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Babycall (15)

Horror, Thriller

Single mother Anna moves with her 8 year old son to a big flat with secret address outside Oslo to get away from her violent husband.

Anna is scared stiff that they will be found, and is under heavy watch by a couple of child care workers. She get's the idea of buying a baby call so that her son doesn't have to sleep in her bed, only to find that the babycall picks up another troubled child somewhere in the flat. Read more …


The critical consensus

The script needs more nurturing but Noomi Rapace takes up some of the slack in Pal Sletaune’s maternal mystery.

***(*)(*)Kevin Harley, Total Film, 16/03/2012

Sletaune aims for a Sixth Sense-type final reveal, but goes much too far, with a twist that glosses over so many inconsistencies that anyone who’s attempted to follow the plot will feel short-changed.

***(*)(*)Paul Gallagher, The List, 23/03/2012

Genuinely creepy, it's another Scandinavian thriller that will nestle uncomfortably in your head. Rapace does great work again, this time back in her native tongue, as she's put through the ringer.

****(*)Kim Newman, Empire Online, 26/03/2012

It’s a great idea but there are too many confusing sup-plots and no satisfactory resolution.

**(*)(*)(*)Henry Fitzherbert, Daily Express, 28/03/2012

Director Pal Sletaune does well to keep the "is she mad, is she only too sane" debate going for so long, but it's Rapace's nerve-jangling performance that makes for an outstanding psychological thriller.

****(*)Alison Rowat, The Herald, 29/03/2012

The ending may not entirely add up, but a minor complaint with so much else to keep us on our toes.

Matthew Thrift, Little White Lies, 29/03/2012

An intriguing premise, and a potent performance from the original "girl with the dragon tattoo" are squandered in this disappointing, incoherent thriller.

**(*)(*)(*)Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian, 29/03/2012

Rapace at least proves there’s more to her than looking sullen and acting tough.

***(*)(*)The Scotsman, 29/03/2012

The loneliness and paranoia of the tormented eavesdropper strongly recall Francis Ford Coppola's The Conversation.

***(*)(*)Anthony Quinn, The Independent, 30/03/2012

It’s a reasonable assumption that a lot of it’s going on inside Rapace’s head, but determining precisely how much feels like a fool’s errand. Mulholland Drive it certainly ain’t.

**(*)(*)(*)Tim Robey, The Telegraph, 30/03/2012

The film and Rapace command our attention, though at the end one feels Norway has used up the whole of this year's quota of red herrings.

Philip French, The Observer, 01/04/2012


Features about Babycall (15)

The mother of all thrillers

Alison Rowat, The Herald, 22/03/2012

Babycall (15)

Where and when?

General release. Check local listings for show times.

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