Screenwriter Larry Cohen sure seems to like putting people on the end of the telephone. He’s the man who wrote both Phonebooth and Cellular and now he seems to want Matthew Lillard to be rushing from phone to phone in Messages Deleted. The film takes Lillard back into postmoden Scream territory as a screenwriter called Joel who gets thrown into a serial killer thriller of his own, when what seems to be a prank answering machine message turns out to a call from someone who’s about to be murdered. Then another caller phones up, begging for help. However can Joel work out the ending of the thriller he’s fallen into, and will we get the cool twist that the trailer promises?
Cohen’s work is a mixed bag, but it’s always worth a look (he’s also the director of such odd treats as Q: The Winged Serpent and Return To Salem’s Lot). There’s no release date yet set for Messages Deleted, but take click below for the trailer.