Hellphone (2007) User Reviews

Something of an acquired taste...

[paul_haakonsen · 3/10 · 22 October 2021]

Sure, the concept idea behind this 2007 French comedy "Hellphone" was interesting. As I sat down to watch it, I hadn't even heard about the movie, but I did find the synopsis interesting, and the fact that this was a movie that I hadn't already seen, of course I opted to watch it.

Well, writers Jean-Baptiste Andrea, James Huth and Sonja Shillito managed to put together something unique, I will say that much. However, the storyline was just something that fell short of providing me with much of any particularly outstanding enjoyment. Sure, "Hellphone" was watchable, but this was by no means a particularly entertaining movie for me.

I gave up on "Hellphone" with just about 20 minutes left, give or take. But by that time, then I just had lost interest in the storyline, as it felt like the movie was running on auto-pilot from the midway point and onwards. So director James Huth wasn't really delivering here.

The acting in "Hellphone" was adequate. I wasn't familiar with anyone on the cast list, but then again, I am not overly familiar with French cinema, as it is not those movies I watch the most. But I will say that the cast were putting on adequate performances, despite of having a less than mediocre script to work with.

For a comedy, then "Hellphone" just didn't cut it, at least not for me. And as such, then my rating of this 2007 movie lands on a mere three out of ten stars.

It's a lot of fun (...but just don't expect it to be scary)

[OliverGbyrne · 7/10 · 5 December 2007]

Hellphone is the story of a boy who , not really knowing it , buy an evil phone who has a mind of its own to get the girl of his dream. It's a crazy film from beginning to the end , it goes at a crazy speed both in the writing and the direction, the camera keep zooming in,zooming out,the color are bright and the actor all have very high energy. There's a lot of dark comedy in there too (There's a scene were a fast food owner deep fried his own head)and plenty of laugh. Jean Baptiste Maunier had become very popular in France since "les choriste" and even if I must say that I don't consider myself a fan of him , I really did find him convincing in the role of a metal-head kid. But in my opinion the real star of the film is Vladimir Consigny who plays Virgile , the self obsessed bad guy in the story,he bring a lot of fun to the role ( and I'm not talking about the strip tease scene ) he's just a really different sort of villain. The last 15 minutes of the film are the best for both fans of horror and comedy. It's a really hard film to describe but if any of you saw film like "Idyle hands" or "Shawn of the dead" I am sure you will have a fun time watching this silly horror/comedy.

Good horror story

[osigotx · 7/10 · 14 August 2021]

I watched this in the theater when it came out. It was a great scary movie. To be honest, what surprises me is that there are so few ratings here (which is why the overall rating is biased too low).

This film deserves a solid *7 - good film.*

Very entertaining and a lot of fun

[Thor98 · 10/10 · 23 February 2008]

Hellphone came as a surprise to me. I rented it believing to get a standard horror/teen b-movie. Instead I got a clever made comedy with brilliant dialogs and perfect actors. The script is very well written and the director did a good job, since he managed to make even simple scenes interesting to watch. I had the feeling that the whole cast and crew really enjoyed their work and I for myself never enjoyed a movie that much since "Interstate 60".

Hellphone is full of dark humor, even the "brutal" killings makes you smile. Another plus are a lot of references to other movies ("The Birds", "Vertigo", "Christine", "Gremlins", ...). The supporting actors are well chosen. Each of them reminds you of typical cartoon characters. All of them add well to the story.

It's a joyride for everyone who likes entertaining but not too heavy stuff. Something you can watch over and over again.

Rollicking French teen horror romcom

[wrxsti54 · 7/10 · 12 September 2021]

Hellphone is a fascinating blend of a teen coming of age and horror movie genres but with many comedic twists all against the beautiful backdrop of Paris. Set in a high school near the heart of the city, it traces the plight of 17 year old Sid Supir (Jean Baptiste Maunier) a baby faced quirky skater kid trying to woo an older beautiful and popular girl Angie (Jennifer Decker) who currently dates wealthy handsome and equally popular Virgile (Vladimir Consigny). Set in the mid 2000's at the very beginning of the smartphone revolution when phones began to be more than for calls and texts, Sid believes he can win over Angie with a racy and radical new experimental phone he buys for a mere 30 euros in a sinister black magic shop. The phone turns out to have supernatural powers to grant the every wish of an adventurous teenage boy and his skating buddy Pierre/Tiger (Benjamin Junger). At first these wishes are relatively innocent, like giving him a formula in a maths class and advance warning on a history exam subject. But as Sid tries to bypass the bullying of teachers, his exploitive boss and Virgile and his aggressive friends to win over Angie, the phone orchestrates a series of spectacular, and at times humorous almost slapstick, deaths. As the death toll mounts and as Sid becomes obsessed with his quest, eventually Angie and Tiger assist Sid with the difficult and gruesome task of destroying this phone from hell. This journey brings Sid and Angie together.

A still young looking 15 year old Jean Baptiste (JB) Maunier is cast in this cool teen romp by Director James Huth to capitalise on his dramatic rise to fame after his starring role aged 12 in "Les Choristes" due to his near perfect angelic choir boy voice. Despite being first a singer and all the other main high school student parts being filled by young looking adults all at least 5 years older than JB, his acting in this high energy intense movie is first rate and he fits in very comfortably in a very different role than "The Choir". For a few years through his teens, Maunier attempted a triple of pursuing an acting, modeling and singing career but with only modest success with recording some songs and cameo roles as an adult.