The Latest Horror Threat: Um, Text Messages
Filed under: Horror, Independent, Thrillers, Mystery & Suspense
More than once in recent weeks, I've found myself subjected to the bonanza of pre-show 'entertainment' at a local multiplex, the arguable best portion of which has been a fake trailer for a new Sprint phone, a spot unabashedly proud of both spoofing the nature of product placement and succumbing to it.
So when I first heard of a film called Text - about killer text messages - I assumed it was likewise a joke, a hoax, a ruse, a cunning attempt to trick me. I mean, doesn't that sound like the one faux trailer that didn't make it into Grindhouse? Alas, if Fangoria is to be believed, it's no joke...
The first film in a proposed trilogy, Text concerns a proverbial gaggle of high schoolers who find themselves falling victim to text messages which make them do horrible things to themselves and/or others; there's the heroine (Hanna Hill), the Mormon with secret feelings for the heroine (Lane Compton), the burnout (Mike Kaiser), and the sexpot with secret feelings for the burnout (Kaytlin Borgen).
In all fairness, it's not just a series of spooky texts resulting in deaths. This is the premeditated work of a killer, so that makes it totally different from the likes of One Missed Call and any number of other technology-proves-fatal offerings.
In all genuine fairness, the set photos do already boast more blood than Call, Prom Night, and When a Stranger Calls can claim in their combined frames, and the idea of a trilogy-spawning arc might suggest that we could be looking more at something along the lines of The Signal than Pulse. Fingers crossed...
You can visit the film's official site right here. At the moment, there is no apparent release date.
[Thanks to Peter over at Horror's Not Dead for passing this on.]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
6-18-2008 @ 2:28PM
phalange said...
No, it's still a joke, it's just that the makers aren't in on it...
Reply
6-18-2008 @ 2:33PM
William Goss said...
Zing! :)
6-18-2008 @ 2:41PM
MCW said...
Sounds cool to me. One Missed Call was actually an OK movie, so I'm game for One Missed Text. No point in picking on something before you even see it.
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6-18-2008 @ 2:48PM
William Goss said...
I believe that the original One Missed Call was an OK movie, and while I respect your opinion of the remake, I do hope that you don't think it to fall within the majority regarding it: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/one_missed_call/
And while it may seem to be a bit preemptive on my part, the truth is that it takes a lot to overcome any silly premise, and I'm not so sure that we can expect that here. I'm not against any silly premise, mind you (I'm quite fond of Be Kind Rewind), but for me and I'm guessing most people, this is facing an uphill battle from the start.
6-18-2008 @ 3:48PM
MCW said...
00%? Well, that's fine, but most of the time I disagree with critics, so I don't really take a review to mean anything. I didn't say the remake was excellent, but since we just don't get any new horror movies anymore that aren't remakes of remakes or re-imaginings, sometimes you have to just take what you can get.
And I certainly don't decide whether to watch a movie based on ratings from such high-profile people as: Kevin McCarthy of WJFK-FM, Sin Magazine (Heard of it?), Pablo Vicalla (Who?), John Beifuss of Commercial Appeal in Memphis, TN... what a joke. This is why a movie gets a 00% rating, it's because they are asking random people they find on the street.
Just to spite people, I'll pay full ticket price to see TEXT, and pledge my money towards movies with silly premises.
6-18-2008 @ 4:01PM
William Goss said...
So long as you admit they are in fact silly, then more power to ya.
6-18-2008 @ 3:40PM
Astin said...
“The killer sends text messages with images and sounds that trigger the recipient to do dangerous and risky stunts, and even to start killing their friends without remembering it."
Umm.. then they aren't text messages.
Nitpicking aside, at least it's grounded in a bit more reality than others. Not exactly The Manchurian Candidate though...
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6-18-2008 @ 10:08PM
Peter Hall said...
I wonder if the text messages will be sent from FEAR DOT COM, which is hosting "The Pathway" game designed by Satan from DEVOUR. Hopefully they aren't UNTRACEABLE, though, otherwise Diane Lane can't save the day with her absurd attractiveness. God help them if one of the characters drives a HYBRID, has ONE MISSED CALL, hears THE SIGNAL, taps into the PULSE, gets attacked by a VIRUS, or is stuck playing STAY ALIVE.
Sorry, couldn't help it. Tech based horror has always been and always will be weak sauce. TEXT - which as Astin pointed out isn't even describing text messages - is not going to be any different.
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6-18-2008 @ 10:12PM
William Goss said...
It may be weak sauce, but if I recall correctly, horror - tech-based or otherwise - is not dead. ;)
6-21-2008 @ 5:14PM
Rashad Ferguson said...
Zzzzz
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6-23-2008 @ 12:50AM
Ken said...
Thanks for the buzz. I'm the writer/producer and the main thing I can say is that it's totally not like OMC. I actually enjoyed the original OMC by Takashe Miike who did Audition, Imprint, etc. But whereas that was based on a Japanese book steeped in ghosts, here, we're a little more down to earth, though there "could be" supernatural things going on...just no ghosts.
Text is more like a Scream, Final Destination, Urban Legends etc., that is a group of teenagers at a high school get involved in something deadly, probably evil. They're young, pretty good looking, and they are involved in all the things that HS kids do...lots of blood, I hope unique (and fun) deaths, and Hanna Hall from Halloween, Reggie Bannister from Phantasm, and Jonathon Trent who was just cast in Transformers 2.
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