The Telling
The Telling
R | 14 April 2009 (USA)
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In this horror anthology film, three girls pledge the most popular - and cruelest - sorority on campus. For their final task, they must tell the scariest story they know. Containing three distinct stories - one featuring a murderous doll, one a has-been actress and her run in with a film crew of the undead and, finally, a hunt-and-kill fright-fest.

Reviews
Diagonaldi

Very well executed

Calum Hutton

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

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Edwin

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

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Logan

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

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GL84

Gathered together for Sorority Rush, potential pledges are brought together for the final initiation rites, their telling of a scary story.The Good Stor(ies): Doll Fear-Living together in New England, a woman isn't particularly pleased with her boyfriend inviting ex-girlfriend to live with them, until he gives her an antique doll as a peace offering. Growing impatient over the situation every day, she gradually comes to think that the doll is alive and after her, which no one in the house believes. As a series of weird incidents around her force her to believe that the doll is alive, she eventually discovers the truth and tries to stop its murderous antics. This was an incredibly enjoyable and entertaining entry, with a lot of really great stuff about it. One of the best things it does is the build-up with the doll being alive. From the different sayings in different situations, him waking up with the doll despite being placed in another location beforehand, as well as the best set-up, watching them have sex and giggling while doing so, followed up by the encounter on the stove afterward which really works well. All of these make the jealousy angle all the more fun and creepy, and once it moves into the final stalking, there's even more fun. The off-screen clattering and giggling set-up the slashing perfectly, the trail of bloody footprints is chilling, and the final resolution is really good. There's only one flaw in this, the fact that it's a pretty clichéd story and pretty much goes right where it's expected to without really offering anything surprising, but it's not a detrimental flaw at all.Prank Call-As their plans are canceled, friends stay home and decide to play a couple of prank phone calls, only for them to accidentally hear a murder over the phone during one of their calls. Understandably freaked out when they start receiving numerous threatening phone calls tormenting them about what they did, and their suspicions eventually get the better of them, they find that the killer may have found them. This is the most middle-ground of the stories. This here gets the tension of the situation really nicely, with the prank phone calls as well as the act heard over the phone which is quite creepy, followed up by the killer's call knowing of them with no knowledge beforehand. The police investigation segments are perfectly in keeping with that approach, and the first murder is really surprising. The stalking throughout the house is also pretty thrilling, especially the second one with the shadowy figure on the wall. These are all melded together nicely to make for a great premise, despite the execution somewhat lacking as the fact remains, however, that this is incredibly short and really could've done more to expand its stalking parts. There isn't enough to really play with all its' capable of and really should've used a few extra minutes into its stalking moments to actually get going nicely, as well as actually showcase its murders on-screen with some gore, which would've been helpful. However, it's still really good.The Bad Stor(ies): Crimson Echo-Fallen on hard times, an actress agrees to meet with an eclectic director on a new movie and goes to his house for preparation of the film. As he begins to explain the concept of the film, she grows incredibly uncomfortable with what's asked of her, until she learns the truth about the movie and what they demand of her. This one is really problematic, as it's such a potentially-entertaining segment. Easily the most chilling part of this, and the film as a whole, is the dinner party, from the silence from the guests as they sit around the table to the intense lecture given that goes well with the upcoming tension and growing concern over where it's heading, which works nicely. There's also the rather creepy masks worn as well as the abduction part at the end, along with the rather disorienting dream sequence that is highly erotic and trippy. There's some work to be done, though, in that the most disturbing segment, the showing of the war footage to really throw her off, is marred by the lame song played over the scene, not even showing it but just her reaction which really ruins the impact it's supposed to have as well as being utterly inappropriate for the situation. There's also the fact that, almost immediately afterward, one of the listeners aptly describes the entire segment as being weird over scary, since it's low on scares and tends to get by on its rather hypnotic look and feel to generate scares, and as well as ruining the dinner party scene, the abduction at the end and eventual torture is seen in such mild flashbacks and cuts that it's impossible to determine what happened to her or why it should be something to fear, and instead the end is just her acting like one of them without any explanation why, greatly ruining the power it should've had and altogether ruining the entire segment.Rated R: Graphic Language, Violence and Nudity.

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gavin6942

In this horror anthology film, three girls pledge the most popular -- and cruelest -- sorority on campus. For their final task, they must tell the scariest story they know. Containing three distinct stories -- one featuring a murderous doll, one a has-been actress and her run in with a film crew of the undead and, finally, a hunt-and-kill fright-fest.There is really nothing to say about this one. I do not know the history, but based on what I was able to determine, this was more or less an excuse to get Playboy models to appear in a movie. And, you know, I guess if that is all they wanted to do, it worked.Now, if they wanted to be in a good movie, they failed. We have a very poor version of the Twilight Zone's "Living Doll" episode. There is a decent second segment but it is pulled off terribly. And after that... well, ugh.

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boynascar

With all the great actors in the movie, how could it had turned out so bad ?...lol... The Only thing great about the movie is the Playboy bunnies and breast shots !... That's it... Nothing else left to say....... Pass it up unless you want to be bored to death for 80 minutes... Not only is it bad, but the direction, production, sound, and script is AWFUL at best. They stole good ideas from other movies and made them cheap. They didn't even do a good job at editing either, if they would have, the movie would have been about 5 minutes long. Guess that's why there were so many good movie references.... As at as being a "Horror" movie, not even close. The only time I was scared was when I found out my wife had noticed that I watched it, that was scary. It took my 5 days to explain why I sat thru more then 10 minutes of this crap.

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Sunniva Reilly

I did not have very high hopes for this film. A horror movie from the Playboy mansion? I think most people probably suspect that Playboy bunnies do not make great actresses, and indeed they do not. They are great at posing and pouting, but pretending to laugh, is sadly beyond their reach (though this might be due to having been pawed at by a 127 year old Hugh Hefner, as that would stop most people from even cracking a smile). So if you disregard the acting, which ranges from poor to abysmal, you will have heard the stories again and again since childhood. In fact, most Halloween specials have told these stories, and often told them better. So here goes: To gain membership in a Sorority populated by plastic women in their late 20ies and early (?) 30ies (who, at least at one point, are amusingly Borg-like), three pledges must tell a scary story each. Seem familiar yet? The first story involves an evil doll, the second a creepy castle in Transsylvania and in the third, three babysitters (ok, they're not actually babysitters, but they might as well be to make the cliché complete) get creepy phone calls.This is far from the worst film I've seen (that honour still belongs to Unearthed), and sadly, it is not so-bad-it's-good either. Overall, I think it deserves a 3/10, because it did manage to hold my attention till the end and because it did give me a chuckle or two. However, it must be said, it is not even remotely scary. Nor is it sexy. Apparently, there is 1 blink-and-you'll-miss-it topless scene, but I blinked, so I missed it.

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