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Parents' Guide to

Cell

By Jeffrey Anderson, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 17+

Lifeless zombie horror based on Stephen King novel.

Movie R 2016 98 minutes
Cell Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Community Reviews

age 15+

Based on 2 parent reviews

age 14+

Not Really Entertaining

Okay, the entire premise is ridiculous. Plus, if they are mindless and so violent, why would they flock together? The ending is ambiguous. There was no clear plot: overall, rather disappointed.
age 15+

Just my opinion

My overall opinion was that this is a really great movie. Very interesting and something sort of different. Kinda sorta like zombies but not really.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (2 ):
Kids say (5 ):

This aggravating, confusing zombie thriller now has the dishonor of being arguably the worst movie ever made based on a Stephen King novel. Others have nominated Maximum Overdrive, Graveyard Shift, and The Mangler for that "honor," but those three movies are at least ridiculous and fun; Cell reaches a new low, feeling somehow displaced from anything resembling humanity. In trying to send a message about people spending too much time on their technological devices, the movie itself winds up feeling impersonal and awkward.

Interestingly, stars Cusack and Jackson previously appeared together in a superior King adaptation, 1408 (2007), but they don't build on any kind of shared chemistry here; they almost seem like they're in separate movies. King himself co-wrote the screenplay, and Tod Williams directs with a shaky-cam technique that's both lifeless and annoying. It's as if the movie were made by cell-phone zombies rather than actual people who've experienced social interaction.

Movie Details

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