Cell

Based on the Stephen King novel, Cell doesn't manage to cover all of the scars of its troubled production in director Tod Williams's finished article. But it's slickly made and worth the watch. It starts out like a different sort of zombie movie, with its mindless mayhem triggered not by the usual global pandemic, but by a mysterious cellphone signal. A cautionary tale of phone dependency then mutates into something even weirder, as stricken humans start flocking and migrating like birds on some avian pilgrimage to God knows where. John Cusack's graphic novelist is caught up in the mayhem as he tries to get to his family in New Hampshire with the help of train operator Samuel L Jackson. During a duller, more difficult second half, it's easy not to care. There's nothing wrong with a film that makes your brain hurt a bit, but Cell is maybe a touch too enigmatic for its own good at times.