Joey (1985)

Joey: Directed by Roland Emmerich. With Joshua Morrell, Eva Kryll, Tammy Shields, Jan Zierold. Believing to be able to communicate with his deceased father, a young boy develops psychic powers where he uses them to try to stop supernatural forces threatening his family and friends, especially a possessed ventriloquist dummy.

“Director Roland Emmerich is nowadays best known as the man behind blockbusters such as u0026quot;Independence Dayu0026quot; and u0026quot;The Day After Tomorrowu0026quot;, big budget science-fiction films where he has shown a mastery for the use of grandiose and awe-inspiring visual effects. While he may not be the most original and artistic director, Emmerich has truly developed a style of his own, a style that owes a lot to his spiritual guides, the great 80s masters of fantasy, George Lucas and Steven Spielberg; and as this little early film named u0026quot;Joeyu0026quot; proves, itu0026#39;s a style that Emmerich has been developing since the early years of his career, back when he was a young director in his natal Germany, many years before his first big hit, u0026quot;Universal Soldieru0026quot;.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eu0026quot;Joeyu0026quot;, known in the U.S. as u0026quot;Making Contactu0026quot;, is the story of a 9 years old kid named Joey (Joshua Morrell), who after the tragic death of his father, begins to experience psychic powers allowing him to move inanimate objects with his mind, set things on fire and even to communicate him with his dead father. However, not everything is good for Joey as his newly gained powers accidentally awake an evil supernatural force that is contained inside the body of an old ventriloquistu0026#39;s dummy that Joey found in an abandoned house. The supernatural Dummy shows similar powers to Joeyu0026#39;s, and soon he puts the lives of everyone near Joey in danger as the evil Dummy has dark plans for Joeyu0026#39;s special powers.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eWritten by Emmerich himself, along with Hans J. Haller and Thomas Lechner, u0026quot;Joeyu0026quot; is pretty much a supernatural horror movie on the lines of Tobe Hooper and Steven Spielbergu0026#39;s u0026quot;Poltergeistu0026quot;, but done with the approach of a fantasy movie for children (like u0026quot;E.T.u0026quot;, also by Spielberg). The premise is very original, but sadly the scriptu0026#39;s development is quite typical of its time, although to be fair with it, the German version of the film (that runs 20 minutes longer) is a slight but noticeable improvement over the dubbed U.S. version. Focused on Joey, the film works more as a creepy adventure film than a horror movie, mainly because the story is written in a way that highlights the main characteru0026#39;s fight versus the evil force instead of the horror created by the Dummy. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eWhile the movie focuses on the action and adventure, this is not to say the film doesnu0026#39;t have good creepy moments, as it is packed with some very good (for the budget) visual dark imagery that forecasts Emmerichu0026#39;s taste for big budget special effects. Itu0026#39;s really interesting what he does with his minimal resources, and one can say that at this early point in his career he knew the kind of films he wanted to do in the future. As with the script, the German uncut version allows a better picture of Emmerichu0026#39;s direction, that while not really masterful, itu0026#39;s competent and effective for the kind of movie he was trying to make. The similitude with u0026quot;E.T.u0026quot; and u0026quot;Poltergeistu0026quot; is not gratuitous, as nods to both Spielberg and Lucas are very common in the film; this just shows how much the young German director admired his heroes.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe cast is really average, and this is really one of the filmu0026#39;s weakest points, as the lack of experience of the cast (specially of the kids) becomes increasingly notorious given the fact that the director was at this point unexperienced as well (and being honest, directing actors has never been Emmerichu0026#39;s strongest characteristic). Anyways, Eva Kryll is the only actress with real experience, and as such delivers the best performance of the film, although her character is really small and doesnu0026#39;t really have enough screen time. Also, I guess one can say that the casting of Joshua Morrell was truly inspired, as the young actor really looked natural in front of the camera.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAs written above, the unexperienced young cast paired with the unexperienced young director is likely a deadly combination for any film, and u0026quot;Joeyu0026quot; has this as its biggest flaw. However, Emmerich manages to pull off a nice entertaining adventure of this that while not perfect, is a lot better than what could had been. The script isnu0026#39;t really amazing, and at times shows up some serious plot holes, but nothing really to worry about. u0026quot;Joeyu0026quot; was intended to be a childrenu0026#39;s horror movie, and in that aspect it succeeds, as this movie is the perfect introduction to the horror genre for young children.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI can not recommend this movie to everyone, as definitely it wonu0026#39;t be attractive to the average horror fan, but Iu0026#39;m sure the kids will enjoy it a lot more, as the movie has a nice mix of horror, adventure and comedy. u0026quot;Joeyu0026quot;, like Emmerichu0026#39;s other early films (u0026quot;The Noahu0026#39;s Ark Principleu0026quot; and u0026quot;Moon 44u0026quot;), shows the young talent of a visionary master of visual effects, that while probably not a very accomplished director, manages to make entertaining and attractive films that deliver good doses of entertainment. u0026quot;Joeyu0026quot;, or u0026quot;Making Contactu0026quot;, is definitely one of the best horrors to enjoy with the kids, although it doesnu0026#39;t really offer something for the grown-up crowd. 6/10”