CELLPHONE

Cellphone begins in a remote mansion, where Brian (Isaac Versaw) is viewing the world through his phone with what appears to be mounting horror. He meanders through the house looking through it until, after settling his gaze on his sleeping fiancee Jeanie (Katherine Barber), it appears he proceeds to hang himself. Cut to the present; Wynne (Whitney Rose Pynn) is a young woman who’s struggling with guilt over the death of her fianceé Liam (Jared Noble) in a car accident, for which she blames herself, as she was driving. She’s taken on the task of housesitting the same mansion for Bob (Malcolm McDowell), who we only hear as a rather creepy voice over Wynne’s phone as he calls occasionally to check in.

Things rapidly take a turn for the worse for poor Wynne, who begins to receive strange phonecalls, whereupon picking up she’s seeing everything around her through the phone camera; but what she’s seeing isn’t what’s really happening. Some of these scenes are truly unsettling; a picture hanging straight on the wall appears to her to suddenly skew, and she also sees the scenario with Brian, who stabs Jeanie before hanging himself. On top of all this she has frequent visions of Liam, all of which, quite understandably, make her feel like she’s losing the plot.

To lighten the mood she happens upon Chris (Justin Malik Jackson); a local who pops out from under a truck in the barn and babbles away in an eccentric and random manner about all sorts. He’s friendly and funny however, and makes an effort to drag Wynne away from her sadness by engaging her in activities she’s at first not too keen on, such as learning how to fire a musket and coming on a trip to the shops. These are partially successful, but the visions keep intruding, and poor Wynne doesn’t think she’ll ever be able to cope, especially when Chris tries to coax her into driving again, which ends badly. Things escalate further when Wynne begins seeing herself and Chris dead through her phone; but the real snapper comes towards the end, which I’m not going to tell you about, as I don’t do spoilers.

If I’m being honest, Cellphone feels more like a collection of snapshots rather than a feature film; it’s compelling, but jumbled. We flit between the past and present, visions and what may be hallucinations, or simply the product of a mind in crisis. There are some truly spooky moments; Bob on the phone has an extremely eerie quality about him, and much of what Wynne sees through her phone is as well. Chris’s presence is simply mad, but strangely enjoyable; he’s a likeable character, though decidedly incongruous.

The lack of continuity is possibly the result of Cellphone being the first feature derived from a short made by director Luke Sommer and his wife Rachel, who wrote it. Often it’s hard to pad out a short into a feature, and that’s what shows here. However, it’s compelling enough to watch without getting bored, if more than a little confusing. Essentially it seems to be all about Wynne’s struggle to overcome her grief and guilt. If I were to recommend it I’d say approach it with an open mind and enjoy the ride, but if you’re looking for a film that makes sense, it’s probably not for you.