When Evil Calls (2006) User Reviews

Too predictable to hold your attention

[goods116 · 3/10 · 23 January 2008]

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.

Gruesome, Unpleasant and Boring Rip-Off of Wishmaster (1997)

[claudio_carvalho · 3/10 · 21 February 2011]

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

Decent Movie, but has plenty of flaws

[tek8738 · 5/10 · 11 February 2008]

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

I wish, I wish...that Evil calls someone else.

[Cinema_Fan · 2/10 · 16 November 2008]

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.

Just Awful

[BlackSox1919-1 · 1/10 · 31 January 2008]

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.

Digital Tech Makes Movie-Making Cheap... and this is the side effect

[rcbridii · 2/10 · 1 December 2009]

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.

When Evil Calls...Dumb Answers

[samchecketts · 2/10 · 29 October 2008]

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.

My Review

[joemamaohio · 5/10 · 9 August 2008]

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.

Where Evil Calls

[Scarecrow-88 · 6/10 · 27 March 2010]

An evil djinn in clownface offers a geeky, mistreated teenager a chance to be popular, and in accepting his offer, serves as a catalyst for a series of gruesome events plaguing her school as her fellow students suffer the wrath of making their unfortunate wish, via phone text. That's how the djinn captivates his intended victims, send them a text offering a wish, the kids returning what they yearn for, and paying the consequences. Two detectives(including Dominique Pinon of "City of Lost Children" fame as a slovenly, disheveled alcoholic whose methods of interrogation aren't exactly orthodox)must uncover the reason behind the unusual body count building at the school under more than suspicious circumstances.

The version I watched was only about 60 minutes so it was arranged in episodic form without Sean Pertwee's narration. Each episode features some teenager going through their own personal ordeal, wishing for something out of anger, off-the-cuff, a crisis of an emotional nature, or just because they want others to see them differently. The dark humorous nature of the movie takes no prisoners as the djinn preys on kids with hang-ups and other troubles, vulnerable and desperate.

Such selected targets include:An oriental girl considered a "freak", the poor kid with acne, the fat boy whose eating habits are a bit off-putting, the nerd who so desperately desires to kiss the resident babe, the teen who wants X-ray vision to watch the female basketball team practicing naked, the struggling student fearing to fail his test who yearns to "see into the smart one's brain" getting just that, the facially scarred girl who wants to be beautiful, an anorexic who wishes to lose a "little weight", the closet lesbian who wants to look "good enough to eat" for a girl she carries a torch for, the guy who pines for his current girlfriend to have big breasts getting more than he bargained for, another wishing for the return of his step father who passed away the previous year, a girl wishing she was "hot", a scorned teen who, after catching her boyfriend getting an oral going-over by the school's most desirable chick, wishing to never see him again, a girl wishing that people could see how beautiful she was "on the inside", an obnoxious trouble-making lesbian(you'll notice that she is always bullying and ridiculing many of the victims throughout)wishes to be with her lover until they die, etc.

With plenty of gore, and applied computer graphics for the more difficult effects(..such as the burning of a face, eyeballs showing up in places they don't belong, an arm gushing blood after the hand was taken off in a garbage disposal and so on). I will say that some of the practical effects are impressive enough to leave you rather taken aback(or laughing depending on you sense of humor). Most of the individual stories last mere minutes before the characters are dispatched in sickening ways. Such potent violence includes a victim falling eyes-first on scissors, a victim crushed into a wall by a van, cannibalism, a suicide involving pencils up a victim's nostrils, a car leaving a victim's stomach open and her intestines exposed, etc. The whole "mobile phone horror series" idea shows in the movie sense the length of the scenarios, and victims' various outcomes based on those wishes which sealed their fates, aren't very long. I liked this more than others it seems because I thought the dark heart of the filmmakers was in the right place, and there's a sick sense of humor involved that I found rather entertaining. Definitely low budget with some effects less than satisfactory. Some lesbianism which I thought was nice, mostly kissing, and a surprising amount of nudity(mostly leering, lurid camera shots up the legs of the girls, exploiting the short skirts the private British school seems unaffected by).

Could not be worst

[asda-man · 1/10 · 25 June 2012]

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.

A True Horror Film for True Horror Fans made by a True Horror Fan!

[AuroraRuss · 10/10 · 13 June 2007]

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!

the gory film's trashy, Troma-esque exuberance ultimately won me over!

[Weirdling_Wolf · 7/10 · 25 March 2024]

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!

The acting and camera work are awful.

[lawrencelawrence86 · 1/10 · 27 November 2021]

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.

In a word: HILARIOUS

[currentecalamo · 9/10 · 29 May 2009]

It really made me laugh to see so many people seemed to miss the point entirely with this one. Complaining about the special effects, predictability and puns is like... I don't know, like complaining about clichés in an old romance film.

The number one thing to remember when you watch this on DVD is that it was intended to be seen on a tiny little cell phone screen. The directing and camera work are very careful in this regard, and I can really see actually sitting down and watching this on some mobile device. The second thing to remember is that this is not ever, at all, never never never supposed to be taken seriously. Ever. It hearkens back to the awful/amazing horror films of the '80s in its gratuitous gore and nudity. You know, the ones you sit down to now and laugh and play drinking games with. Image what you love about those movies packed into super-mini segments. The only difference here is that those were only slightly self-aware, while When Evil Calls is balls-out mocking of itself. The campy CGI and awesomely bad death scenes only add to this effect.

The predictability factor is only an issue if you have no love for these silly films. Which I guess is possible. (But come on.) It is beyond entertaining to see (for example) a girl wish to never see her ex boyfriend's face again and then, oh my, is that an upturned pair of scissors in her path? Why, I think it is! The eye hanging out of the chick's socket is like an indulgence after an intense tease.

And how. How can you not love these actors. Sean Pertwee as the janitor serves as a modern, angry, drunk Crypt Keeper, addressing the audience as if he is telling the story. As the series progresses, he gets drunker, and actually more endearing, in a bitter kind of way. And my god, Chris Barrie still has it completely. His expressions alone had me laughing out loud shamelessly. So good.

In closing: You really have to see this one. Don't go into it thinking you're going to see a serious flick, don't you dare. This is horror comedy at its best, with blood, guts, boobs, lesbians and an amazing cast. What more could you even ask for?

FANTASTIC IT'S JUST Hilarious

[TheDarkEdge · 10/10 · 5 July 2009]

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.