The human mind creates dreams, inspiring people to create wondrous works of art, take giant leaps forward in technology, find creative ways to solve the unsolvable. But it's also capable of creating horrors, crippling people with nightmarish possibilities. Alfred Hitchcock, for one, knew how to use that reality to lead moviegoers to create their own visuals of what he left unseen in his movies. Take the infamous shower scene from Psycho. Not a single act of graphic violence is shown on screen, yet with a deft mix of music, sounds, and quick visual cuts, it remains one of the most horrifying moments in Hollywood history, with the bulk of the terror created by moviegoers imagining themselves how the scene plays out. Many other films have followed Hitchcock's lead, but they all have something in common. There is still a visual element, a trail of breadcrumbs that leads the mind to where the filmmaker wants it to go. Apple TV+'s Calls, however, is unique in that the visuals are largely non-existent, save for some abstract patterns, relying heavily on its audio. And the effect is bone-chilling.
‘Calls' Paints a Picture
Directed by Fede Álvarez, the man who revitalized the Alien franchise with this summer's Alien: Romulus, Calls is based on a French series of the same name, created by Timothée Hochet. The groundbreaking series, hailed as one of Apple TV+'s best, tells nine short-form stories, between 13 and 20 minutes each, through a series of phone conversations. Each episode plays out like a radio show/podcast, starting off with a seemingly normal phone call that quickly morphs into something much darker and supernatural, all seemingly unrelated but all converging towards an ending that connects them together. The closest comparable is maybe Orson Welles' War of the Worlds famed radio broadcast, mixed with Black Mirror, but there isn't really a comparable that does it justice.
Calls forces the audience to listen as it paints a picture of what's happening, cleverly weaving detailed descriptions with a growing dread and panic. A woman makes a 911 call because someone is trying to break into the house, and her panic increases when she realizes the intruder doesn't look like a human at all, describing terrifying details like its long, long arms. A man who had a fight with his wife calls back from his car but is taken aback when she says he's been gone for 6 months when it only seems like mere minutes to him, and each call he makes or receives after that, more time has elapsed on the other end. A pilot has a heartrending phone call with his young daughter, believing that at any moment, he could plummet to his death. It's a disorienting, eerie mix of the relatable with the unbelievable, and it all plays out in your mind in a terrifying nightmare.
You Can Hear, but You Can’t See the Stars in ‘Calls'
And if the voices heard in those conversations sound familiar, it's because they are. Calls boasts an exemplary host of talent, including Pedro Pascal, currently starring in the hit movie Gladiator II, Emily in Paris' Lily Collins, Guardians of the Galaxy's Karen Gillan, and Aaron Taylor-Johnson, the titular lead of the upcoming Sony Spider-Man spinoff, Kraven the Hunter. It's an impressive list, especially for a TV series where the actors aren't seen at all, but they infuse their roles with the same emotional depth they would for their more prominent visual roles.
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That commitment to the characters, the nuances and inflections in their voice that betray their feelings, the intangible elements that A-list talent brings that play a part in making Calls so effective. But it goes even deeper than that. What really makes Calls so frightening is its simplicity. Viewers enter the series with their own unique triggers and phobias, skewing their mental images into something far worse than what could possibly be shown, like an audiobook from Hell. So here's a tip for when you watch Calls (and you should): It doesn't matter if the lights are on or off in the house; it's playing in your brain. Sweet dreams.
Calls is available to stream in the U.S. on Apple TV+.
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A groundbreaking series unfolds entirely through phone calls, voicemails, and abstract visuals, revealing a mysterious and disturbing sequence of events affecting several individuals. Each episode explores different characters' experiences as they face eerie and often catastrophic phenomena, leading to a chilling realization about their interconnected fates.
Release Date
March 19, 2021
Seasons
1
Image via Apple TV+
English (US) ·