The Call is a worldwide acclaimed American thriller released in 2013. The plot starts one night when the 911 emergency operator, Jordan, receives a life-altering phone call from a teenager saying that a prowler was trying to break into her house. Still suffering because of the incident that doomed the girl's life to death, Jordan uncovers a sadist serial killer and focuses on his tireless hunt and capture before he can trap his next victim.
The scenes are cleverly made and written focusing on the persecution of the murderer while he is escaping a new victim in the trunk of his car. The whole movie mixes jump scares and nail-biting situations that will have your classroom engaged and suffering that do-not-go- to the basement feeling for almost two hours.
However, this suspense movie was not so well received by critics saying that the plot falls to pieces near the end when an unexpected twist turns the whole movie into a gigantic gibberish. Most critics claim that the plot turned out to be the typical “Female in peril button pusher” that was only redeemed by the outstanding roles played by each actor who deigned to bring it to life. In any case, each scene builds excitement through both brain and brutality, and it can keep teenagers captivated, teach them new vocabulary and bridges their current language knowledge to new and more sophisticated one.
After the movie I asked my class to write a maximum 180-word review using some of the following vocabulary that can be found in Rotten Tomatoes, a web page where some of the cleverest film reviewers post their comment about the latest film releases.
THRILLER MOVIE REVIEW VOCABULARY
Satisfying armrest gripper |
Do-not-go-to-the-basement tension |
crude |
suspenseful |
fast-moving |
absorbing |
captivating |
The movie has you in its grasps |
proficient thriller |
nail-biting scenes |
creepy serial killer horror |
fast-paced action thriller |
Keep someone in the edge of his seat |
it is developed in a relatively satisfying way for most of its running time |
smartly written |
cleverly made |
A gripping and tense horror pic, |
twisted performance |
Extremely heart-pounding |
It stretches the bounds of credibility |
NEGATIVE COMMENTS
Gibberish |
Weak |
Dissapointing |
The script falls to pieces |
high quality trash |
Brain dead |
THe movie drown itself in the tub. |
Cheesy |
Just when you think it couldn't get any stupider, pow! |
a script has made the fatal slip from hyped-up suspense to sheer ludicrousness? |
A sputtering, so-so B thriller |
Low-budget filmmaking |
third-rate |
flawed |
boring |
disgusting |
distasteful |
senseless |