Cell (Tod Williams, 2016, USA)

Cell is a 2016 adaptation of Stephen King’s 2006 novel. Something of a return to the horror genre after a period of experimentation, Cell is firmly in the survival-horror genre à la Dawn of the Dead. The fact that it took so long to make it to the screen is a story in and of itself, as the film was in production hell for a decade. Eli Roth was originally attached to direct a much higher-budget vision of the film, but later dropped out of the production. It is remarkable how long it took, given that John Cusack and Samuel L. Jackson had already appeared in a King adaptation in 2007 - 1408. That film was one of the most successful King adaptations of all time, if we go by box-office receipts.

Cell came and went without much fanfare for good reason. The film feels like a project that went through development hell - one gets the sense that large sections of the film were removed, as the story jumps from one point to another without much connective tissue. Cusack, as our leading man, seems to be quite exhausted, and it is interesting to note that this was something of a passion project for him (he is a producer on the film). Samuel L. Jackson brings watchability to anything he is in, so the film does have a certain level of watchability. King is not often the best adapter of his own novels, and the fact that he has a co-writing credit on this one is meaningful. While most readers enjoy the inner monologues of his characters, we get none of this in Cell. Characters plod along and make decisions without a hint of interiority or personality. The film is screaming for the characters to have more personality realized.

5/10