Hellphone (2007)

(On Cable TV, November 2021) There’s an interesting blend of comedy and horror in Hellphone, and it’s even more unusual in that it’s a French film that often aims for Hollywood slickness. The fun begins when a Parisian high-schooler somehow gets his hands on a demonic cell phone (the phone is red and has horns — even in a pre-smartphone era, this is not a subtle film) that then sets out to creatively destroy his foes and friends. This is clearly a horror film (one character self-impales with the content of a kitchen knife cabinet; another one deep-fries himself,) but one that doesn’t quite go as far as it could on the gore, and does keep a certain sense of humour throughout. Perhaps the one thing that still impresses nearly fifteen years later is writer-director James Huth’s sure-footed fast-paced rhythm (comparisons with Edgar Wright are a bit too laudatory, but still in the same ballpark) Executed with a fair amount of skill and budget, Hellphone is a bit of a surprise if you just happen to fall on it. (Much of my pleasantly surprised reaction comes from a DVR mistake, though — I thought I was recording something from a French-Canadian horror channel that often features half-duds, whereas Hellphone was recorded from a French-European movie channel that does have aspiration of cinematic quality.)  This being said, the dark humour running through Hellphone can be a bit much to take even when the film shies away from gore: there’s no mistaking the terrible things happening between two cuts or just off the camera angle. Some of the material is rote, and technology has advanced quite a bit fifteen years later, even if much of the film’s core has not aged as much as one would think. Hellphone is a fun surprise — keep your expectations in check and you may be swept by the film’s breakneck forward pacing.