A Prank Gone Wrong (and Then Wronger)
“Don’t Hang Up” is one of those horror-thrillers that feels like a cautionary tale for the YouTube generation—except the message gets buried under so many clichés, jump scares, and plot holes that the only lesson you’ll walk away with is never take a call from an unknown number.
It’s supposed to be a tense morality play about the dangers of online pranks and viral fame. Instead, it’s like Saw met Unfriended, got drunk on Mountain Dew, and produced a screaming, dumb baby. Directed by Alexis Wajsbrot and Damien Macé—two people who seem to have confused “claustrophobic tension” with “pointlessly shouting for 90 minutes”—this is a movie where everyone deserves what happens to them, including the audience.
The Setup: Bros Before Moral Consequences
The film opens with a “gotcha” prank call, where four teenage idiots convince a random mom, Mrs. Kolbein (Sienna Guillory), that an intruder is in her house and her daughter’s in danger. The mom panics, tragedy ensues, and the clip goes viral. It’s exactly what would happen if Logan Paul remade The Ring.
Cut to a while later: Sam (Gregg Sulkin) and Brady (Garrett Clayton), the two brain cells leading this operation, are bored at home making more prank calls. These are not just regular prank calls—they’re the kind of elaborate, sociopathic setups that would make the Jerky Boys blush and the police take notes.
Then a mysterious stranger named “Mr. Lee” calls. He knows who they are. He knows where they live. He knows how much longer this movie feels than it actually is. And—surprise!—he’s out for revenge.
At first, Sam and Brady assume it’s just another prank. Because of course they do. These are the kinds of people who’d walk into a dark basement holding a phone flashlight and say, “Guys, it’s probably nothing.”
The Plot: One Long Butt-Dial from Hell
The rest of the movie takes place in one house, which is great if you love seeing two dudes argue while holding cell phones. Mr. Lee hacks their phones, controls their electricity, and starts sending them videos of people being killed—including their friends, their families, and possibly their dignity.
The film tries to build suspense by escalating the psychological torture, but most of it just feels like filler between loud noises. For instance: one character gets attacked, another screams, the lights flicker, and the camera zooms in on a phone notification like it’s a bomb. Then rinse, repeat, and occasionally add a shirtless scene to keep the teenage audience from changing the channel.
Eventually, Mr. Lee makes the boys turn on each other, dangling the lives of loved ones as bait. There’s a lot of sweaty shouting, crying, and moral posturing, all of which would feel meaningful if the characters weren’t so aggressively stupid.
At one point, Brady agrees to kill Sam to save his parents. That’s a choice no one watching this film will question, because if you’re trapped in Don’t Hang Up, mercy killing is practically a public service.
The Villain: Caller ID Should’ve Blocked This Script
Mr. Lee is meant to be a terrifying, calculating avenger. Instead, he’s like a discount Jigsaw who got his tech degree from a phishing scam. His voice alternates between menacing and bored, as if even he’s realizing that tormenting these morons isn’t worth the data plan.
His motives, when finally revealed, are supposed to elicit sympathy: his wife and daughter died because of the boys’ prank. But by that point, the movie has piled on so much ridiculousness that it’s hard to care. Mr. Lee’s elaborate revenge involves surveillance vans, fake videos, phone hacks, live murders, and—apparently—a minor in computer science.
Honestly, it’s impressive that this man had the time and resources to orchestrate all this while still maintaining a data connection strong enough to stream murders in HD.
The Characters: Darwin Award Nominees, All of Them
Sam and Brady are the kind of horror protagonists who make you root for the villain by minute ten. Gregg Sulkin’s Sam is written as “the sensitive one,” but his idea of emotional depth is whisper-yelling “Brady, stop!” in various tones.
Garrett Clayton’s Brady, meanwhile, is supposed to be the alpha prankster—loud, cocky, and tragically allergic to self-awareness. He spends most of the movie alternating between blaming Sam for everything and crying about how unfair it all is.
Then there’s Peyton (Bella Dayne), Sam’s girlfriend and emotional prop. She exists purely to be kidnapped, appear in a grainy video, and make Sam feel guilty. In other words, she’s not a character—she’s a Wi-Fi connection with bangs.
The rest of the cast, including Sienna Guillory as the tragic mom from the opening and Robert Goodman as the creepy neighbor, are background noise. They pop in, die off, and leave you wondering why they agreed to be in a movie that looks like a T-Mobile commercial shot in hell.
The Direction: Ring, Scream, Repeat
Wajsbrot and Macé are visual effects artists by trade, and it shows—they love flashy cuts, digital filters, and enough blue lighting to make Michael Bay blush. But for all the visual polish, the movie has no sense of pacing. Every scene feels stretched, like the filmmakers were terrified someone might blink and miss a close-up of a smartphone.
The cinematography tries so hard to look “cool” that it ends up looking like a student film titled Anxiety: The Movie. The editing is frantic but not in a good way—more like the editor was being chased by Mr. Lee himself.
And don’t even get me started on the jump scares. Every time someone picks up a phone or opens a door, the soundtrack slams you like a car alarm testing your patience. It’s less “horror” and more “ADHD simulator.”
The Message: Don’t Prank People, Don’t Watch This Movie
The moral of Don’t Hang Up is supposed to be that online cruelty has real-world consequences. But the movie’s execution is so heavy-handed it feels like being lectured by your Wi-Fi router. The film doesn’t explore guilt or redemption—it just weaponizes guilt as an excuse for violence.
In the end, Sam gets framed for murder while Mr. Lee walks away to find his next victim. Justice is served only in the sense that the credits finally roll.
And yes, that’s the “twist”: the killer sets up the survivor to look like the murderer. It’s meant to be shocking, but by then, I was more shocked that my popcorn had lasted that long.
Final Thoughts: Hang Up, Log Off, Walk Away
Don’t Hang Up tries to be a slick, modern morality tale about the dark side of digital life. What it actually delivers is 83 minutes of loud noises, dumb characters, and an antagonist who’d rather hack your thermostat than scare you.
It’s as if the filmmakers watched Black Mirror and said, “What if we made this, but without the intelligence, subtlety, or functioning Wi-Fi?”
If you want to see two unlikable guys get tormented by a tech-savvy sociopath, just scroll through the comments on YouTube. It’s faster, cheaper, and probably scarier.
Grade: D+
Recommended for: people who think “Saw” was too intellectual, fans of loud ringtones, and anyone who enjoys watching karma arrive via phone call with no callback option.
