that his stepdad
is not dead. When the bell rings, Samantha already knows who is coming
to dinner. Episode 13: Smoking Kills – A girl wishes to be hot, and
when her mate lights a cigarette, her wish is granted, Episode 14:
Sight for Sore Eye – When Linda (Leila Reid) sees her beloved boyfriend
Mark (James Rees-Hunt) cheating her with Molly, she wishes to never see
Mark again. Episode 15: Gutted – Detective Ringwald reads the book "The
Modern Djinn" and tells his findings to Detective Nelson. Meanwhile, a
student wishes that people could see her beautiful on the inside.
Episode 16: Overage Sex - Carol (Tieva Lovell) tries to seduce her
teacher Mike Dale (Rick Warden) that tells that she is too young for
him. When she sees Mr. Dale with Miss Nibb (Lucy Barker), she wishes to
be old now. Episode 17: Good Night and Sweet Screams - Samantha has
nightmares with the Clown. Episode 18: Deadly Embrace – Molly and
Kirsty are having a shower together totally drunken with a bottle of
booze. They stumble and the shattered bottle kills them. Episode 19:
Eye Scream – Mark wishes that Linda could see again. Meanwhile, the
Djinn captures Samantha. Episode 20: Homecoming Scream – Samantha
wishes she had never met the Djinn and everything returns to the
initial status quo, with Samantha unpopular.
"When Evil Calls" is a gruesome, unpleasant and boring rip-off of
"Wishmaster" (1997). The character "The Janitor" is extremely annoying
and disgusting and the host of the repetitive tales of wishes granted
in the wrong way. The special effects are very poor and I believe that
the low IMDb User Rating (3.4) is enough to tell how bad this film is.
My vote is three.
Title (Brazil): Not Available
12 out of 18 people found the following review useful:
When Evil Calls...Dumb Answers, 29 October 2008
Author:
samchecketts from United States
This movie is absolutely horrible. If you are looking for tasteful
humor in a horror movie, check out Shaun of the Dead or Slither. This
movie was so painful to watch. The acting was terrible, the deaths were
forced, and the janitor tried so hard to be funny but came off as just
desperate and boring.
The idea is that students can text their wish to a number and it will
come true...literally. Most of the wishes are so contrived to push the
result that you don't even need to watch the movie, you can see the
wish, use your imagination, and move on. And what is up with the same
corny dialogue flashing across your screen when someone receives the
text message that they won a wish? This is a horrible waste of time,
don't watch this movie.
Could not be worst, 25 June 2012
Author:
Maz Murdoch (asda-man) from United Kingdom
OK so from the front cover of the DVD makes it look like a fun film
about a clown. The blurb sounds interesting in its sort of "Wishmaster"
set-up and at a very low price of £3 (or something near that) why not
give it a go? I wouldn't watch this is someone gave it to me for free.
Frankly I'm ashamed of having this in my horror collection, alongside
other DVD's I managed to obtain from 'Poundland', "Live Feed",
"Killjoy", "Jigsaw" and "Camp Blood" although I did not purchase this
in 'Poundland', it bloody belongs there!
No where on the DVD does it mention that this isn't even a film, but
made as a mini-series for mobile phones! Why would anyone want this on
your mobile anyway? It's amateurish beyond belief with incredibly poor
directing, acting, editing, music and writing. The collection of short
films aren't even clever, they're just jam-packed with the worst
special effects you could imagine and no direction of a plot.
I'm convinced that the five star review on here is from someone who was
involved in the production of the film. It's the worst thing you could
imagine. It's not even a film. If you see this in your local
supermarket or DVD shop, just walk past.
2 out of 8 people found the following review useful:
Where Evil Calls, 27 March 2010
Author:
Scarecrow-88 from United States
*** This review may contain spoilers ***
An evil djinn in clownface offers a geeky, mistreated teenager a chance
to be popular, and in accepting his offer, serves as a catalyst for a
series of gruesome events plaguing her school as her fellow students
suffer the wrath of making their unfortunate wish, via phone text.
That's how the djinn captivates his intended victims, send them a text
offering a wish, the kids returning what they yearn for, and paying the
consequences. Two detectives(including Dominique Pinon of "City of Lost
Children" fame as a slovenly, disheveled alcoholic whose methods of
interrogation aren't exactly orthodox)must uncover the reason behind
the unusual body count building at the school under more than
suspicious circumstances.
The version I watched was only about 60 minutes so it was arranged in
episodic form without Sean Pertwee's narration. Each episode features
some teenager going through their own personal ordeal, wishing for
something out of anger, off-the-cuff, a crisis of an emotional nature,
or just because they want others to see them differently. The dark
humorous nature of the movie takes no prisoners as the djinn preys on
kids with hang-ups and other troubles, vulnerable and desperate.
Such selected targets include:An oriental girl considered a "freak",
the poor kid with acne, the fat boy whose eating habits are a bit
off-putting, the nerd who so desperately desires to kiss the resident
babe, the teen who wants X-ray vision to watch the female basketball
team practicing naked, the struggling student fearing to fail his test
who yearns to "see into the smart one's brain" getting just that, the
facially scarred girl who wants to be beautiful, an anorexic who wishes
to lose a "little weight", the closet lesbian who wants to look "good
enough to eat" for a girl she carries a torch for, the guy who pines
for his current girlfriend to have big breasts getting more than he
bargained for, another wishing for the return of his step father who
passed away the previous year, a girl wishing she was "hot", a scorned
teen who, after catching her boyfriend getting an oral going-over by
the school's most desirable chick, wishing to never see him again, a
girl wishing that people could see how beautiful she was "on the
inside", an obnoxious trouble-making lesbian(you'll notice that she is
always bullying and ridiculing many of the victims throughout)wishes to
be with her lover until they die, etc.
With plenty of gore, and applied computer graphics for the more
difficult effects(..such as the burning of a face, eyeballs showing up
in places they don't belong, an arm gushing blood after the hand was
taken off in a garbage disposal and so on). I will say that some of the
practical effects are impressive enough to leave you rather taken
aback(or laughing depending on you sense of humor). Most of the
individual stories last mere minutes before the characters are
dispatched in sickening ways. Such potent violence includes a victim
falling eyes-first on scissors, a victim crushed into a wall by a van,
cannibalism, a suicide involving pencils up a victim's nostrils, a car
leaving a victim's stomach open and her intestines exposed, etc. The
whole "mobile phone horror series" idea shows in the movie sense the
length of the scenarios, and victims' various outcomes based on those
wishes which sealed their fates, aren't very long. I liked this more
than others it seems because I thought the dark heart of the filmmakers
was in the right place, and there's a sick sense of humor involved that
I found rather entertaining. Definitely low budget with some effects
less than satisfactory. Some lesbianism which I thought was nice,
mostly kissing, and a surprising amount of nudity(mostly leering, lurid
camera shots up the legs of the girls, exploiting the short skirts the
private British school seems unaffected by).
4 out of 13 people found the following review useful:
My Review, 9 August 2008
Author:
joemamaohio from United States
*** This review may contain spoilers ***
Nerdy girl Samantha (Jennifer Lim) receives a text message from an evil
clown saying she has won one wish if she forwards the message to two of
her friends. She wishes she was popular, and immediately she becomes
the most popular girl in school.
But, as the old saying goes, be careful what you wish for...
Soon students at the school receive the message, ending in catastrophic
(and sometimes humorous) outcomes. Samantha realizes the only way to
stop this epidemic is to take back her wish...but does she want to go
back to being an unseen nerd? This movie was actually somewhat
entertaining to me. I love how they took the idea of those stupid
messages we all get ("think about your lost love and send this message
to 3 friends, if you do they'll come back to you, if you don't, you'll
never see him/her again" for example).
I also appreciated, even though it was a low-budget film, that they
mixed in humor with horror. Like one kid wishes he had X-ray vision to
see the girls playing basketball, and then he's sent to the principal's
office, where he continues his X-ray vision, and then his really obese
father comes, and he just screams the whole time. It's hilarious! It's
a good film to see for the humor, but don't take it too seriously be-
Oh, I got a text message...
"Congratulations, you have won one wish!" Hmm...No thanks.
2 out of 10 people found the following review useful:
Not overly bad, but not really good either., 13 December 2008
Author:
Prolox from Canada
*** This review may contain spoilers ***
Edited together from a bunch of short horror tales made for mobile
phones, WHEN EVIL CALLS tells the tale of an unpopular girl making a
wish to an evil Djinn seen dressed as a clown (Would you make a wish to
an demon dressed as a clown whom you felt was up to no good?) well
regardless the girl makes the wish to be popular & soon other
classmates receive phone messages claiming they've each won a wish, the
wish they ask for winds up having horrible twists related to them that
the students didn't mean & soon the heroine who called the Djinn forth
winds up regretting the deal, but can she take her wish back or will
her soul belong to the Djinn? One of the things no one in this movie
asked for as a wish was for this film to have good acting & directing
that's for sure. The films camera work was terrible, though considering
these are only two or three minute short tales, I highly doubt the
writers & filmmakers cared. The film has the gore alright & an
interesting theme, but as a whole this film would have been better as a
real feature length horror film rather than what we got. The girls are
hot though, but all in all if you really want to see this, check it out
on your mobile & save your money for another movie, that way you won't
also have to deal with SEAN PERTWEE'S annoying foul mouthed Janitor
popping up every two minutes between tales.
** stars
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