The Calling (2000) Reviews

• Mediocre at best

  jluis19842006-03-03

  A young American woman gets married with a famous British newscaster, and apparently lives a perfect life in the Isle of Man until she discovers that his husband is part of a satanic cult trying to start the Antichritst's reign over Earth. Sounds familiar? This movie gives more than a nod to horror classics "Rosemary's Baby" and "The Omen"; as its plot is like a mixture of both story lines with not even a quarter of the magnificence of those movies. Richard Caesar's debut is a low-budget movie that puts Laura Harris in Mia Farrow's role as Kristie, the woman trapped in a blasphemous conspiracy by her husband Marc St. Claire (Richard Lintern). Betrayed by everyone, it is up to her to save the soul of her son Dylan (Alex Roe) who plays the role of hateful evil kid perfectly. The movie's main problem is the lack of originality and poor development of the script, nothing really outstanding happens and it is quite formulaic; the characters' actions are unrealistic, and the dialogs are uninspired. However, the ending is particularly good, and it is a shame that one has to endure more than 70 boring and tedious minutes to arrive to the only good part of the movie. The acting is nothing special and while Laura Harris makes a good lead, her character has some of the worst lines in the movie. It is a shame to see her waste her talent like that. On the other hand, Francis Magee has the best part in the movie as the mysterious taxi driver Carmac, and he easily steals every scene he is in. The movie has a nice photography considering the low-budget, and the Isle of Man serves as a beautiful and different location. Caesar's direction is quite typical for modern day suspense thrillers but it works and the movie flows at good pace. It is definitely not a bad movie, as even with its flaws it still manages to entertain and has a few good things to offer (specially the ending); however, there are similar movies that are far superior than "The Calling" as it stays in a mediocre level. 5/10

• Not all that bad.

  helge_iversen2002-07-29

  Let there be no mistake: The Calling is not a very good movie. But then again, how many really good movies are there in this genre? Off hand I can only think of a few...The Omen, The Exorcist (the best of them all), The Shining, Poltergeist, The Blair Witch Project and The Changeling amongst a few others perhaps (I also liked The Ninth Gate). I can think of a lot more titles that REALLY stinks, and this is my favorite genre! As for The Calling I think it is an OK movie for the genre, and well worth seeing for those who enjoy this type of movie. It is nowhere near as good as any of the above, but it's still not all that bad. And even though we've all "seen this story before" I find the ending quite original. Helge Iversen

• Decidedly unremarkable and bland

  johanleupen2003-01-16

  This typical straight-to-video release (complete with washed up actors that used to belong to the C-list) goes where countless films have gone before: a young mother gives birth to a child that seems to be uncommonly fascinated by morbidity, torture, death, or generally speaking all things evil. Naturally people around the once happy couple start dying left and right and our young female protagonist, estranged from her surroundings, starts to wonder whether or not this is related to her son's need to impale his pet guinea pig. People, it has all been done before in a much more satisfying fashion, see Rosemary's Baby, The Omen, The Exorcist, Poltergeist, or even The Devil's Advocate, Eyes Wide Shut or The Ninth Gate for all I care but don't waste precious time that could be spend delving into the many great works that cinema has to offer.

• Spent $1.98 and want my money back!

  RoboSlater2001-12-21

  Someone should tell the director and writer that there is a huge difference between a heroine who is naively innocent and one who is criminally negligent in ignoring the obvious goings-on and behavior problems of her little boy (the kid kills his guinea pig on a stake and then hangs his dog alive and this mother accepts a "boys will be boys" explanation!? What is THAT possibly about? Not even a suggestion of counseling/therapy for the boy... The unintended real horror of the movie is the writing). Luckily, I spent only $1.98 for this flick where plot, continuity, and creativity were kept to a minimum; and overwrought ham acting ruled the day. Still, I'm taking it back for a refund; it's not even worthy of a garage sale since any buyer would know where I live and either try to return it or vandalize my yard after watching even ten minutes of this load of celluloid waste.

• Good plot in how the Antichrist could come into being

  michele_hawks2011-02-06

  If you like cult movies like Army of Darkness, Starship Troopers, The omen or End of Day, anything that has to do with the world ending or the world ending with a religious theme then you might like this. The acting is OK and I could see the boom in the church seen. And the end of the movie caught me by surprise. So watch it on a night when you are bored and in the mood for the devil and some sex. And if you are not Catholic watch Dogma, it will give a good lesson about it. The movie is good but not worth ten lines, so you can submit it or not. We aren't talking about the God Father. Or Hamlet. Or The French Connection. Oh how about,She wore a yellow ribbon. Finally made ten lines and didn't have to mention Taxi Driver, and my old favorite Gone with the wind.