Cellular (2004)

August 2, 2022 12:33 AM

A young man receives an emergency phone call on his cell phone from an older woman. She claims to have been kidnapped and the kidnappers have targeted her husband and child next.
posted by geoff. (4 comments total)

I went through nearly the whole film thinking it was made around 1992 and was thrown off a bit by the cell phone looking too new for that era. 2004! Maybe it was Kim Bassinger or an extremely young Chris Evans but the film look and feels dated. Even down to the over the top 80s/90s police station that only cares about gang crime.
posted by geoff. at 12:37 AM on August 2, 2022

A solid b-movie thriller with a smarter than average screenplay.
posted by fairmettle at 1:25 AM on August 2, 2022 [4 favorites]

It's based on a Larry Cohen story (and original screenplay?) so that puts its origin squarely in an earlier era.

Maybe that is why it felt out of time.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:07 AM on August 2, 2022

Well Kim Bassinger alone made it seem out of the 80s or 90s, and the aesthetic of her as a damsel in distress in a dark room with slats of light was very 80s, sort of Fatal Attraction elevator or The Game vibe to it. Then Chris Evans' red t-shirt was a shade that was just simply very Captain Ron. Something about the cinematography just seemed off. It wasn't until I realized that the main character was Chris Evans and there's a definite post-9/11 airport security screening that I realized what decade we are in.
posted by geoff. at 7:26 AM on August 2, 2022