A month ago I started off The Hot Links by letting you know about a movie called “Dangerous Calling,” which I wasn’t sure was a comedy or a documentary. Yeah, I took a shot at it without watching it. How uncharacteristic of me.

A few days later I was contacted by Josh Daws, one of the brothers who created the movie, asking if I’d be willing to watch and review the movie. I took him up on his offer, but was pretty sure I was either going to have to lie or rip the movie to shreds on my blog. Well, I was wrong. Here’s what I thought of “Dangerous Calling”:

“Dangerous Calling” is “[a] suspense thriller set in the world of small town church politics, [it] follows the story of Pastor Evan Burke and his wife Nora as they assume leadership of First Baptist Willit Springs after the mysterious death of the previous pastor.”

First, I want to commend the Daws brothers for making this film. It takes a tremendous amount of courage, diligence, perseverance and faith to make a feature-length film. It’s one thing to say you dream of making movies, but quite another to step out and actually make it happen. Great job, fellas. Now to the movie itself!

The movie sets out to be a thriller in the line of “Psycho and Misery [not] Left Behind,” and pulls this off smashingly. The Daws create legitimate tension in the movie, bringing my wife to draw her knees to her chest and look away during a scene, emitting multiple squeals as she waited to find out what would happen. We weren’t rolling our eyes during some of the scarier scenes, but my wife even started talking to the movie with a few “don’t go that way!” and “ohmygosh!-es” coming out of her mouth. I didn’t know how it was going to end from the moment the movie started (rare in and out of Hollywood these days) and was pleased with the ending. Final verdict?

This is an enjoyable and extremely watchable film.

The acting is pretty good, with a small cast of actors familiar to the Daws brothers (we watched the DVD extras!) carrying most of the load. The clear star of the film is Carrie Walrond, who plays Nora Burke, wife of the new pastor in town. I’m not sure if she was supposed to be the focus of the movie, but her performance left no doubt as she stole the show. Smart, genuine, pretty and the acting chops to go mainstream, this is a perfect vehicle to show off Walrond’s talent. Walrond’s movie husband plays his pastor straight-laced, the villains are appropriately creepy, and the church members fill out the cast nicely.

The production value and quality of the movie is also outstanding. This is a real movie, not something put together by two brothers who didn’t have anything to do during the summer. I was expecting something shot with a couple of hand-held cameras and I was VERY wrong! I started off worried because the soundtrack was a little heavy-handed near the beginning, but after the main characters arrive in the new town I didn’t give a second thought to the fact this wasn’t a Hollywood-produced movie. Heck, it’s better put together the most of the stuff you see on cable!

Here’s the question I have for the Daws brothers: who’s the target audience? I believe it’s those inside the American church, but even I, someone who didn’t grow up in the church but pastored for over five years, didn’t know how realistic some things were and how over-the-top some elements were. I assume, based upon special features, most of the elements were from real life experiences, but none that I shared with the brothers. My only fear is that the movie might not make sense to an audience outside the southeast US. I hope I’m wrong.

So, those are my thoughts. Great story, great suspense, good cast, and a well-made film by two brothers looking to glorify God through their gifts and calling. My compliments to them both, and my thanks for the opportunity to review their film.