Taglines: Some calls are best left unanswered.
Starring Stephen Moyer (True Blood) and Rachelle Lefevre (Twilight), this supernatural thriller tells the story of troubled divorcee Mary Kee (Rachelle Leferve) who is tormented by a series of sinister phone calls from a mysterious woman. When the stranger reveals she’s calling from the past, Mary tries to break off contact. But the caller doesn’t like being ignored, and looks for revenge in a unique and terrifying way.
Telephones have long been a staple of low-budget thrillers. Despite its more prosaic title, when The Caller started I anticipated something along the lines of Sorry, Wrong Number or When A Stranger Calls, or perhaps the telephone scenes from Black Christmas (‘it’s meeee, Billy’). But when the movie declared its intentions, it was a little bolder than I expected: the person on the other end of the line, this time, claims to be calling from the 1970s.
This intriguing concept sets up a pretty neat little B-movie. The central character is called Mary, played by Rachelle Lefevre, and the movie begins with her moving into a new place after escaping from an abusive relationship. Her ex-husband still pesters her, despite a restraining order, making ominous, threatening remarks. She receives a phone-call from a woman looking for ‘Bobby.’ Though she tells her no Bobby lives there, the woman continues to call, and Mary finds out that the caller, too, is in an abusive relationship. She mentions the fact that Bobby is recently back from Viet Nam. ‘Wait… the Viet Nam war?’ asks Mary.
“The Caller” seems to have a very modest budget; it co-stars Luis Guzmán, as a friendly gardener, and Stephen Moyer as a new love interest. But primarily it has to depend on the inventiveness of the director, Matthew Parkhill, and writer Sergio Casci, to keep it buzzing along. I was not putting it down by referring to it as a B-movie; low budgets encourage creative thinking, and I reckon this interesting little flick will be a lot better than many of this summer’s box office behemoths.
The Caller
Directed by: Matthew Parkhill
Starring: Rachelle Lefevre, Stephen Moyer, Luis Guzmán, Ed Quinn, Lorna Raver, Lydia Echevarria, Aris Mejias, Marisé Alvarez
Screenplay by: Sergio Casci
Production Design by: Guifre Tort Ortiz
Cinematography by: Alexander Melman
Film Editing by: Gabriel Coss
Art Direction by: Wilhem Perez
Music by: Pablo Clements, Aidan Lavelle, Unkle
MPAA Rating: R for some violence / disturbing images, language and a scene of sexuality.
Studio: Samuel Goldwyn Films
Release Date: August 26, 2011
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