The Calling (2014)

Director: Jason Stone

Cast: Susan Sarandon, Gil Bellows, Ellen Burstyn

Synopsis: Detective Hazel Micallef hasn’t had much to worry about in the sleepy town of Fort Dundas until a string of gruesome murders in the surrounding countryside brings her face to face with a serial killer driven by a higher calling.

Susan Sarandon (Thelma & Louise, Arbitrage) plays Hazel Micallef, the acting police chief of a small town who uses alcohol and pills to combat the pain of a chronic back problem as well as the psychological baggage of having lost a child at birth. Her obvious dislike for her superior not only precludes her from taking on the job permanently but also from receiving additional resources when she suspects that the body of a terminally ill woman is just one of a series of victims of a previously undetected serial killer. And although her suspicions are soon confirmed, the motives of the killer are unlike those of any that have killed before.

The Calling is a well-made movie, with a unique idea driving the storyline, but it’s handled in a somewhat pedestrian fashion by director Jason Stone, and suffers from a loose plot and shallow screenplay from Scott Abramovitch which never quite manage to satisfactorily provide the depth of character background necessary to explain the actions of its protagonist. Sarandon delivers a typically accomplished performance, although again the script never really allows her to convince as a deeply damaged character somehow managing to hold her life together despite both the physical and psychological afflictions from which she suffers.

(Reviewed 15th August 2015)