Cell (2016)

While I know this is Friday the 13th and I should be doing a review of one of those films, the one I grabbed (and am watching right now), I have already reviewed. So, to fill that void, I am writing up the movie from last night, 2016s Cell.

Plot/ When a mysterious cell phone signal causes apocalyptic chaos; an artist is determined to reunite with his young son in New England.

I have never read this book by Stephen King, but honestly, that was probably a good thing because it is often difficult to watch adaptations of his work if you are familiar with the source material. From watching this and the disjointed storyline, I definitely imagine that was the case. More of a philosophical thriller than zombie horror flick, there were some elements of the story that were intriguing. In many ways, this is the world that we live in and I could see society suffer with some type of psychological trauma if something similar happened. The scripting was honest; the performances decent, and there were some atmospheric moments that made this somewhat interesting. Unfortunately, the cinematography and effects make this more of a low budget B-movie destined for the SyFy Channel than anything else, a surprising fact when you see that John Cusack and Samuel L. Jackson take on the lead roles. In the end, this one is nothing memorable and I imagine that the book was a better time. Is it watchable? Yes, but, have I seen worse? Absolutely!