More than once in recent weeks, I've found myself subjected to the bonanza of pre-show 'entertainment' at a local multiplex, the arguable best portion of which has been a fake trailer for a new Sprint phone, a spot unabashedly proud of both spoofing the nature of product placement and succumbing to it.
So when I first heard of a film called Text - about killer text messages - I assumed it was likewise a joke, a hoax, a ruse, a cunning attempt to trick me. I mean, doesn't that sound like the one faux trailer that didn't make it into Grindhouse? Alas, if Fangoria is to be believed, it's no joke...
The first film in a proposed trilogy, Text concerns a proverbial gaggle of high schoolers who find themselves falling victim to text messages which make them do horrible things to themselves and/or others; there's the heroine (Hanna Hill), the Mormon with secret feelings for the heroine (Lane Compton), the burnout (Mike Kaiser), and the sexpot with secret feelings for the burnout (Kaytlin Borgen).
In all fairness, it's not just a series of spooky texts resulting in deaths. This is the premeditated work of a killer, so that makes it totally different from the likes of One Missed Call and any number of other technology-proves-fatal offerings.
In all genuine fairness, the set photos do already boast more blood than Call, Prom Night, and When a Stranger Calls can claim in their combined frames, and the idea of a trilogy-spawning arc might suggest that we could be looking more at something along the lines of The Signal than Pulse. Fingers crossed...
You can visit the film's official site right here. At the moment, there is no apparent release date.
[Thanks to Peter over at Horror's Not Dead for passing this on.]
1. No, it's still a joke, it's just that the makers aren't in on it...
Posted at 2:28PM on Jun 18th 2008 by phalange