THE CALL (2020) REVIEW

Streaming On : Netflix

Current IMDB Rating :star: : 7.1

Intense, Terrifying, a gripping movie are few words to describe, Call, the latest Fantasy/Thriller movie of Netflix. Separated by a call and across time is a staggering plot to begin with and the execution of the story by director Chung Hyun Lee is absolutely brilliant. The Time Travel part and timeline changes shown in the flick is astonishing and keeps you hooked. The VFX is brilliant and performances doesn't look forced. The actors Park-Shin Hye and Jong-Seo Jun have delivered masterly performances and inflict true horrors through their acting.

The Production , Set Pieces are commendable and add to the creepiness of the movie. The movie palette was perfect as it dominates that creepy feeling. Plus the musical score was on point.

If your up for an intricate narrative that assimilate adequate twists and that chilling vibe. This movie is for you! Stream now on Netflix.

:woman:‍:woman:‍:boy:‍:boy: PG : No Nudity, No Swearing, Can be watched with Family

:white_check_mark: Overall , Overall, The Call is intense , horrifying and engaging till the very end and wont dissapoint you for the genre it promises.

Instagram : @RiteshReviews

Pretty interesting idea of a "time travel" movie. Similar vein as The Lake House but it's a thriller instead. There are a few logical flaws which have nothing to do with the time travel segment.
Seoyeon lives in an apartment alone. She hates her mum because as a child she left something cooking on the stove which led to her father dying in the subsequent fire and her leg being scarred by burns. One day she receives a mysterious call of a woman crying for help. As she receives more and more calls she learns more about the woman, Yongsook. Yongsook lives with her abusive stepmother who believes her mental illnesses are actually demonic possession. Seoyeon helps Yongsook feel like she isn't alone and fight back against her stepmother. In exchange, she goes to Seoyeon's house in 1999 and stops the housefire from killing her father. However, when Seoyeon spends all day with her parents and doesn't answer Yongsook's call, things get tense and deadly.
I liked the idea of the story and the two timelines connected. We follow one iteration of the women as the days pass. The story is very singularly focused so we don't learn a lot about the two women's histories. I think the acting was pretty good and the setting interesting and spooky. The house is in a rural village so it is very isolated. What's more is there's a strong sense of community so everyone knows everyone else. Unfortunately, the logical flaws really detracted from the movie.
[spoiler]When the police are investigating the crime, the notebook says that they caught the killer by having evidence handed in. However all signs point to Yongsook as the killer. Her abusive mother went missing, so did the strawberry farmer and she had strawberries in her house. In what universe would the police do nothing about the circumstancial evidence, especially if, at that time, she had her mother's chopped up body parts in the fridge? The other part is the memory thing. Seoyeon doesn't seem to realise things have changed. She only has memories from one timeline. So when her dad is back she doesnt have 20 years of memories with her dad. When she is tortured in the final timeline, she doesn't have cPTSD from being tortured and she doesn't remember her mum surviving or dying in the final confrontation. She doesn't even notice her mum disappearing in the final timeline. Another thing is, in the post-credit scene, we see Yongsook calling herself from the past and warning her. So the phone can call more than 1 iteration of itself now? How do you know? How do you choose the exact time to call? Plus, the phone could never call anyone except itself in the future. So it never calls the police or anything. I felt like these really took away from the story.[/spoiler]
Ultimately it is still a decent movie and definitely worth a watch.

Initial concept (phone call between different times) has already been done, but the way it's used is interesting there.

The story is ok, It looks nice, the main actresses are good, and through all the first part and even the first timeline changes it's pretty well done.

Then we see Young-Sook turn into [spoiler]a crazy killer[/spoiler], and a cat and mouse game, going both ways, one using her actions in the past, the other her knowledge of future events to get the advantage. That part is still enjoyable with some good ideas.

Sadly the way the timeline changes are handled makes no sense at all. Most important issue is that she does not seem to get any memories from the new timeline, so she's just here, her whole life has changed, but she doesn't know how. The scars appear and disappear though, with the pain at the moment the timeline changes, so... why the scars and absolutely nothing else ?

She also reappears right where she was, which was plausible the first times, but not really when she gets dropped in the middle of a tunnel without a car. So, what happens to the her that was living in the new timeline ? She just disappears and gets teleported there ? Very weird. That could fit with the no memories part, she just gets projected into that new timeline from her own, but in this case it does not fit with the scars appearing.

Also it looks like only killing someone has an impact and initiate a timeline change.

Too bad the whole thing has not really been thought through, this could have been a real gem.