The Calling

A series of religiously motivated murders drive the plot in this chilly crime thriller. The setting is a small, wintry town in Ontario, where world-weary detective Hazel Micallef (Susan Sarandon) discovers that a local woman has been gruesomely murdered. After more victims are found, Hazel and a newly arrived officer (Topher Grace) notice a pattern, leading them to a committed serial killer with rather unusual motives. The investigation contains a few twists and some grisly moments, but it doesn't manage to provide any genuine shocks or surprises. The Calling isn't so much an awful film as a flat and unremarkable one, although it abandons potentially interesting character threads - such as Hazel's relationship with a married man - once the plot kicks in. Sarandon is always worth watching, of course, but an impressive supporting cast (which includes Donald Sutherland and Ellen Burstyn) is largely wasted.