Movie Review: CALL OF THE VOID

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN / Staff Writer

Posted: April 18th, 2025 / 04:13 PM

CALL OF THE VOID movie poster | ©2025 Night Hawks Entertainment/One Tree Entertainment

Rating: Not Rated
Stars: Caitlin Carver, Mina Sundwall, Richard Ellis, Christian Antidormi, Ethan Herisse, Ted Barton
Writer: James B. Cox
Director: James B. Cox
Distributor: Night Hawks Entertainment/One Tree Entertainment
Release Date: April 15, 2025 (digital)

CALL OF THE VOID is one of those movies that invites a salute simply for its existence. Made on a low budget in the mountains of San Bernardino, California, it is well-acted, well-photographed, and has some great traditional American folk music. It doesn’t even do anything preposterous.

At the outset, we see what appears to be an elemental void swirling around a black hole. Then our view shifts to an impressively twisted tree.

Finally, we are introduced to Moray (Caitlin Carver), who is by herself in one half of an isolated but duplex cabin in the woods. She’s had a rough patch at work and just wants to cool off and do her artwork.

Moray is surprised to meet an older Englishman (Ted Barton) walking his dog after dark. They exchange pleasantries, and the man and dog go off into the night.

Then the other half of the duplex fill up with college students: Lucy (Mina Sundwall), Sterling (Richard Ellis), Cole (Christian Antidormi) and Darryl (Ethan Herisse). Except for Darryl, a film student who’s agreed to act as sound recordist for the weekend, they are in a trad folk music band, with a folk music podcast.

It turns out the man Moray met is the music students’ professor, Dr. Blackwood. He ought to be in his room in the group’s part of the duplex, but he’s nowhere to be found.

Lucy and Moray strike up a friendship that survives even Moray’s exposure to the jealousies and resentments within the band. Moray agrees to accompany the others on a hike out to Fiddler’s Green in the woods.

Then there is a distribution of bottled water, and a behavioral change among those who partake.

Writer/director James B. Cox gets naturalistic performances from his cast. The dialogue likewise sounds like what people would say – especially the micro-aggressions as the band member’s get on each other’s nerves – and the folk music aspect is done well.

But Cox is way too oblique about what’s happening. How is the music connected to the void? What was the professor doing? Why was he doing it? What happened to his daughter? We don’t get answers to anything.

It feels like there’s an attempt to do a contemporary H.P. Lovecraft-type tale with CALL OF THE VOID. In short stories, a writer can sometimes get away with this level of noncommittal narrative, but it’s a lot harder to sustain in a full-length feature. Atmosphere is important, but it can’t carry a film in any genre all by itself.

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