Close Calls

Close Calls

Close Calls is about a troubled young woman named Morgan (Jordan Phipps), who is left home alone and has to take care of her mentally ill grandmother while her father goes out for the night. But when a psychotic caller continuously harasses her and she thinks everyone is plotting against her, Morgan must face her own inner demons and more in order to survive the night. 

Close Calls is loaded with striking visuals and moody lighting. The look of the film is colorful yet muted, surreal and lived in. Some scenes are foggy looking, others are drenched in primary color lighting, and others look like normal moments from everyday life. But the whole film features a consistent, slightly grainy, dream like atmosphere that fluctuates from scene to scene. It's a nice technique that blurs what's real, what is possibly imagined, and what is feared. The viewer isn't simply told that reality is blurring and what's real is getting harder to determine, they are shown. 

The screenplay allows time and character development for the father. Not only does this deepen the story but it also adds to the character of Morgan and the dynamic of their relationship. Even the deceased mother is given screen time in an interesting and compelling way. A lot of modern horror movies with teenage characters ignore the parents all together and it was refreshing to see both parents and the grandmother involved in this story. 

Like the attention given to the family, the film as a whole takes its time and allows the story to unfold. I was completely absorbed by what I was watching. There's a 4 scene sequence in the middle of the film that takes over 20 minutes to play out. The stylistic choices and dangerously playful back and forth between Jordan Phipps and Greg Fallon make this sequence a riveting highlight of the film. Jordan Phipps is the modern version of a classic Hollywood screen siren. She's absolutely stunning and has an undeniably strong presence in every scene she's in. Phipps has a carefree, relaxed attitude that both displays her troubled character and elicits sympathy from the viewer. That's a tricky feat for any actress and Phipps nails it. Her performance truly elevates the already intriguing story and makes Close Calls an even better film. Take note, she should be a star someday. 

Close Calls is an all out awesome Gothic/suburban horror ghost story filled with quirky and outrageous characters, unforeseen plot twists, and a deadly mystery at its center. The story moves like a shark and I had no idea where it was headed or what would happen next but I had a blast watching Morgan's nightmarish journey. Keep an eye out for Close Calls, I loved every minute of this movie!

The Campus

The Campus

After breaking his deal with the Devil, a father passes that debt onto his daughter, Morgan, upon his death. Morgan now finds herself being brutally murdered and resurrected over and over again, losing a piece of her soul each time. In order to save her life, Morgan must find out why this is happening and stop the deadly cycle herself. 

The Campus opens with a trio of men searching the desert for an ancient artifact hidden in a long lost underground cave. When they find it, they discover the terrifying consequences involving the devil himself. This opening sequence seemed to promise a wide and involved story arc that I was excited to see unfold. Unfortunately the wonder of searching in the desert and magical lore of ancient artifacts of the opening scene is where The Campus peaks and the story loses steam from there. 

After a brief visit to her father's funeral several years after the opening scene, Morgan (Rachel Amanda Bryant) stops by her father's office where she plans to steal valuable goods. When the priceless artifact from the beginning is found, the repeating, deadly cycle for Morgan begins as the unpaid debt her father left her is unleashed. 

The Campus is largely a one woman show with a lot of stumbling around and thinking out loud. Posing questions like, "what the hell is going on?" and "Why is this happening to me?" This kind of out loud questioning plays out like a lazy signaling to the audience to let them know it's ok to feel confused, we know you're asking yourselves this and we promise answers are coming. It's a distracting device that actually took me out of the film even more so than I already was. 

While slowly exploring the office building with a constant inquisitive look on her face, the only thing accompanying the main character (besides the occasional pop up zombie or ghost), is the constantly playing score. It's a cautious and sad sounding score that endlessly plays the entire length of the film, switching from synthesizer to slow piano depending on the scene. The constant score starts to feel like little more than background noise after a certain point and a number of scenes would have been stronger utilizing a little silence. 

The story line feels razor thin and Rachel Amanda Bryant is left with very little to do other than slowly walk around and offer quick, empty one liners like "I need a drink," and "fuck this." There's enough scares and story to fill about 30-40 minutes, beyond that there's simply not much going on in The Campus. I suspect the constantly playing score is meant to fill the emptiness of the script. 

I give the idea of The Campus a lot of credit and it sounds like it would be a hell of a good time. The makeup and practical effects are simply fantastic, but the biggest fault of the film is the script and it's lack of action. It's just not very interesting watching someone walk around a building. Even the promise of the Devil, zombies, and ghosts aren't enough to make the film exciting. And with only one character walking around saying things like, "yeah, this'll do," The Campus feels more like a fist draft than a finished product.

Inoperable

Inoperable

Inoperable is about a woman named Amy who wakes up in a deserted hospital. She soon learns that a strong hurricane is approaching that has awakened evil forces inside the hospital and she must escape the building before the storm passes or she'll be stuck there forever. The opening sequence is a long, quiet introduction to the main character, Amy (Danielle Harris), waking up in a largely empty hospital and unaware of what is going on. This sequence has the feel of the TV show Lost, as if it takes place in a hospital operated by The Others. It's a solid opening full of mystery and intrigue. I could sense that bad things were coming and it immediately had my attention. Unfortunately, the film seems to plateau pretty early on and it never really finds a way to push the intrigue of the the story beyond what is presented in the first 15 -20 minutes. Amy spends the majority of the film running around the hospital halls and asking a lot of questions trying to figure out what's going on. As she slowly gets the answers to her questions she also struggles to figure out who to trust as she meets fellow patients and doctors along the way. With time and location shifts that jump from Amy in one place and then another and the never ending maze of the hospital, the film feels like it's running around in circles and being held together by a fairly thin story line. It's a shame with a lead as charismatic as Danielle Harris, the story can't offer her more to do. Amid all of this, Amy encounters a handful of seemingly evil experimental procedures, bloody surgeries and sloppy lobotomies that play out like run of the mill, insane asylum/evil hospital fare. On the plus side, these scenes feature a lot of fantastic special effects and a good amount of gore. Between the time jumps and location shifts mentioned before and the generic evil experiments at the hospital, the broken time continuum the characters are stuck in doesn't offer many interesting moments and the film is left with a disappointing, paint by numbers feel. It instead relies on rehashed ideas and plot points that we've seen before, like the aforementioned Lost and last year's Happy Death Day. I won't give away any spoilers but I will say that while the film overall is very underwhelming and feels like something that's been done better a hundred times before, it enters eye-rolling territory with it's head shaking ending. I love seeing Danielle Harris on screen, especially in a lead role. But she deserves much better than this and unfortunately Inoperable just isn't worth recommending.