Stephen King’s Cell is an apocalyptic survival-horror shoot ’em up that has the subtext of a biting social satire. We’re all mindless zombies on our cellphones, you see. Even though we have all our faculties (for now), we aren’t unlike the hordes that are taking over the earth in Cell. The average cellphone-gazer moves their thumb slightly, mouth agape, ready to gather in great numbers in order to kill John Cusack. But – these aren’t zombies, oh no.
And you know what? Neither were the antagonists of 28 Days Later, or I Am Legend. Those were the ‘infected’ and vampire thingies. Not everything is a zombie. It would be easy, and actually make a lot of sense to call these creatures created by a mysterious cellular signal “zombies,” but we won’t. They are a vicious horde, and they can utilize basic weaponry. That’s what sets them apart. They might be legion, but their mouths will always be agape…
Until Samuel L. Jackson puts a shotgun in it and pulls the trigger like the badass he is.
Cell looks like quite the action-packed horror movie, and it’s somewhat refreshing to break free of the “we’re out of everything and ammo is precious” trope. Judging by the trailer, the vast arsenal that’s in the United States is at the disposable of John Cusack and Sam Jackson, and they’re going to use every shell to blast their way back to John Cusack’s son.
Oh, and these “phoners.” Who uses phones? This wouldn’t be an issue in 2016. Back in 2006 when Cell was published, social media wasn’t really a thing, so I wonder what era the movie will be in?
Or did the film take liberties and make people actually communicate telephonically again? Apocalypse indeed.
