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Cell

Play trailer 2:30 Poster for Cell R Released Jul 8, 2016 1h 38m Horror Mystery & Thriller Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
11% Tomatometer 56 Reviews 17% Popcornmeter 2,500+ Ratings
A graphic novelist (John Cusack) begins a desperate search for his estranged wife (Clark Sarullo) and son (Ethan Andrew Casto) after a mysterious cellphone signal transforms New Englanders into savage killers.
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Cell

Cell

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Critics Consensus

Shoddily crafted and devoid of suspense, Cell squanders a capable cast and Stephen King's once-prescient source material on a bland rehash of zombie cliches.

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Critics Reviews

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Steve Greene indieWire This is the undead equivalent of fast food. Some might find comfort in all these known quantities. Those looking for anything of substance would do better to wait for an upgrade. Rated: C- Jan 1, 2017 Full Review Kevin Maher Times (UK) A deeply silly horror movie. Rated: 1/5 Oct 10, 2016 Full Review Wendy Ide Observer (UK) The slapdash quality to the plotting is matched by the inept film-making - the dialogue is frequently inaudible, the night scenes murkily lit. Rated: 2/5 Aug 28, 2016 Full Review Brian Eggert Deep Focus Review The film's lifelessness and sloppiness represent an all-time-low for King adaptations, which is saying something. Rated: 0.5/4 Apr 11, 2022 Full Review Victoria Luxford City AM Cheap production values underline the suspicion that this started out as an earnest attempt to adapt the book, and devolved into a mediocre zombie film in a world overrun with mediocre zombie films. Rated: 1/5 Feb 18, 2022 Full Review Jason Adams My New Plaid Pants It feels like they had one day too few too shoot it, one dollar too little, one hot cappuccino two degrees too cold delivered to John Cusack's trailer just a minute too late to put him in the right mood on the first day of shooting Jul 6, 2021 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Not A Mild spoiler. Definitely not the greatest movie of all time but, it's watchable. Some of the choices the characters make are frustrating. I think that's with most movies of this nature, always have to keep themselves in a predicament. One thing that really bothered me is they didn't snag an abandoned car right away. Anyway if you like these kind of movies give it a watch. Personally it kind of reminded me of a better version of "Bird Box". One last thing, I thought it was funny in the airport when they were calling out flight information over the P.A. system, the flight number was "1408". Another John Cusack film. I wonder if that was coincidence or done on purpose. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 11/17/24 Full Review Aneta L Very disappointing adaptation of a great book. The plot is all over the place, it lucks suspense and feels very flat. Probably the worst King’s adaptation I’ve ever seen. Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 11/06/24 Full Review Sam P Reminds me of invasion of the body snatchers meets Ted meets Con Air. Fairly good. Gets right into action. Ending is a guess. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 09/14/24 Full Review Dan R 2016's 'Cell' is a Stephen King adaptation that somehow sneaked its way past me originally. SYNOPSIS: 'When a mysterious cell phone signal causes apocalyptic chaos, an artist is determined to reunite with his young son in New England.' You can tell this is a King adaptation because the story is so absurd. But absurd on the page can be very different to how it transfers into the big screen. I hope that is the case here. With it's two leading actors you should surely be able to create something coherent and watchable? Nope that's not the case. It's lifeless and sloppy and I'm sure King himself is very angry about this. Adaptations of this type not only tarnish his reputation but could easily go and halt the production of other adaptions of his works. It's not even so bad it's good. It's painful to watch. It's an all time low for King adaptations. 2/10 Rated 1 out of 5 stars 03/20/24 Full Review Ashley M This movie had a really good concept and at the beginning it was really well executed. Halfway through the movie it slowed down so much it got boring and the ending just didn't make any sense. There were so many ways they could have ended it that would have made sense and made it a really decent movie but instead they left too many unanswered questions. I wanted it to be a good movie so bad, but it was really disappointing. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 03/02/24 Full Review Ben T A violent start quickly gives way to a slow and disappointing film that ends up being just another zombie film with little to make it any different. Despite a screenplay by Stephen King, whose novel the film is based on, this is an extremely dull translation from book to screen. A great idea of wiping out the population by mobile phone is let down by a plodding script. A big let down. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/02/24 Full Review Read all reviews
Cell

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Cast & Crew

He Never Died 88% 65% He Never Died Watchlist TRAILER for He Never Died Don't Breathe 88% 79% Don't Breathe Watchlist TRAILER for Don't Breathe The Other Side of the Door 35% 30% The Other Side of the Door Watchlist TRAILER for The Other Side of the Door The Gallows 15% 22% The Gallows Watchlist The Purge 41% 36% The Purge Watchlist Discover more movies and TV shows. View More

Movie Info

Synopsis A graphic novelist (John Cusack) begins a desperate search for his estranged wife (Clark Sarullo) and son (Ethan Andrew Casto) after a mysterious cellphone signal transforms New Englanders into savage killers.
Director
Tod Williams
Producer
Richard Saperstein, Michael Benaroya, Brian Witten, Shara Kay
Screenwriter
Stephen King, Adam Alleca
Distributor
Saban Films
Production Co
Genre Company, Benaroya Pictures
Rating
R (Disturbing Violent Content|Brief Sexuality|Language|Terror)
Genre
Horror, Mystery & Thriller
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Jul 8, 2016, Limited
Release Date (Streaming)
Nov 29, 2016
Runtime
1h 38m
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