stephen king cell movie review

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John Cusack and Samuel L. Jackson in Cell (2016)

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

Tod Williams
Stephen King
Adam Alleca
John Cusack
Samuel L. Jackson
Isabelle Fuhrman
337 User reviews
146 Critic reviews
38 Metascore

Top cast 99+

Clay Riddell

Tom McCourt

Alice Waxman

Sharon Riddell

Johnny Riddell

Charles Ardai

Hog Tied Man
(as Jeffrey Hallman)

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Trivia Stephen King announced in 2009 that he had written a screenplay for the movie, and had created a new ending, based on reader complaints about the book's ending.
Goofs On Tom McCourt's advice, Clay puts a cellphone in the fridge to cool the battery down to make the charge last longer yet he fails to do the obvious and turn it off. Also the theory of 'making a phone battery last longer by freezing it' is dubious at most, but the characters may not know any better.

Tom McCourt : Clay, I'm really sorry about your family.

Clay Riddell : Don't be sorry because there is nothing to be sorry about yet.

Crazy credits After the closing credits have finished, the catalyst signal from the movie plays for approximately 5-10 seconds, with no image, as if attempting to convert the audience.
Connections Featured in FoundFlix: Stephen King's CELL (2016) Ending Explained (2016)
Soundtracks I am glad, I am very glad, because i'm finally returning back home aka "Trololo song" Music by Arkadiy Ostrovskiy Performed by Eduard Khil

User reviews 337

A decent film, despite itself..

Nixon_Carmichael
Jun 12, 2016
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June 10, 2016 (United States)
United States
Official Site (Japan)
Tín Hiệu Diệt Vong
Atlanta, Georgia, USA
The Genre Co.
Benaroya Pictures
120dB Films
See more company credits at IMDbPro
Runtime 1 hour 38 minutes
Dolby Digital

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‘cell’: film review.

John Cusack and Samuel L. Jackson face Stephen King's mobile-phone apocalypse.

By THR Staff

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When Stephen King released Cell in 2006, the premise probably seemed a fitting parable for our dependence on unceasing connection via personal tech: One day, a mysterious signal causes everyone in the world who’s talking on a cell phone to turn into a zombie-like killer. A decade later, though, real life has made the metaphor redundant: Try to navigate a sidewalk full of walk-and-type texters , and you’ll know who the real zombies are.

But if Tod Williams’ adaptation of Cell is dated on arrival, the last 10 years have presented it with a bigger hurdle: a deluge of zombie fiction that makes anything less than excellent action look dreary. Though it’s better than its “dump this thing” theatrical release would suggest, Cell is far from excellent. Even with John Cusack and Samuel L. Jackson in the leads, a swift passage to ancillary afterlife is assured.

Cusack plays graphic novelist Clay Riddell , who has just landed at the Boston airport when the mysterious cell broadcast occurs. Before the film has had time to wipe its shoes on the welcome mat, TSA agents are eating their dogs and rabid mayhem has claimed almost everyone onscreen. (As they don’t die before turning, these mouth-foamers aren’t technically zombies. But they’re fast and mean, and haven’t forgotten how to wield the occasional weapon.)

Escaping into the city with train conductor Tom McCourt (Jackson), Clay teams with upstairs neighbor Alice (Isabelle Fuhrman) before fleeing town. The three embark on a now-standard pilgrimage to a place rumored to be zombie-free, with the usual stops along the way: finding an arsenal at a gun nut’s house; taking refuge (and learning things about the enemy) at an abandoned private school; and getting help from other survivors of dubious sanity.

Comic relief is rare (“Think it’s safe to text?” a character asks hopefully at one point), but there’s not a lot to be relieved from: The scariest thing on offer is the way the enslaved humans (dubbed “ phoners “) emit electronic noises and other broadcasts from their open-hanging, expressionless mouths. The effect is a direct ripoff of Philip Kaufman’s Invasion of the Body Snatchers , but it works.

What works less well is the confused nature of the affliction controlling those phoners . The script (co-written by King) strays substantially from the novel in its depiction of “The Night Traveler,” a red-hoodied creep who may be the man (or alien? or spirit? or metaphor?) pulling the strings. Still, the picture makes more sense than 1408 , the incoherent haunted-hotel King adaptation Cusack and Jackson teamed up for in 2007. Where that film went off the rails, this one plays it safe, albeit with a bait-and-switch ending likely to annoy fans of the book.

Distributor: Saban Films Production companies: Genre Company, Benaroya Pictures Cast : John Cusack, Samuel L. Jackson, Isabelle Fuhrman, Owen Teague, Clark Sarullo , Anthony Reynolds, Erin Elizabeth Burns, Stacy Keach Director: Tod Williams Screenwriters : Stephen King, Adam Alleca Producers: Richard Saperstein , Michael Benaroya , Brian Witten , Shara Kay Executive producers: John Cusack, Stephen Hays, Peter Graham, Ben Sachs Director of photography: Michael Simmonds Production designer: John Collins Costume designer: Lorraine Coppin Editor: Jacob Craycroft Composer: Marcelo Zarvos Casting directors: Tara Feldstein , Chase Paris

Rated R, 97 minutes

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