Alexandra Holden stars in this cheap horror movie about an investigative reporter (aren’t they all) who moves home after a personal loss, only to stumble upon something even more terrifying awaiting her in the town she grew up in.
The film starts out routine and sadly continues in this fashion throughout and it’s all a matter of ghosts and spook houses, with a little bit of grisly corporeal murder thrown in for good measure.
Holden proves that she is a talented and capable actress here, which is more than can be said for some of the (ahem) stars. Low budget films obviously do not hide bad acting as well as those bigger budget pictures do. Still, the presence of Sid Haig, Leslie Easterbrook and Bill Moseley is a welcome addition to the proceedings, and the trio seem to have fun hamming it up here…especially Haig.
The film looks pale and washed out, the sets and locations are bland, there are a number of glaring technical errors and it’s just all incredibly repetitive. I wouldn’t have minded so much if I didn’t get the feeling that the director is incredibly smug about the whole thing.
OVERALL SUMMARY
A Dead Calling is not a terrible film but it’s unfortunately all been done before. It’s like they’re not even trying to make good movies anymore. I don’t mean to attack the filmmakers, it’s not the worst film I’ve ever seen, but when you watch as many films as I do, the lazy repetitive ones sometimes have to take it in the neck.
