Undescribable Perfection

hyped garbage

Excellent but underrated film

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

I love movies like this. I love movies where the characters don't have names, they have titles. Here we have a two character film. One character is The Girl. The other is The Caller.The psychological head games they play on each other reach a bizarre level that makes for a truly fascinating viewing experience. A lot of folks, I suppose, will be turned off by the excessively talky nature of the script--the entire thing is nothing but dialog--but for those out there who are looking for something different--then The Caller is worth seeking out. Watch it if you enjoy Malcolm McDowall's acting.The whole thing keeps you guessing...very weird and well done.

A woman alone in a cabin in the woods. A mysterious man knocks on her door. The game begins...This is the perfect film for fans of mystery and intrigue. Like a two-person play, the characters toy with each other, making the viewer sense these two know more than they are letting on. So, we have to try to listen more carefully to what they say and play along. Malcolm McDowell and Madolyn Smith handle their situation effectively and play against each other with ease. Sure, the outcome may seem far-fetched to many viewers, but that's the beauty of this film--you never in a million years would have guessed that THAT was what was going on! Any other solution would have made this a standard "TV mystery", but this one gives you a swift kick and makes sure you are very surprised. It's too bad little gems like these don't get better coverage, even in the magazines that deal with obscure films. Don't try to analyze it too much, but it sure is fun having a brain-teaser for a film as well as be entertained. For such an obscure film, this one is amazingly smart and deserves a more attention. I'm quite confident word of mouth would secure its success this time around over 20 years later.Update August 2011: A DVD-R is now available as part of MGM's Limited Edition Collection. In 2010 Intrada released Richard Band's soundtrack score on CD, but in a limited edition of 1,000 copies.

Fascinating (and undiscovered) mystery/suspense/ thriller concerns a strange woman and her (even stranger?) guest in an isolated cabin in the woods. That's the entire cast, and basically there is only one set. A chilling movie where nothing is what it seems. You spend the entire film trying to discern who the "villain" is. This sort of thing must have impeccable acting to succeed, and does. McDowell is exquisite, the perfect choice.Subsequent viewings are also rewarding, but you watch the movie from a complete different perspective. 2 1/2 of 4 stars on a tough scale.

The opening scene sets the tone for the rest of the movie - A woman (Smith-Osborne) is shopping in a deserted shopping centre and then drives her car down an equally deserted main road to her house. No explanation is given for the absence of people, nor for that matter the mysterious man (McDowell) who visits her and begins explaining his presence at the house. The woman points out inconsistencies in his story and as she does so he awards her with a point (it is mentioned that she needs ten points but we are not told the reason). We come to realise that the woman is being held hostage at the house by the man and tension builds as the woman nears ten points and the climax. The woman finally reaches ten points and well... The ending is a bit of a let down (and perhaps a touch frustrating for some) but the film is well worth watching, if only for the performances by McDowell and Smith-Osborne.