Night Caller

The Night Caller (1985) is a strange film. The movie starts out like the Dario Argento film Tenebrae (with a stylized murder by a masked killer) and then it turns into a police procedural flick with sadistic overtones. A family guy cop (Melvin Wong) goes deep into a case and gets involved with a deranged killer. His partner and friend (Philip Chan) along with a new protégé Porky (Pat Ha) take over the case and look for his missing partner (who's "enjoying" the twisted company of the killer. Can Inspector Chan and Porky find Melvin before he becomes the latest victim of the psychotic killer?

The Night Caller is an odd film indeed. Written, directed and co-starred by a former Hong Kong inspector Philip Chan (he's the real deal folks) shows us a side that I have never seen before. Shot in Panavision with a lot of blues and shadows. He creates a noirish environment for all of the characters. A few out of place humor scenes take away very little from the film's overall darkish feel. If you like to see something different then this film's for you. Other's expecting a straight forward action or horror flick will be very disappointed. Take it for what it's worth.

Highly recommended.

The opening murder in Night Caller could have come straight out of an Argento movie: the killer wears leather gloves, a hat and a black coat and brutally kills their victim, a fashion model, with a carving knife. The only witness to the murder is the woman's young daughter Edith, who hides in her closet with her dolly (which proves to be a vital to the plot).

Giallo fans shouldn't get too excited, however, as writer/director/star Philip Chan - a Royal Hong Kong police inspector before entering the movie business- quickly dispenses with the giallo-esque style of the first scene, concentrating on tedious police procedure instead, following three detectives- tough guy Steve (Philip Chan), married cop James (Melvin Wong), and rookie Porky (Patricia Ha) - as they investigate the case. There's a couple more murders to break up the boredom, but they're not nearly as stylish or as vicious as the first one.

Chan also reveals the identity of his killer way too early, as they abduct James and proceed to torture him in order to find out what he has learnt. Fortunately, the ending is rather fun, as Steve and Porky find out who the murderer is and attempt to rescue James.

4.5/10, rounded up to 5 for IMDb.

N. B. I never did understand who Mickey was in relation to the killer, but I liked the fact that he is drowned in a mud bath.

*** warning *** spoilers ahead (if you still feel like watching this) ** The box I bought promised "an intense thriller", "slickly shot and atmospheric" and said that it had "got rave reviews in the west". West of what? In Macao??!! This film does try though, I have to admit that, to mix the slasher genre with Dario Argento and Kung-Fu and more than a few drops of comedy (that's not funny at all!). But how it fails!

The beginning is promising where a woman is murdered with some style and finesse. From then on it's a downward spiral. The suspense is almost totally absent, the humor is crude and sexist and the performances are, with one exception, over the top. Your average school play probably has better acting. And the script just exploits old clichés like they never existed.

But I can forgive a movie for a lot of faults if it still entertains me. This one bored me to tears almost. The fast forward button came into good use about half of the running time when there was a "funny moment" or chit-chat about nothing at all. There are two very un-gory murders and a torture session that is just too much. Apparently Pauline Wong won some sort award for her part in this mess. I cannot imagine for what!? Competition must have been particularly lame that year! All she has to do (and does) in her vicious lesbian part is to give angry stares and have violent fits. Big deal!

I do enjoy bad films too, if they can entertain me. This one bored me for about 80 out of 90 minutes. So I would not recommend it to anyone except true masochists.

If you should see this movie in your local videostore, just close your eyes and pick something else at random because it is bound to be a better choice!