User Reviews

'Call Me' is a worthy b-grade thriller for nostalgics. Set in New York City, it is very 80s, replete with a character resembling Iona of Pretty in Pink, and a saxophone-rich soundtrack resembling some of the music heard in Desperately Seeking Susan.

Patricia Charbonneau plays main character, Anna. One evening, she receives a phone call from a man who she thinks is her lame boyfriend, Alex (Sam Freed), telling her to meet her at a neighborhood bar. Turned on by his surprising kinkiness, she accepts the invitation. But, while there, she witnesses the death of a transvestite at the hands of a dirty cop looking for money that he was supposed to be given. This puts her in the middle of a world of trouble, and soon enough, her life is threatened for having inadvertently intervened in a scheme involving the dirty cop, double-crossing henchmen (which includes a very young and very pale Steve Buscemi), and what I presume to be a mob boss. She assumes that there is a connection between those involved and the seductive voice on the telephone who she once thought was her boyfriend.

The movie is riddle with twists and a few unconvincing plot holes, but it is well paced and a better title for the 80s b-thriller genre.

My review was written in May 1988 after a Cannes Film Festival Market screening.

"Call Me" is an unusual melodrama that boasts solid performances, but is too far-fetched to fly. Cult possibilities loom for his Gotham-lense Vestron release.

Initial series of plot devices are the toughest to swallow; Anna (Patricia Charbonneau), a beautiful journalist for a Village Voice-type periodical receives an obscene phone call that turns her on. She mistakenly believes it's her boyfriend Ale and agrees to meet him at a bar she's just written about.

At the bar a strange but alluring man (Steven McHattie) comes on to her, but all hell breaks loose when she witnesses he murder of a transvestite in the ladies' room by a corrupt cop involved in a drug case.

The dirty phone calls continue and she now assumes (erroneously ) they're from McHattie. Actually McHattie is searching for her, since he was a principal in the drug deal.

Topical subject of phone sex is the hook for this contrived thriller, with a bland acquaintance of Anna's (whom she eventually and improbably sleeps with) turning out to be the mystery caller. Climax where all the cast principals happen to show up at a warehouse for a violent confrontation rings false.

Cementing the loose ends together is a strong performance by Chabonneau. The pic's sexy centerpiece is her maturbation scene following instructions from the caller, photographed tastefully as the camera circles around her loft several times. McHattie is suitably creepy, but ambiguous enough to generate sympathy as the lead heavy, with his hophead partner Switchblade (Steve Buscemi) turning in a scene-stealing job. Styled as a platinum blonde, Patti D'Arbainville adds warmth as Anna's best friend.

Pic is shot with a very hard-edged, gritty look that avoids the glamor of recent romantic thrillers in favor of generating a mean city streets/film noir mood.

Spoiler alert. It's a taut, at times gripping, thriller with a limited but well spent budget. The cinematography is solid and not a little stylish. The production design is quirky (vertical fish tanks) and plays with an emotive color palette. The leads are attractive and effective. One sequence, however, belongs in the pantheon of memorable screen moments. It involves a a stranger's phone call, an orange, a beautiful woman and a very surprised observer. The audience squirms in embarrassment. Friends who have viewed "Call Me" still leave single oranges as gifts to others in the know. It's not in the same league as, say, "Don't Look Now", but it's definitely worth your time.

New York journalist Anna (Patricia Charbonneau) is in a passionless relationship with her boyfriend Alex (Sam Freed). One day, while in her apartment, she receives an indecent phone-call from a mysterious person and she attributes the voice of the stranger to Alex, in her hope that he is trying to spice up their relationship with unorthodox methods. The caller asks Anna for a meeting at a local bar and she complies, still convinced, that Alex would be the one waiting for her there. As one can guess, things don't go as planned and Anna ends up in the wrong place at the wrong time. Not only is Alex not at the bar, but during a visit to the ladies' room, she involuntarily overhears and partly sees a murder in the next door stall. For a quick second during the brutal attack next door, Anna watches through the hole between the stalls as a police badge falls to the floor and is quickly picked up by the killer. Petrified and shocked, Anna remains hidden in her stall, until she is sure the attacker has left. Knowing the killer is a cop, Anna refuses to go to the police and report what has happened, so she promptly exits the bar and goes home, but on her way out is noticed by the thug Jellybean (Stephen McHattie). Soon, Anna finds herself in the crosshairs of some very shady people. Meanwhile, she is convinced the mysterious caller is somehow connected to the events at the bar. And what is stranger still, the obscene calls at her home continue after the murder and while initially determined to dismiss the incessant caller, Anna gradually starts to feel an unexplainable attraction to him...

While "Call Me" cannot quite make up its' mind, if it wants to be an erotic thriller or a crime/action thriller, I found the film to be weirdly entrancing, especially during the increasingly uncomfortable, but also arousing at times dialogue between Anna and her unknown caller, which culminates in a tense but exciting scene, where she is dared to use an orange to pleasure herself. The way the scene is shot thankfully never crosses the line into vulgar tastelessness and in fact the nudity in the film is quite timid, considering the genre the filmmakers were probably going for, but it more than compensates with some truly gutsy lines of dialogue, which would be surely deemed too hot for TV. Patricia Charbonneau's strong performance carries much of the movie's weight, not only during the mentioned more risque sequences (which she nails with steel conviction), but in other instances too. There is a very memorable scene, where she spots the thug Jellybean following her in his car and instead of running away, she decides to confront him and even does a nifty trick on him, that renders his pursuit futile. In another fun scene, in a fit of rage over being lied to by a man she has been intimate with, Anna forcefully pushes a home aquarium on top of the guy as it crashes in a mini-tsunami of water, glass and flying fish. Clearly a character that stands her ground, which makes her all the more likeable. Too bad she cannot catch a break, as everyone seems to want a piece of her - a sadistic knife-wielding gangster (Steve Buscemi) and a corrupt cop want her dead, the (seemingly) shy friend of a friend is trying to woo her, her boss makes inappropriate comments and the unknown caller lusts for her.

I liked the third act too, even though it felt a bit rushed and patched from another type of movie. The violent and gritty climax of the last 10-15 minutes clash with the more sensual and romantic middle part, but in this case I appreciated the contrast, as it was refreshing and the final scenes even held some small surprises for some side characters' arks.

As a whole, while its' narrative structure is definitely more on the messy side, I found "Call Me" to be a fascinating film with plenty of memorable sequences and a strong female lead performance. For a B-Movie thriller it is quite engaging and absolutely worth a watch.

Being a great movie fan I give a chance to all movies, and when I became curious about CALL ME I didn't cared too much about it because of the pathetic score of 5,1 and only 9 reviews that might mean that a movie is terrible. Well, what a fool I have been! Last February I finally saw it and I liked it very much even more than I expected.

Anna (Patricia Charbonneau) is a tipsy journalist that one night is called by an unknown person and she first assumes that it's her boyfriend, and just for this mistake she accepts to go to a bar for meeting with the caller but as she is about to meet him a young prostitute is murdered in the near bathroom and she unwittingly witnesses the scene. She returns home, and her boyfriend was waiting for her and have dinner. At the same time outside the bar the Caller is in cahoots with two crooks named Switchblade (Steve Buscemi) and Alex and nearly beat a guy that owed money to them.

The next day goes to work and while her relationship with her boyfriends gradually deteriorates because he is a clueless eternal child she starts a relationship with Bill that has a voice similar to that of the caller and it works, only to leave him one night in his home full of aquariuses after she suspects that he wants to murder her. It's only a matter of time that she is soon pursued all over town by the thugs from before and Bill will do everything to prove to Anna that he is innocent up until there is the big showdown in a warehouse (something you expect in these sort of films) and the Caller will prove to be a nice guy and after the big finale (with Bill that on the verge of death manages to fall on Switchblade and making the both of them falling to their deaths) he'll help Anna to go away and recommends her to start a new life somewhere else.

I was ready to hate it because of the bad score and bad reviews but instead I ended up nearly loving it. All the cast members (Charbonneau, Buscemi, David Strathairn and Stephen McHattie) give great and involving performances and our lead is like a cross between a lady in danger and a feisty heroine. The music was great, with a great '80s feel that even folks who didn't lived in those years like me will love and there are lots of entertaining moments such as the scene where Anna is in the park and after leaving her boyfriend she is approached by a black guy that puts happy music on the radio and then we cut to Buscemi putting some sugar in the Coke and making it go out of the can, or when Buscemi (yes, he has probably his first meaty role of his long career) goes in the clothing store and cuts the tent only for being shooed away by Anna's friend, or the last 20 minutes. The cinematography is great and it has a great thriller feel to it.

If you are into forgotten movies, this is certainly one to see at least once because of the plot, performances and many thrilling moments. Spine-chilling, cold and full of twists and turns... nothing better than this!