This Review Reveals Minor Details About the Plot.
Cold Call
Plot Overview
In a North Denver suburb in 1982,
Christian schoolgirl Gwen Blake (Madeleine McGraw) is haunted
by dreams of her departed mother calling from a derelict phone
(“The thing's deader than disco.”) Three souls who
haven't found rest in the afterlife are wanting Gwen to find
them. When a handbill for Alpine Lake Christian Youth Camp
providentially comes her way, Gwen signs up as a
Councilor In Training (CIT) along with her protective 17-year-old big
brother Finney (Mason Thames) and a classmate Ernesto Arellano
(Miguel Mora) who's got the hots for her.
They arrive early at the camp just
ahead of a blizzard that closes the roads. Inquiry reveals that
there were in fact three boys gone missing, but the cops had not
dragged the lake as it was frozen over at the time. Further inquiry
reveals that there was ice cutting equipment at Lake Marno for
fishing, which could have been transported to their camp and
used to effect the disposal of corpses. The three CIT's & skeleton staff
attempt to scope out their shallow lake clearing it of snow one
section at a time, all the while hindered by The Grabber (Ethan
Hawke) a demon spirit of a perv
dispatched in the earlier “Black
Telephone” movie.
Ideology
When Gwen says a bad word, staff member Barbara (Maev Beaty)
corrects her saying, “Whatsoever things are lovely,
think on these things.” Gwen completes the verse (Phil. 4:8) telling her not to leave
out, “whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things
are honest, whatsoever things are just—”
These are actually Greek virtues from the surrounding culture in
Bible times. In this movie “whatsoever things are
honest” was put to the test when Ernesto asks Gwen to a
concert and she accepts. Finn sitting next to her observes,
“You know that's a date.” Gwen concurs with his bon
mot. An honest to goodness date brings with it more expectations
and obligations than mere socializing. There can be temptations to
get out of such through date denial, but Gwen is honest here.
Long ago in rural life in the old country, marriages had been arranged by parents, based on land and inheritance. Then in small towns where everybody knew everything about everybody else, couples made their own arrangements and were taken to be serious once they started stepping out together. As transportation improved we find the honorable profession of matchmaker, but the beneficiaries still had to consent. In early America the frontier abolished class distinctions, so any eligible person of one sex could theoretically marry anybody else of the opposite. There dating came into its own where initial attractions led to playing the field to weed out no-goes from among the possibles. A date is a proper social situation where one can spend some prearranged time one-on-one with the person of interest. According to Mathetes, ad 130, “Christians follow the customs of their native lands in regard to marriage.”
In the movie “Say
Anything,” some recent high school grads defined a date
as “prearrangement, with the possibility of love.”
The Book of Esther in the Bible (that the frontiersmen read) shows
the origin of dating when Queen Esther made a lunch date with the
king of Persia. Prearrangement resulted in a plan change
when the king unable to sleep the night before had some court
records read to him and so was kept from a folly and hanged wicked
Haman instead. The possibility of love was represented when Haman
tried to bond with Esther at the banquet to get her to intercede on
his behalf. Thus a date embodies the two greatest commandments: to
love God with all one's being giving him opportunity to intercede
in our affairs, and physically bonding with one's date to best
understand him or her and treat such a one with love of
neighbor. In our movie there was prearrangement when
Ernesto asked Gwen out, giving God an opportunity to effect a
change of plans sending them to camp. There was possibility of love
when a frightened Gwen snuggled with Ernesto in his
bunk—until a watchful Finn put the kibosh on that.
Haynes & Edwards in their
Dating Handbook classified as dates:
“1333. Go to a concert” and “551.
Explore a spooky ghost town.” The “sanctimonious
twat” Barb would consider 1333 a date when the couple dressed
up for it, but not 551 when Gwen had to change into spare clothes
after she got wet & cold in a catfight. If we consider a
date date to be like a two-layer cake with icing on top, then
a single-layer cake would still be a cake though unadorned. There's
even the matter of cupcakes, the mini-date (of <
2 hrs.) I read about it once in a
women's magazine. Cakes come in all shapes & sizes. Gwen's
father had trouble accepting her “woo woo stuff,” but
everyone can accept what an honest date is. Duh.
Production Values
“” (2025) was directed by Scott Derrickson. It's screenplay was written by Scott Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill. It stars Mason Thames, Ethan Hawke and Madeleine McGraw. The returning cast does a top rate job. Miguel Mora who played Robin Arellano in the first movie is back now as Ernesto.
MPA rated it R for strong violent content, gore, teen drug use, and language. The film's tone was dark, the special effects scary. It was filmed on location in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Runtime is 1 hour 54 minutes.
Review Conclusion w/a Christian's Recommendation
Gwen is portrayed as being conversational with God in prayer, the camp as recovering from trauma, payphones as obsolete, and the Rocky Mountains as cold. The theme of this movie is frightening, appropriate for a Halloween release. It does the job.
Movie Ratings
Action factor: Edge of your seat underwater action. Suitability For Children: Not Suitable for Children of Any Age. Special effects: Well done special effects. Video Occasion: Late Movie. Suspense: Don't watch this movie alone. Overall movie rating: Three and a half stars out of five.
Works Cited
Scripture quoted from the King James Version. Pub. 1611, rev. 1769. Software.
Haynes, Cyndi and Dale Edwards. 2002 Things To Do On a Date. Holbrook, MA: Bob Adams Pub., 1992. Print.
Mathetes, Epistle to Diognetus 5. Quoted in Ken Johnson, Th.D. Ancient Church Fathers. Copyright 2010 by Ken Johnson, Th.D. USA.
bibles.n7nz.org