When Evil Calls

Having squinted hard at a less than good phone screen to watch episode one of Johannes Roberts' When Evil Calls I was more than excited to get sent an advance copy of the film to view! Ahh, the glory of the middle sized screen. Blood Splats better when its bigger. Episode one of the series was so cool. It sucked me in. Desperate to see the rest! Then finally getting to see the finished product with inter-cut scenes of fantastic Sean Pertwee and gore galore, When Evil Calls really satisfied my hunger! Director Johannes knows what he is doing with a film like this. Anyone that says different just doesn't quite get what he is trying to do.

The film should be an instant classic with horror fans as they will be able to nod to Johannes use of characters and bloodletting and his homages to horror films. I mean in this day and age of self referential film making who wants to see a horror film that isn't a nod to some other horror film throwback from the 70s or 80s. Thats part of the fun. So with a copy of 'It' in one hand and 'Wishmaster' in the other we venture into familiar territory but in a completely unfamiliar fashion.

The film is truly original in its portrayal of the narrative. Yeah we have probably seen the story before but its different this time around. We cut from Tony Scott style visuals of Sean Pertwee to the story in hand which is expertly done. The jokes never grow old and kept me laughing until the very end.

I think that what most impressed me about the film, apart from Johannes love for boobies, is that the camera work was top notch! I mean seriously. I lost count of the amount of crane shots in the film. It had such high production value and looked so slick. It was awesome! My only regret is that it wont be on the big screen! So to recap - Johannes Roberts' When Evil calls has it all! Its a great treat for the true horror fan! It kept me in great enjoyment for the whole time. Looking forward to seeing it again!

In the Willburn Hall, a Sixth Form College (Note: see the definition in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sixth_form_college), the janitor (Sean Pertwee) tells the story of the geek Samantha Neil (Jennifer Lim), the outcast Headmaster's daughter, in twenty episodes. Episode 1: The Wish – An evil Djinn (Oscar Pearce) dressed like a clown offers a wish to Samantha. In return, Samantha should indicate two schoolmates to receive a phone call offering a wish. She wishes to be popular and her wish comes true and she dates Daniel (Danny Parsons). Episode 2: Bad Trip – A girl wishes to be prettier than the gorgeous Victoria (Ebony Johnson), and she is accidentally deformed by acid in the laboratory. Episode 3: Passed Away – The unpopular Neville (Simon Nuckley) has acne on his face and wishes to have no spot. He is locked in a garbage can by the bully Kirsty (Lois Winstone) and rats eat his face. Episode 4: Die-T – The fat boy Kenny (Michael Buckster) wishes to be thin and he is pressed against a wall by a van. Episode 5: Beauty and the Geek – The alcoholic detective Ringwald (Dominique Pinon) comes to the college with his partner Detective Nelson (Sean Brosnan) to interview the Headmaster (Chris Barrie). Meanwhile, a nerd wishes to kiss the lesbian Molly (Gemma Chan) and he is murdered by her lover Kirsty. Episode 6: Dribbling – One student wishes to have X-ray vision to see the girls naked but things do not work as he had planned. Episode 7: Brain Dead – Charlie Parker (Benjamin Beechy) wants to cheat the exams and wishes to see into Ross (Jo Blacknell)'s brain. Episode 8: Pretty Dead – Victoria is in the hospital and wishes to be beautiful again. Episode 9: Dangers of Dieting – The anorexic Hilary (Vikki Blows) wishes to lose half- stone (meaning 7 pounds). Episode 10: What's Eating You – A girl sees Kirsty and Molly kissing each other and wishes to look good enough to eat; sooner Molly literally eats her. Episode 11: Drastic Surgery – Alice (Marysia Kay)'s boyfriend wishes he has bigger breasts and they blow-up. Episode 12: Guess Who Is Coming to Dinner - Samantha brings Daniel to be introduced to her parents and he wishes that his stepdad is not dead. When the bell rings, Samantha already knows who is coming to dinner. Episode 13: Smoking Kills – A girl wishes to be hot, and when her mate lights a cigarette, her wish is granted, Episode 14: Sight for Sore Eye – When Linda (Leila Reid) sees her beloved boyfriend Mark (James Rees-Hunt) cheating her with Molly, she wishes to never see Mark again. Episode 15: Gutted – Detective Ringwald reads the book "The Modern Djinn" and tells his findings to Detective Nelson. Meanwhile, a student wishes that people could see her beautiful on the inside. Episode 16: Overage Sex - Carol (Tieva Lovell) tries to seduce her teacher Mike Dale (Rick Warden) that tells that she is too young for him. When she sees Mr. Dale with Miss Nibb (Lucy Barker), she wishes to be old now. Episode 17: Good Night and Sweet Screams - Samantha has nightmares with the Clown. Episode 18: Deadly Embrace – Molly and Kirsty are having a shower together totally drunken with a bottle of booze. They stumble and the shattered bottle kills them. Episode 19: Eye Scream – Mark wishes that Linda could see again. Meanwhile, the Djinn captures Samantha. Episode 20: Homecoming Scream – Samantha wishes she had never met the Djinn and everything returns to the initial status quo, with Samantha unpopular.

"When Evil Calls" is a gruesome, unpleasant and boring rip-off of "Wishmaster" (1997). The character "The Janitor" is extremely annoying and disgusting and the host of the repetitive tales of wishes granted in the wrong way. The special effects are very poor and I believe that the low IMDb User Rating (3.4) is enough to tell how bad this film is. My vote is three.

Title (Brazil): Not Available

OK so from the front cover of the DVD makes it look like a fun film about a clown. The blurb sounds interesting in its sort of "Wishmaster" set-up and at a very low price of £3 (or something near that) why not give it a go? I wouldn't watch this is someone gave it to me for free. Frankly I'm ashamed of having this in my horror collection, alongside other DVD's I managed to obtain from 'Poundland', "Live Feed", "Killjoy", "Jigsaw" and "Camp Blood" although I did not purchase this in 'Poundland', it bloody belongs there!

No where on the DVD does it mention that this isn't even a film, but made as a mini-series for mobile phones! Why would anyone want this on your mobile anyway? It's amateurish beyond belief with incredibly poor directing, acting, editing, music and writing. The collection of short films aren't even clever, they're just jam-packed with the worst special effects you could imagine and no direction of a plot.

I'm convinced that the five star review on here is from someone who was involved in the production of the film. It's the worst thing you could imagine. It's not even a film. If you see this in your local supermarket or DVD shop, just walk past.

This low-budget, enjoyably goofy British riff on cult favourite Wishmaster includes a bravura performance from Sean Pertwee. He energetically plays the tall tale telling school janitor/cryptkeeper with infectious glee! Not all the grisly interludes work, and dynamic French actor, Dominique pinon appears to be acting in an entirely separate film! Chris Barrie is unusually sedate, and the young, inexperienced, appealingly nubile cast do their breast!

The evilly wish-granting Djinn is a cliché horror clown, happy remedied by a lack of scream-time, but Pertwee's increasingly demented Janitor, and the gory film's trashy, Troma-esque exuberance ultimately won me over! In summation, the uneven feature's appeal is, perhaps, marginal, the more progressive B-movie cognoscenti might enjoy it, exploding warts an all!

Would have been enjoyable but it felt like Uwe Boll was in the directing chair, the actors were given the script 10 seconds before he said action and only one take per scene was allowed.