Casting Call (2007) - By Duane L. Martin

Film Reviews: Casting Call (2007) - By Duane L. Martin
Posted on Friday, August 03, 2007 @ 00:05:00 Mountain Daylight Time by Duane

Director Gary Lynch wrote to me a while back and wanted to send in his film Casting Call to have it reviewed. I didn't receive much info on it and didn't really know what to expect, but I was game and popped it in the ol' DVD player to give it a go. What I got, wasn't what I expected.

Casting call is about five women having casting interviews for a horror film. It cuts back and forth between each girl's interview showing their responses to various questions. Two of the girls are professionals, one is a scream queen wannabe sex kitten, one is a total refer head burnout and the last one just barely speaks English and doesn't even know what's going on most of the time.

The interview segments are extremely fun and had me laughing quite often. The women in each of the roles were really good at playing their characters, and they each really just "got it". It's great when an actor or actress really understands their part and plays it perfectly, because it takes the film to a whole other level when they do.

The film's ending takes a horror twist which I won't reveal here, but it did leave me disappointed. While the majority of the film was really entertaining and funny, the end just left me cold. Personally I would have rather seen it continue in the same vein in which it began, with the actresses continuing their auditions until one was selected. The way it ended really left me wishing they had gone a different direction with it, because it just didn't fit the rest of the film.

On a technical level, it was beautifully edited. The cuts between each of the women was superbly done and very snappy in it's pacing. The sound was great, as was the lighting...at least until the final scene. The lighting wasn't great in that final scene and the visuals ended up looking a bit grainy because of it. The sound was ok as well, but could have been better. Throughout the rest of the film though, there were no problems.

This film is like eating a bag of jelly beans, and then having the last jelly bean in the bag be a black one. They're really enjoyable until you hit that last one and find out it's black. Some people like the black ones, but most don't. I personally didn't care for the ending, but the rest of the film was phenomenal.

If you'd like to find out more about this film, you can check out the film's MySpace page at http://www.myspace.com/castingcallfilm. You can also check out the director's MySpace page at http://www.myspace.com/gwlynch.