The poor man's eighties horror film (the same poor man who spent all his money phoning up silly horoscope lines)
Eighties horror tends to vary; it can be either trashy and great or trashy and trash, and unfortunately this film belongs more in the latter category. But that's not to say it's all bad! Freddy Krueger himself, Robert Englund directs a film about an outsider getting their revenge, in the style of films like Carrie and Evilspeak. The plot isn't very original, as we've got a rather common 'evil down the phone' theme, and it also features some kid getting possessed. In fact, it's not even a world away from A Nightmare on Elm Street, in which Englund made his name; but unfortunately, even some of the sequels to Craven's commercial hit are better than this film. The plot follows some kid who finds an advert for a 'horrorscope'. Naturally, he can't resist phoning it up, and neither can his younger cousin (it would have gone straight in the bin if I'd found it). Unfortunately, it turns out that whoever rings this number gets possessed by the devil and begins getting his revenge on all those who have wronged him. As you've probably guessed; brains aren't a major strongpoint here.The relationship between the two cousins that the film centres on makes up its backbone, and it could have been good if Englund had spent a bit more time concentrating on it. Unsurprisingly, the kill scenes and gore seem to be Englund's main priority, and while I don't necessarily have a problem with this; the final third is pretty much entirely about the younger cousin's 'revenge', and it doesn't take long to get really boring. Before that, however, the film seems to be mimicking the USA's other popular genre in the eighties; teen comedy, and it's actually quite funny with it. It becomes rather annoying at the end when just about everything you've seen leading up to it amounts to nothing, though. The acting isn't too bad, with future gay porn star Stephen Geoffreys taking the lead role and convincing as a young kid despite actually being in his mid-twenties during filming. Patrick O'Bryan is his opposite number, and while it's not exactly a mystery as to why he hasn't made many films since, he puts in a decent performance overall. On the whole, this isn't a horror classic; and it's not really all that good either, but if you're into eighties horror; there's something here.
score 5/10
The_Void 2 June 2006
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw1383704/34974
Pages:
[1]