The Definitive Guide to Living in the Capital , Cairo , Egypt

Marking the debut feature from directors and visual effects artists Damien Mace and Alexis Wajsbort, Don’t Hang Up isn’t the kind of movie that will keep you awake at night. Formulaic to the bone, the story does have a few surprises up its sleeve, but there’s not enough suspense or originality in this a recycled thriller about two bored teenagers who get their kicks making prank calls.

 As the movie opens, a woman is woken from her sleep at exactly 3:23am by a ringing phone. She finds a voice telling her that her house has been surrounded and that there is an intruder in her home. Justifiably terrified, the woman expresses concerns for her daughter who is sleeping in the other room, however the voice over the phone soon tells her that her daughter has been kidnapped and shot. It is soon revealed that this was just a joke pulled by a couple of teenagers, best-friends Sam (Sulkin) and Brady (Clayton), who enjoy passing their time by recording themselves pranking people over the phone and posting their videos online in the hopes that their work will go viral.

However, the tables are soon turned when the boys, who have decided to continue their phone-based pranks during a stormy night when they receive a phone call from one of their ‘victims’, Mr. Lee (voiced by Desmeules); a mysterious man who is well aware of who they are, what they do and where they live. With the help of technology, Mr. Lee soon commences a night of terror for the young teenagers who are lost for ways on how to outsmart their stalker.

Clocking in just under 80 minutes, Don’t Hang Up doesn’t really give itself time to build its story properly or cover much ground when it comes to the arguments concerning the dangers of the digital age and internet bullying it brings to the table, with the story failing to provide any new insight or real substance into the topics discussed. The scares, however, are there and even though you will probably see them coming from a mile away, the atmosphere is fitting enough to create the wanted impact.

Then again, the fact that the masked killer – who doesn’t take long before making his physical presence known – has the ability to spy on the two boys through the use of every single digital gadget known to man, does raise questions of credibility whilst the likability of the two lead characters – who are not exactly innocent victims in all of this – is a problem, especially when the audience is asked to sympathise with their sufferings.

Overshadowed by an embarrassing amount of horror-movie clichés and implausibilities, Don’t Hang Up is a movie that’s hard to take seriously. Or, was that the whole point? Who knows.