Review of Hell-ephone

A group of college students led by irreverent Svengali-like college professor The Circuit Maker (a lively and delightfully impudent performance by Ari "First Jason" Lehman) make crank calls to funeral homes. Things go horribly awry when the group decides to crank call the funeral of recently executed serial killer the Sea Monster (essayed with frightening intensity by Michael S. Shouse) and inadvertently cause his mother to drop dead. Naturally, members of the group start to get bumped off left and right. Is it the Sea Monster or someone else behind these slayings? Writer/director George Bonilla generates a reasonable amount of tension, develops a fairly creepy atmosphere, and pulls off a cool surprise twist at the end. Moreover, Bonilla delivers a handy helping of graphic gore, strong moments of savage violence, and a smidgen of tasty gratuitous female nudity (buxom blonde former Penthouse Pet Melissa Wolf briefly pops up as a gal who gets brutally butchered in a bathtub). Billy W. Blackwell contributes a sturdy portrayal as drunken burn-out Detective Mike Stone; he receives sound support from Katie Stewart as the guilt-ridden Nancy, Frank Santoroski as Stone's cynical partner Detective Tony Fusco, and Jason Crowe as the geeky Eric. The rough, but acceptable cinematography manages a few nifty stylistic flourishes. The shuddery score by Mark Oates does the spine-tingling trick. However, the occasionally sluggish pacing, hit or miss acting from a decidedly uneven cast with varying degrees of thespic competence, some clunky dialogue ("I can't go to jail -- I have a scholarship!"), and the overlong 113 minute running time prevent this picture from hitting a complete bull's eye. That criticism aside, this flick overall sizes up as perfectly passable and entertaining micro-budget fright fare.