It’s a home invasion thriller with a twist!
Opening with a bloodbath in a call center where an angry client is making horrible phone calls to the operators, The Caller definitely lives up to its name. Yet, director Richard Anthony Dunford is not done with the violence as his film settles into its main story, involving a house sitter in a secluded rural lodge who works from home.
You read that right. The Caller, which builds its suspense nicely for a low budget horror film, is set in another cabin in the woods. Except this time, the threat is coming from the phone . . . and there’s no one within miles to help this customer service agent as she faces a threat from a very disturbed individual.
Izzy (Sarah Alexandra Marks, who is quite wonderful in the role) has all that she needs while doing her job. She’s damned professional at handling all sorts of problems. She has her apple. She has her tea. She has her crisps, too. Even coffee for those long nights on the phone, handling call after call.
And, through it all, a dark and threatening suspense is building. It is handled with expert skill as Dunford adds atmosphere to strike all the right chords within the viewer. Especially when the pricks on the other end get more and more . . . extreme.
Yet Izzy handles all incoming calls with style and grace - even the rude ones - and maintains a lovely tone even as the boredom sets in. Being a customer service agent is not something she wants to do. It’s what she has to do. 
But remaining calm when she’s terrorized by a psychopathic caller (Eric Roberts) is going to push her to her own limits. No, no, verbal abuse isn’t enough for this thriller. Izzy is soon engaged in a desperate fight for her own life as the caller becomes a very real threat . . . one she must survive as he brings the violence with his unannounced arrival.
While the final act of The Caller follows the formula of the home invasion sub-genre in horror, there’s enough disturbing content - especially with a chiding from her boss - to really draw attention to itself as Izzy finds herself in a truly dark situation, especially the aftermath.
Co-starring Dani Thompson, Colin Baker, and Meghan Adara, The Caller is a one-woman show which seriously lands on a very disturbing situation. It will be released by Uncork’d Entertainment on December 5th.
MPAA Rating: Unrated.
Runtime: 92 mins
Director: Richard Anthony Dunford
Writer: Richard Anthony Dunford
Cast: Sarah Alexandra Marks; Eric Roberts; Colin Baker
Genre: Horror
Tagline: Terror Has Come Through the Phone.
Memorable Movie Quote:
Distributor: Uncork'd Entertainment
Official Site:
Release Date: December 5, 2023
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date:
Synopsis: A customer service agent working from home is terrorized by a dissatisfied psychopathic caller.
