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9 out of 14 people found the following comment useful :-
Just Awful, 31 January 2008
1/10
Author: Jeff Fitzgerald (BlackSox1919-1) from United States

It is difficult to imagine anyone making a worse movie on purpose. Even my current Worst Movie Ever Made, "Night Divides the Day," was made by a bunch of clueless college kids with home video cameras and no money. This movie was made by professionals, with real actors and a budget. Deliberately trying to cash in on the current J-horror craze (even going so far as to cast a vaguely Asian-looking woman as the "star"), the story of an evil force spreading mayhem through text messages sounds promising but ultimately turns into an enormous pile of crud. Stupid jokes, unconvincing special effects, gratuitous nudity, and frankly ridiculous and predictable vignettes. Avoid this movie at all costs, even if it means renting "Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector" instead. "When Evil Calls" is *that* bad.

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3 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :-
Digital Tech Makes Movie-Making Cheap... and this is the side effect, 1 December 2009
2/10
Author: rcbridii from United States

It's kind of like someone saw Wishmaster and said "Gee... I'd like to take a whack at that." I understand the movie was meant to be "funny" but the humor was so low-brow and juvenile that it made most zombie flicks seem like art films.

The twists on the wishes were not creative... the wishes themselves were worded in such a way that you can see what's coming. The drunk French cop schtick is annoying. And worst of all... the breaking into "episodes". What kind of youtube crap is that?

I kind of wish celluloid was still the medium so that amateurs like this could be priced out. Not every film student is a Sam Raimi... and some aren't should not be allowed near a camera.

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3 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :-
I wish, I wish...that Evil calls someone else., 16 November 2008
2/10
Author: Cinema_Fan from An English Shire.

Jennifer Lim stars in this flat-liner of a horror, cast too, in films such as Rogue Trader (1999), Hostel (2005) and 27 Dresses (2008) she, amongst others, is seen parading around school in what seems to be, literally, the bear essentials. Put together by Gatlin Pictures (Darkhunters (2004) and Forest of the Damned (2005), to date), Pure Grass Films (Beyond the Rave (2008 video)) and directed by Johannes Roberts, this was first released as a mini-series that was broadcast originally via mobile (cell) phones, and then ultimately released on 18 Certificate DVD with full extended footage.

Now in its entirety, and with stars as Dominique Pinon (Diva (1981), Delicatessen (1991), The City of Lost Children (1995), Alien: Resurrection (1997) and Amélie (2001)), Sean "Dog Soldiers" Pertwee and Chris Barrie (Red Dwarf's Arnold Rimmer) one would have hoped for a great film in tow, but alas, no. We can certainly see the target audience here, with the main attraction being these older teens to early twenty something's carrying their uniforms to maximum effect, with so little interest in production value, script and imagination, what merit is there for anything else? A bigger budget may have helped, after all and in all fairness, this is the two fledgling Production companies at their genesis, with hope and hindsight it may improve and no doubt, the overall experience for everyone may not have been a total waste.

The narrative isn't that new, a nondescript girl (Jennifer Lim) wishes only to be more popular in school, her wish comes true via an extremely evil looking clown (not a bad effort too) who has the ability to transform peoples wishes into reality via mobile phones, hence, when evil calls. This, of course, does not go according to plan; the butterfly effect has some pretty nasty (budget allowing) consequences.

The main cast here seems just as hyped, as too the short lengths of the girls skirts, then used to little effect but to add a name to the credits, then again, with only a running time of 75 minutes, it had to go one way or the other, and tails, the boys lost. It does have its moments, both of humour and fright, but they seem too dry, too fleeting and too far apart. Dominique Pinon's screen time here is tantamount to scandalous and Sean Pertwee's straight out of the rulebook script looked more inarticulate and uninspiring to say the least.

We know, or should have more sense to see, that this is more than straight-to-video; this is film-making on-the-knock. We can only hope that, in time, the two companies involved and their future projects will make a handsome return. If this were not to be the case, then the unfortunate evil Clown should stay behind after school and write out a hundred times: This tried its best, but it just wasn't good enough.

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7 out of 12 people found the following comment useful :-
Dead Funny!, 28 April 2008
8/10
Author: Sunniva Reilly from United Kingdom

Since I read some the other reviews on here, I've wondered if I saw a different film than the others. (But no, cast and story's the same). I understand that this film is not to everyone's liking, it's an offbeat comedy. Moreover, it looks like some people were expecting horror, where there is only comedy. Yes, there's some blood and gore, but in a funny way, not scary, and not intending to be. If you sit down to watch this intending to be scared, you will be disappointed, if you're looking for a laugh, this might be just the thing. This film pulls out every horror film cliché there is and makes fun of them. And it's a lot more subtle about it than "Scary Movie". It's not a comedy classic that will stand the test of time, but it is great fun, 8/10

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2 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :-
Not overly bad, but not really good either., 13 December 2008
Author: Prolox from Canada

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Edited together from a bunch of short horror tales made for mobile phones, WHEN EVIL CALLS tells the tale of an unpopular girl making a wish to an evil Djinn seen dressed as a clown (Would you make a wish to an demon dressed as a clown whom you felt was up to no good?) well regardless the girl makes the wish to be popular & soon other classmates receive phone messages claiming they've each won a wish, the wish they ask for winds up having horrible twists related to them that the students didn't mean & soon the heroine who called the Djinn forth winds up regretting the deal, but can she take her wish back or will her soul belong to the Djinn? One of the things no one in this movie asked for as a wish was for this film to have good acting & directing that's for sure. The films camera work was terrible, though considering these are only two or three minute short tales, I highly doubt the writers & filmmakers cared. The film has the gore alright & an interesting theme, but as a whole this film would have been better as a real feature length horror film rather than what we got. The girls are hot though, but all in all if you really want to see this, check it out on your mobile & save your money for another movie, that way you won't also have to deal with SEAN PERTWEE'S annoying foul mouthed Janitor popping up every two minutes between tales.

** stars

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5 out of 9 people found the following comment useful :-
Too predictable to hold your attention, 23 January 2008
3/10
Author: goods116 from United States

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

The first 10 minutes were mildly interesting. Then you knew exactly what was going to happen. Teens were given wishes, they made them, and then they were granted LITERALLY. You could predict the unfortunate realization of the wish a mile away. Then the quirkiness and stupid reactions of all the other characters started to get annoying and made no sense. And the "narrator" was filler, added basically nothing to the movie. Like a horror movie made for local television. I found myself fast forwarding through half the film and I didn't miss anything. Some T&A (but nothing worth renting for) and a lot of blood, a few shocking moments perhaps, but again, too predictable. Pass.

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4 out of 8 people found the following comment useful :-
When Evil Calls...Dumb Answers, 29 October 2008
2/10
Author: samchecketts from United States

This movie is absolutely horrible. If you are looking for tasteful humor in a horror movie, check out Shaun of the Dead or Slither. This movie was so painful to watch. The acting was terrible, the deaths were forced, and the janitor tried so hard to be funny but came off as just desperate and boring.

The idea is that students can text their wish to a number and it will come true...literally. Most of the wishes are so contrived to push the result that you don't even need to watch the movie, you can see the wish, use your imagination, and move on. And what is up with the same corny dialogue flashing across your screen when someone receives the text message that they won a wish? This is a horrible waste of time, don't watch this movie.

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2 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-
My Review, 9 August 2008
5/10
Author: joemamaohio from United States

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Nerdy girl Samantha (Jennifer Lim) receives a text message from an evil clown saying she has won one wish if she forwards the message to two of her friends. She wishes she was popular, and immediately she becomes the most popular girl in school.

But, as the old saying goes, be careful what you wish for...

Soon students at the school receive the message, ending in catastrophic (and sometimes humorous) outcomes. Samantha realizes the only way to stop this epidemic is to take back her wish...but does she want to go back to being an unseen nerd? This movie was actually somewhat entertaining to me. I love how they took the idea of those stupid messages we all get ("think about your lost love and send this message to 3 friends, if you do they'll come back to you, if you don't, you'll never see him/her again" for example).

I also appreciated, even though it was a low-budget film, that they mixed in humor with horror. Like one kid wishes he had X-ray vision to see the girls playing basketball, and then he's sent to the principal's office, where he continues his X-ray vision, and then his really obese father comes, and he just screams the whole time. It's hilarious! It's a good film to see for the humor, but don't take it too seriously be- Oh, I got a text message...

"Congratulations, you have won one wish!" Hmm...No thanks.

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4 out of 10 people found the following comment useful :-
Decent Movie, but has plenty of flaws, 11 February 2008
5/10
Author: tek8738 from United States

Let me get the flaws out of the way first (in no particular order except for the first one)

The Janitor who introduces all the segments is annoying as hell, REALLY bad digital effects (especially the CGI blood in parts of it), Some camera-work feels overdone, moving around too much w/out reason, The Janitor makes really bad, unfunny, annoying jokes, and feels the need to make really bad jokes and laugh like a maniac after each one, and The way that the wish text message is shown when people receive it is okay at first...but gets annoying after a few times

Side note (not a problem or a pro...just there): -The clown in this looks suspiciously like the one from Stephen King's IT

That's all the big flaws

--It does have an interesting enough story, is entertaining, and for those who look into this when getting a movie, it contains a decent amount of nudity.

I would't watch it again by myself (though I don't regret watching it)...i would watch it again with a few friends to have fun pointing out all the dumb things/mistakes and making fun of the movie

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0 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :-
FANTASTIC IT'S JUST Hilarious, 5 July 2009
10/10
Author: TheDarkEdge from United Kingdom

The reason this has a low score from votes is because people just don't understand it's A COMEDY not a horror from the moment i put the DVD in and right till the end i was laughing so much i thought i was going to collapse this movie may not have the best acting and it may be a bit low budget but man is it funny also it is cut up into 20 different episodes as they were originally made for your mobile phone another great thing is when they make there wish on the phone it always makes you wonder what is going to happen to them

so give it a try if you are looking for something funny but steer clear if you want a horror movie because this may not be for you.

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