From my viewing matter, over the weekend, darlings, you would think it was a bust! But it really wasn't. We visited a coworker of my beloved, who is hospitalized, and did some humanitarian work, listened to Sister Camille, and had a nice early Saturday evening dinner.
I could not wait to see "The Calling." I was even anxious to read the Inger Ash Wolfe novel, but after seeing the disappointing movie, I don't feel the need to. I don't think I will learn any more by reading the novel.
This was supposed to open in theaters on Labor Day Weekend. With a cast consisting of Susan Sarandon, Topher Grace, Ellen Burstyn, and Donald Sutherland, there was much for me to anticipate. A town menaced by a religious serial killer. This should have blown me away.
It did not. In fact, if you are really interested in seeing this movie, don't read beyond here, because I plan on spoilers galore, not to be nasty, but just because they were so obvious and predictable, in the first place.
The minute Christopher Heyerdahl appears on screen as Simon, a man with a hippie dippy look, kind eyes, and claims of being a healer, I remarked to my beloved, "That is the killer." And I turned out to be right. By the time the movie was halfway through I had figured out who he was targeting and how, and most of why he was doing it. Nothing in this movie surprised me at all--and this is a genre where I like to be caught off guard.
It turns out that when Donald Sutherland, as Father Price, was a young priest, he ran an orphanage. There were two boys, Simon and Gabriel, who were there. In a decision he comes to regret, he splits the boys up; Gabriel is adopted, Simon remains at the orphanage. But the whole thing backfires; Gabriel is taken in by a family who abuses him; as soon as he is able, he goes on the road, leading the life of a drug addict, and eventually taking his life. Simon finds this out, and brings the body of his brother back to his religious trailer, run by his acolyte, Jane Buck,(which, as an actress, Ellen Burstyn and the audience would have had a lot more fun with than her playing Sarandon's mother!!!!!!!!!!) and freezes it, intending to bring him back! Uh huh!!!!!!!!!!!!
Meanwhile, despite the efforts of Mom, Sarandon is six sheets to the wind. She plays without make-up, and is supposed to be an alcoholic cop, addicted to pain killers, who attempted suicide years earlier, when she lost her baby, presumably through a miscarriage.!!!!!!!!!!!!
I mean, how much contrivance can be crammed into this story?
None of this has anything to do with matters at hand, except it gives the killer an excuse to get Sarandon and try to "relieve" her of her pain. Instead,Simon, the killer, ends up killing himself, just like his brother, years before. But not before he does in Father Price!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What a fascinating mess!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Maybe you are not as clever as I, so some out there may find this surprising. It is well acted, but the writing needs to be amped up, so there is some genuine suspense.
The Spook A Rama at Coney Island last month made me jump, more than this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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