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4/10
military brats
williawallie6 October 2006
at the time this film was made, it was cool for us "military brats." one of our own was in this film (actually, two). but anyway, i went to school on a military base in Stuttgart,Germany with josh morrell and ray kaselonis. my group of friends thought we were so cool because we went to see the movie in German (actually, it was pretty amazing that a bunch of middle school kids could actually understand what they were saying in German). it is nostalgic to see this again but can't believe how dorky it is! nevertheless, this film is a piece of our heritage as military brats at robinson barracks. it would be nice to know where these guys are now...
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4/10
A Real Head-Scratcher
Zantara Xenophobe17 December 2002
Warning: Spoilers
This review contains some SPOILERS.

Way back when we first got a VCR (about 1987), my sister and father rented some movie about a boy and a possessed ventriloquist's dummy. I happened to see a few scenes of it before wandering off to do other things. Trouble is, the scenes that I did watch got embedded in my memory and I couldn't shake them out. Ever. And it wasn't until a year or two ago when I finally found out the title to this mystery movie, `Making Contact,' and then recently I found it available for rent. Finally I could put some childhood demons to rest. Had I know the bad experience I would eventually have put myself through, I never would have watched those few scenes back in 1987.

Joey is an unpopular little kid going through the ordeal of having recently lost his father, which we are thrust into from the very first scene. No time for scenes with the dad before his death, just start right in on the funeral. But the death of his father makes Joey realize an inner power he has. He has the ability to move objects and bring his toys to life. He also starts talking to his dad on his toy telephone. He tells his classmates and becomes a laughingstock, worrying his teacher. One day he wanders into a nearby abandoned house and discovers the ventriloquist's dummy of the house's previous owner. It comes to life and proceeds to rant about how the ventriloquist's ghosts wants to control Joey. So Joey must enter the old house once again and face the evil force within.

People have been comparing this to `E.T.' There is some truth to the comparison, but what I kept noticing were comparisons to some Twilight Zone episodes I saw awhile back. Particularly, the kid talking to his dad on the toy telephone. But that stuff doesn't matter much. The movie still isn't very good. Roland Emmerich's direction is very murky and his writing is very poor. Here's a few head-scratchers for you should you decide to sit down and watch this movie:

---- Joey has the power to give life to his toys, but he doesn't seem able to actually control them. His little toy robot seems to have developed a mind and personality of its own. But it is the only toy that behaves in this way.

---- Is it just me, or does Joey's dad resemble Gabe Kaplan from Welcome Back, Kotter?

---- Listen very carefully to the broadcast when the dummy conjures up the television set. The ventriloquist's back story is fascinating (what you can hear; Joey and the dummy keep talking over it, defeating the purpose of it all). The broadcast suggests there had been a series of child murders in the 30s. I wish it had gotten into this more, but perhaps Emmerich thought it would be too scary for kids. And of course, the intrigue of the ventriloquist is erased in the final moments when we know the truth. Its all very disappointing.

---- It's funny how both the mother and teacher just accept Joey's power. They don't seem too concerned about what he might do with them should he get angry. And it is really hilarious when all those scientists come barreling down with thousands of dollars in tax payer's money at their disposal, with no proof other than an elementary teacher's word that it is all legit.

---- Funny how the strange force doing all this is so powerful that it can build its vast underground maze full of surprises, yet it can't stop Joey from using the Solve-All-Your-Problems-Exit-Door even though it is right in front of him when he does it.

I may have took home nothing from the substance of the movie, but at least that childhood demon is put to rest. Now if I can only track down that one horror movie about the underground albino people I will be free of them all. And it couldn't be as unrewarding as this children's ghost story was. Zantara's score: 4 out of 10.
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4/10
More of a puzzle than a movie
Horst_In_Translation7 August 2016
Warning: Spoilers
"Joey" is an American / West German co-production from 1985 and the language is German. This film had its 30th anniversary last year. The director and one of the writers is Roland Emmerich, still a pretty big name in Hollywood these days and this 95-minute film we have here is from his early days as a filmmaker around the age of 30. The premise and idea in this film are actually not too bad. A boy mourns over the death of his father, but somehow he keeps being able to talk to him. the reason is a strange demonic creature in the form of a dummy (with a very dark past). And if this is not enough already for 1.5 hours, there is more supernatural in here in terms of all kinds of toys who manage to keep walking around and acting on their own.

The real problem here is that this film is basically nothing more than a collage put together from snippets (in terms of plot and character) that were used in very successful films from the 10 years before this film came out. And that is why I would basically call it nothing more than a copy, but not of one movie, but about half a dozen. It lacks creativity and uniqueness entirely and if it is true that there is a film that had zero individual genius attached to it, then it is this one. Of course, every filmmaker is somewhat inspired in his creativity by the works of other artists, but this one here feels like it has no individual note attached to it at all. The good thing is that at least you can maybe somewhat enjoy it if you are not aware of or have not seen the films that this mix of fantasy, horror and family movie is shamelessly copying. I never thought Emmerich was the most creative filmmaker and sadly this work here confirms this theory. There is not really to say too much about the cast here as there are no big names attached to this movie. Lead actor Joshua Morrell, who plays the title character, never appeared in another film before or after that and maybe this was a good decision as he is not really great in here. But neither are the supporting players. All in all, this was a mediocre film at best and I give it a thumbs-down. Only worth seeing for the biggest fantasy/horror lovers, but then again these may be the ones who despise it the most. Watch something else instead.
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1/10
An early Emmerich disaster movie.
BA_Harrison11 June 2019
Warning: Spoilers
Director Roland Emmerich is well known for his blockbuster disaster movies Independence Day, The Day After Tomorrow and 2012; Making Contact is a disaster on a whole different level. Emmerich strives for a Spielbergian sense of wonder, but leaves one wondering how the hell he managed to continue making movies after turning out such a dreadful pile of ineptly assembled drivel as this.

Ripping off numerous hit movies of the time, most notably Close Encounters, E. T. and Poltergeist, Emmerich presents the story of nine year old Joey (Joshua Morrell), who believes that he can speak to his dead father via a toy phone. It eventually transpires that the young lad is communicating with the spirit of a ventriloquist whose fugly dummy is possessed by an evil entity. Or something like that.

A one-parent family; a suburban setting; pop-culture trappings; a sweeping John Williams-esque score; a dolly zoom; 'God Light' lighting: Spielberg's influence is everywhere, but Emmerich has no idea how to make it all work, simply piling on the silliness and schmaltz, with cutesie animated toys proving particularly irritating. Diabolical performances from a talentless group of kids (this is, unsurprisingly, Morrell's one and only film) certainly don't help, and the adults aren't much better.

The result is an excruciatingly bad experience from start to finish, albeit one that does deliver the unforgettable sight of a toy monkey riding a flying television set. I can tick that off my movie bucket list!
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5/10
Back in the day...
jswraven14 June 2001
I remember watching this on video for my 10th or 11th birthday. That little demented dummy scared the p**s out of us! Now, I was never a horror fan and had never really seen a horror flick before that, so my sense of 'scary/not scary' had yet to be tarnished. So, if you have a 10 year old who isn't into slasher horror flicks, but wants something a little scary, go for it. (We also watched the 80's version of "Invaders from Mars" and thought it was pretty cool--for what it's worth.)
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1/10
This movie is so bad it's .... no, actually it's still bad.
texasarcane22 December 2015
I dreamed of interrupting this movie halfway through and gouging my eyes out with a fork. That which is seen, cannot be unseen. I always had this sneaky feeling that INDEPENDENCE DAY was really crudely scripted and directed ... this movie confirmed it for me. The director can't direct. The final product is a confusing mish-mash of E.T., POLTERGEIST and about fifty other films the premises were ripped off from. I can't understand the other reviews calling this movie original because everything in it was derivative. It is as if the script review called for every single popular film of the past ten years to contribute some elements to the story.

Terrible. Really lousy. Shameful. I would have recommended this director never work again but he made one of the biggest financial blockbusters of all time. That movie was even worse than I remember, in hindsight after watching this turkey.
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7/10
Not exactly scary.
insomniac_rod15 December 2006
Now I have to admit it... "Joey" gave me the creeps as a child. Before watching it in recent times, I thought about it as a chilling, fairy tale of terror.

Now, to be objective, "Joey" is a movie that should be enjoyed by a younger audience because it's indeed a movie directed for a younger audience. Not to be redundant but as a kid you are easily impressed and scared by things like talking dummies or evil dolls.

"Joey" isn't meant to be scary and now as a grown-up I can only recommend it for a younger audience or for fans of movies involving dummies.

Still, I am pleased with the good memories I have towards this movie.
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1/10
Please Shoot Me
tonyr1422630 September 2007
Without a doubt, "Making Contact" -- or "Joey" as it apparently is otherwise known, is one of the most horrendous, mind-numbing, plot less pieces of nonsense ever filmed. It is not even accidentally entertaining. The acting is deplorably bad, exceeded in banality only by both the dialogue and the script. Where it is not utterly nonsensical and moronic, the story line is wretched, clichéd, and predictable. The cast of nobodies and never-will-bes should be imprisoned for their performances. The ending is an unprecedented cinematic abortion so bad that it damaged the heads on my VCR. The disconnected vignettes that purport to convey a plot serve as unintended parodies of such contemporary films as "ET" (doctors and technicians specializing in paranormal activity treat stricken young boy in his own home, he dies, supernatural powers herald his restoration, he lives); "Poltergeist" (lots of toys and other stuff flying around for no apparent reason); "Ghostbusters" (supernatural forces use your own fears against you; clichéd fat kid sees enormous carnivorous cheeseburger); "Star Wars" (R2D2-style robot with fetching personality gratuitously accompanies boy everywhere); and "Goonies" (several pre-adolescents -- including scared fat kid in overalls yelling "Hey, wait for me!" -- survive multiple perils in a collapsing, underground structure). It appears that the forces behind the making of this abomination mistakenly believed that they had a sure-fire formula for a can't-miss money-maker. We are left to ponder their epic miscalculation. I feel dumber for having watched it.
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6/10
Still Creeps Me Out!
Sharpe417-117 October 2007
I remember watching this film at a young age and found the movie terrifying. It was my first doll/dummy movie and from then on I definitely needed a night light. The dummy creeps me out even to this day. For the longest time I would have reoccurring dreams of the doll. I could not have a closet open because I thought the dummy would be in there, just staring at me. Even when I had stuffed animals or toys in my closet I felt like they were staring at me.

As I grew older, I laugh at the Chucky doll and never found him all that creepy, but the dummy from Joey definitely still gives me the creeps. I even recently watched the film 'Magic' and found that just as creepy. The doll from Dead Silence is the next big scary thing for me now. I just hope they keep coming with these.
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4/10
traumatize your kid today
movieman_kev18 September 2005
After young Joey's father dies, he starts to make his various toys come to life, including his friend, R2D2. He also begins to whom he believes to be his dead father via his red toy telephone. Turns out not to be his father, but an evil ventriloquist dummy (and really is there any other kind?). The dummy soon makes little Joey's life a nightmare. Not that his life was all roses before, mind you. He's the type of kid to be heavily bullied. This movie scared the poo out of me as a kid and I could see it still doing so if I were still a kid. But like "the Boogens", it hasn't aged well in the least. Who the hell would show this film to a little kid anyway?? now THAT'S just bad parenting right there.

My Grade: D

2-disc DVD Extras: both 79 & 98 minute versions of the film; and 2 theatrical Trailers for the American version, 1 for the German one
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10/10
Mesmerizing for kids, boring nonsense for grown ups
jacobobergareche18 September 2005
I used to rent this movie when I was a kid over and over again, with that compulsion little kids have, of watching something 500 hundred times until they've learnt all the dialogs. I remember it scared the s**t out of me, no matter how many times I saw it. I was 7 or 8. It was on the threshold of my tolerance to horror. It was exciting to go through it again with all your friends. Saw it many years before and it had lost all its spell. It's quite frankly, a lot rubbish. However, it has that something that mesmerizes little kids, whatever it is. Probably not an accomplishment of its director, but a fortuitous by-product.
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6/10
Good, but better for the kids
jluis198415 December 2006
Director Roland Emmerich is nowadays best known as the man behind blockbusters such as "Independence Day" and "The Day After Tomorrow", 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 "Joey" proves, it'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, "Universal Soldier".

"Joey", known in the U.S. as "Making Contact", 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 ventriloquist's dummy that Joey found in an abandoned house. The supernatural Dummy shows similar powers to Joey's, and soon he puts the lives of everyone near Joey in danger as the evil Dummy has dark plans for Joey's special powers.

Written by Emmerich himself, along with Hans J. Haller and Thomas Lechner, "Joey" is pretty much a supernatural horror movie on the lines of Tobe Hooper and Steven Spielberg's "Poltergeist", but done with the approach of a fantasy movie for children (like "E.T.", also by Spielberg). The premise is very original, but sadly the script'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 character's fight versus the evil force instead of the horror created by the Dummy.

While the movie focuses on the action and adventure, this is not to say the film doesn't have good creepy moments, as it is packed with some very good (for the budget) visual dark imagery that forecasts Emmerich's taste for big budget special effects. It'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 Emmerich's direction, that while not really masterful, it's competent and effective for the kind of movie he was trying to make. The similitude with "E.T." and "Poltergeist" 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.

The cast is really average, and this is really one of the film'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 Emmerich'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 doesn'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.

As written above, the unexperienced young cast paired with the unexperienced young director is likely a deadly combination for any film, and "Joey" 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 isn't really amazing, and at times shows up some serious plot holes, but nothing really to worry about. "Joey" was intended to be a children's horror movie, and in that aspect it succeeds, as this movie is the perfect introduction to the horror genre for young children.

I can not recommend this movie to everyone, as definitely it won't be attractive to the average horror fan, but I'm sure the kids will enjoy it a lot more, as the movie has a nice mix of horror, adventure and comedy. "Joey", like Emmerich's other early films ("The Noah's Ark Principle" and "Moon 44"), 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. "Joey", or "Making Contact", is definitely one of the best horrors to enjoy with the kids, although it doesn't really offer something for the grown-up crowd. 6/10
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4/10
Emmerich tries to copy Spielberg only without the substance
IonicBreezeMachine10 June 2023
Set in Virginia Beach, 9-year-old Joey Collins (Joshua Morrell) and his mother Laura (Eva Kryll) are morning the loss of Joey's father. One night unexplained phenomena start happening when many of Joey's toys start moving and turning on by themselves including a toy telephone that Joey comes to believe allows him to speak to his deceased father. Other kids at school including bully Bernie (Matthias Kraus) mock Joey for this, and both Laura and Joey's Teacher Martin (Jan Zierold) show concern which is only exacerbated by Joey displaying telekinetic abilities. As time goes on, a malevolent entity in the form of a ventriloquist Dummy (Jack Angel) begins confronting Joey and threatens Joey's mother if he keeps using the toy phone which the Dummy claims isn't his father on the other end.

Joey (retitled Making Contact for the Roger Corman release) is the second film from director Roland Emmerich. After having seen and been impressed with Steven Spielberg's E. T. in 1982, Emmerich decided his next film would be a horror film that incorporated many of the techniques seen in 80s American blockbusters of the Spielbergian mold. Despite being a German production, the film was shot in English as Emmerich wanted to target an international audience after his first film The Noah's Ark Principle hadn't been a big success at the German box office. Emmerich recruited most of the actors from U. S. military bases in Germany, and used his contacts to friends in the United States, who helped him with suggestions and props, to create the American look of the film. The effects work in Joey was done by Hubert Bartholomae, with whom Emmerich had collaborated on The Noah's Ark Principle, who had to build up a new studio to experiment with different ways of creating the effects needed for the film. For a low budget production of 3.5 million Deutsch Marks, Roland Emmerich certainly captures the look and feel of 80s Spielberg productions except for the script which is a confusing hodgepodge of ideas that aren't fully formed.

In terms of the effects work and look of the film, Emmerich certainly has created a film that encompasses everything you remember about that whimsical 80s Spielbergian style of filmmaking seen in Close Encounters, E. T. and its various contemporaries. The cast not being made of professional actors (and you can certainly tell from some of them) does make it difficult to be sucked into this film storywise, but even good actors would have a hard time selling the material here. According to Roland Emmerich's Biography by Jo Muller, Emmerich wasn't all that concerned with the actual story in the film so much as the look and effects work (and you can tell). While on a purely visual level there's a lot to appreciate in the film, the movie doesn't have any real substance to it and is just a loose assortment of ideas crudely daisy chained into a narrative. Despite Emmerich allegedly being inspired by E. T., Joey plays more like a weird mixture of Poltergeist, Carrie, and the Anthony Hopkins horror film Magic. The actual "why" as to what's happening is never established and despite the Dummy routinely saying the thing on the other side of the phone isn't Joey's father we're never given any idea as to what it is on the other side of the phone and the Dummy keeps acting stereotypically evil and cackling so there's no clear motivation for what's going on. The adult characters also take what's going on a little too well to the point that this feels like someone made a Zucker Abrahams Zucker type parody of Spielbergian blockbusters in the vein of Airplane! Or Top Secret but for some reason cut out all the jokes and played it straight.

I guess in terms of weird 80s timecapsules of these kinds of filmmaking tropes, there is a certain novelty to seeing them portrayed in a funhouse mirror image of themselves by way of Emmerich's complete lack of subtlety (complete with some stuff that would be a copyright nightmare with all the Star Wars, Disney, and other licensed merch that adorns the sets). But the story's such an unfocused mess portrayed by inexperienced actors that it does become a bit of a slog to sit through.
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derivative of about half a dozen films at least
daria67cdn5 September 2006
Warning: Spoilers
having only seen (we got this at a garage sale for $1) the first 18 minutes of what i can charitably call a 'film', i can safely say, this is not just bad, but horribly awful, atrociously pathetic. so far, not one line has been uttered without even a hint of emotion, half the shots seem to have been shot through a layer of gauze (likely for atmosphere), and shots that seem taken right from E.T., CE3K, The Goonies, Poltergeist, Carrie, and yes, even Star Wars (a VERY R2D2-ish toy robot) abound. i think this movie had a budget consisting of the money saved from a week of collecting tin cans from the side of the highway.

technically speaking the director (Emmerich)seems to have done well with what little talent and budget available, though its pretty funny that he had a hand in WRITING this atrocity.
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1/10
My least-favorite film of all time
eddie-1771 June 2005
When it comes to the worst movies ever made, most are so bad that in a sick way you can enjoy them. If you have a decent imagination and a sardonic sense of humor then it's easy to find *something* to amuse yourself with. J-Lo's atrocious acting has made me laugh several times, so has Coleman Francis' magnetic screen presence. In some small way these little joys make sitting through "Red Zone Cuba" or "Enough" tolerable, and, if things get really bad, you might have enough material to genuinely enjoy yourself.

Taking this into consideration, I can say with no small amount of certainty that "Making Contact" is my least favorite film of all time. There is no consolation prize; nothing comes to speed things along. It's just drudgery. Little things that are usually enjoyable, even in bad films, are stripped of anything decent: 80's clichés fail to bring back fond memories, painfully bad acting fails to elicit any laughs, and the convoluted story fails to surprise or interest the reader. You neither love nor hate the characters-you take absolutely no stake in Ralph's adventure. Everything's flat and uninteresting. This film is completely worthless.
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5/10
A movie thats so awful it should be funny, but is rather disturbing.
droopfozz27 April 2002
This is a movie that should be funny, as are other campy horror films. Yet, this little film aimed at kids, with star wars/ET references everywhere, is rather disturbing, and while I didn't know it at the time makes my disdain towards Emerichs "work" even stronger. Don't show this to kids, it will traumatize them, don't show this to anyone else, its doesn't even make sense on drugs.
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4/10
Mashup or ripoff?
BandSAboutMovies18 December 2019
Warning: Spoilers
Before Independence Day, Universal Soldier and Stargate, Roland Emmerich made Joey, which was released in edited form in the U.S. as Making Contact. Another of his movies, Hollywood-Monster, was also released here as Ghost Chase.

9-year-old Joey's father may have died, but he thinks that he can talk to him on his phone. He's also being attacked by Fletcher, a ventriloquist dummy possessed by a demon that is now calling on an army of demons to take over reality.

Joey must use his telekinesis to go into the spirit world to battle these demons. Luckily, he has a droid-like robot named Charlie and his dog Scooter to help him - even if he must enter the Bates Motel to save his canine best pal. Oh yeah - and there is also a gang of kids who dress like Spider-Man and Darth Vader who use toy tanks to attack Joey, but end up being his friend at the end. There are a lot of moments here where you just have to realize that no one was interested in explaining how to get from story beat to story beat, so they just said screw it and made it was strange as they possible could. I have no issues at all with this choice.

Imagine if you were watching E.T., Poltergeist and The Goonies all at the same time. This movie is a mash-up of influences and completely all over the place. Yet it's well-made and anything but boring. Isn't that what you're looking for in a movie?
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7/10
80's
yusufpiskin24 October 2021
Joey, also known as Making Contact, is a 1985 West German techno-horror-fantasy film from Centropolis Film Productions (now Centropolis Entertainment). The film was co-written and directed by Roland Emmerich.
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3/10
This Is Not A Steven Spielberg Film - It's Many Spielberg Films - But It's 1-2-Miss
P3n-E-W1s32 October 2022
Greetings And Salutations, and welcome to my review of Joey aka Making Contact; here's the breakdown of my ratings:

Story: 0.25 Direction: 0.50 Pace: 0.75 Acting: 1.00 Enjoyment: 1.00

TOTAL: 3.50 out of 10.00.

There's no doubting that from 1992 onwards, with the release of Universal Soldier, Roland Emmerich's skills as a director had grown. Especially after watching Making Contact, where he doesn't only borrow ideas for the storyline but his scenes too. There are so many movies in this one picture it's hard to say which bandwagon he's jumped onto until you realise the films have one thing in common - Steven Spielberg. You'll easily spot the visual and narrative similarities between ET, Poltergeist, Raiders of The Lost Ark, and The Goonies. Due to how Spielberg feels about the likes of Amazon and Netflix making movies that are acceptable at the Oscars, I'm amazed Stevie didn't sue the ass off Emmerich for this flick - maybe he took it as a homage.

That aside: the story, penned by Emmerich, Hans Haller, and Thomas Lechner, tells the story of Joey, a young lad who has just lost his father, except after the funeral, Joey receives a call from his dearly deceased daddy...on his red toy telephone - something a kid his age should've trashed a long time before. But Daddy isn't the only new thing in the house. Joey now possesses the psychic ability to move objects. All he has to do is use his thoughts to ask dad for help, and hey presto, the glass of OJ slides across the table. Oh, and don't forget the ventriloquist dummy he rescued from the dilapidated house down the lane, which has also sprung to life and is now making Joey and his mother's lives miserable. Ooops, I nearly forgot the cute self-powered electronic robot that does what it wants, like hiding from girls because it's shy. With all this going on in his life, it's easy to see why Joey finds it hard to make friends at school - and why the other boys have taken to mocking and bullying him. With this much content, you'd think it'd be a great story. Well, it could've been. Sadly, none of the writers takes the time to develop the characters. Everybody is too quick to accept the strange phenomena occurring in the house. Nobody questions them. Even when the truckloads of paranormal researchers arrive, they treat the flying objects and levitating people as run-of-the-mill events, which, in itself, lessens the supernatural episodes for the movie and the audience. I found it hard to believe that Joey's mother is his mother. The characters are that poorly constructed. There's no motherly bond between them, and she doesn't appear to care too much about his safety. She's not too broken up over her husband's death either. She quickly slides into the caring male teacher's life and arms. And then we get to the story's structure. The writers failed to fully realise the hodge-podge of story ideas, making the whole tale jagged and disjointed. And the ending is so throw-away terrible that I won't mention it.

As for Emmerich's direction - well, before he came into his own, he was a poor man's Spielberg, Tobe Hooper, and Richard Donner, all of whom did a better job with their pictures. However, replicating those guys' works aided his growth. Sadly, after the main setback of the story, the movie suffers from a lack of budget and over-stretching of ideas. Compared with the rolling storm clouds in The Lost Ark and Poltergeist, these ones look sad and powerless. And speaking of Poltergeist, those flying spinning objects got flack because they quickly looked outdated. Well, wait until you see these air riders. The Poltergeist floaties will look like masterpieces of special effects once again. But that said, there is a couple of decent FX. One is the maze they find themselves in when they break into the tumbledown house at the end of the lane. Yep the cellar is a gateway to...well, we don't know, and Emmerich and the writers didn't appear to care - it was just another of those annoying ideas. Anyways, it looks good, and there's a dragonlike creature beyond its walls, as well as a ginormous version of the dummy, and a monstrous child-devouring beef burger in its lair within the maze. And though these look good and are passable, they're let down by the story and the direction. Emmerich keeps everything ticking over at a swift pace. Regrettably, using this tempo with the manic FX adds a more rabid look and feel to the scenes. It looks as though Dreamworks had received a Cujo bite.

The cast is okay: They can only do the best with what the writers supply and how the director instructs them. Had the writers done a better job with the characterisations and had Emmerich pointed them in better directions, the movie would be more acceptable for their performances. As it stands, the characters are dull, and the performers do their best to keep them as boring and uninteresting as the writers and Emmerich wanted.

So, by now, you should know what I'm about to say - Stay away from this picture; I cannot recommend that strongly enough. If you want to watch Emmerich at his best, I suggest you start with Universal Soldier and go from there. But if the notion of this story tickled your interests, then go and get copies of ET, The Goonies, Poltergeist, and Raiders of the Lost Ark. Then sit back and enjoy those films. All are better than Joey - Making Contact.

Gottle of gear. Give me my gloody gottle of gear. Now while I swig this gloody gear down my wooden neck, go check out my IMDb list - Absolute Horror, to see where I ranked Joey.

Take Care & Stay Well.
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10/10
A great underrated supernatural fantasy! one of my all time favorites.
TalesfromTheCryptfan11 April 2009
9 year old Joey Collins (Joshua Morrell) is a sad and lonely kid living in the city of Virgina Beach with his mother after his dad died. He discovers one night he has gained telekinetic and psychic powers which makes his toys come to life and even gain the power to communicate with the spirit of his dad on a toy phone which gives him love and hope, he's a unfairly unpopular kid at school cause he told them his secrets yet they think he's crazy as he has only one friend and of course his pet robot Charlie. One night while walking his dog and robot, he stumbles into an old abandoned mansion that belong to a famous magician/ventriloquist named Jonathan Fletcher and finds an old yet creepy ventriloquist dummy named Fletcher (Voiced by Jack Angel in the U.S. version)as he takes it home with him only to later find out it's possessed by a demon. It terrorizes young Joey into not believing that the person he is talking on the phone isn't his father but the boy refuses to believe it yet the little creature threatens his mom, friends and even some of the folks in his city with demons from another dimension for only Joey can put an end to it's reign of terror.

Very entertaining, fantastic and highly underrated yet overlooked German supernatural horror fantasy drama from Roland Emmerich ("Independence Day", "Stargate" and "The Patriot") long before his Hollywood career. The film incorporates themes about life and death including the power of how to cope with it even though we sometimes can't wish that we need to bring that person back but how to live with it, i think the film's acting is surprisingly good even for the young lead. Some people accuse this of being a knock-off to some of Spielberg's and Lucas's movies like "Star Wars", "E.T.", "Poltergeist" etc. but IT ISN'T a rip-off, it's a tribute and homage as Mr. Emmerich uses playful non-mean spirited references that taps into the mind of a child's imagination on their obsession with movies they love on how sometimes they would like to have a special friend kind of like E.T. and how they could bring their Star Wars-esquire fantasies to life. The dummy Fletcher himself is one creepy little doll whom rivals Fats from "Magic" as the scariest ventriloquist dummy to hit the screen, i remembered watching this movie on HBO when i was young at the age of 5 in 1987 as it scared the hell out of me. Then later in my high school days i adored the movie yet the dummy still gives me the willies, i think it's a wonderful and kind of dark supernatural modern fairy that is a well done and eerie tale of death and magic. The German version of this movie known as "Joey" is the better version then the U.S. New World Pictures English dubbed version "Making Contact" for it has scenes that were cut out of the U.S. version and has a much better music score.

If you want a different yet imaginative movie that combines horror, fantasy and even drama that is also a tearjerker with a moral then i highly recommend checking out this fascinating underrated cult gem.

Also recommended: "Poltergeist", "Ghost", "Pan's Labyrinth", "The Gate", "The Shining", "House (1986)", "Silent Hill", "Magic", "House By The Cemetery", "The Exorcist", "Akira", "Spirited Away", "My Neighbor Totoro", "Star Wars Saga", "The Mummy Trilogy", "Dead of Night (1945)", "Tourist Trap", "Puppet Master", "Ghostbusters 1 & 2", "The Dark Crystal", "1408", "Twice Upon a Time", "The Devil's Backbone", "Pet Sematary", "Scanners", "Carrie", "Firestarter", "Suspiria", "Phenomena", "Inferno", "Mother of Tears", "Hellraiser 1 & 2", "Final Destination Trilogy", "Willow", "A Nightmare on Elm Street", "Stephen King's IT", "The Frighteners", "The Neverending Story", "City of Lost Children", "Harry Potter Saga", "Child's Play Series", "Trilogy of Terror", "Devil Doll (1964)", "The Monster Squad", "The Goonies", "City of the Living Dead (a.k.a. Gates of Hell)", "The Nightmare Before Christmas", "Beetlejuice", "Christine", "The Ring (Japanese and American)", "Hellboy 1 & 2", "Phantasm", "Dolls (1987)", "Pinocchio and the Emperor of the Night", "Big Trouble in Little China", "Monster House", "Donnie Darko", "Escape to Witch Mountain", "Return to Witch Mountain", "Dead Silence", "Something Wicked This Way Comes", "Constanstine", "Pin", "Cat's Eye", "Ju-On The Grudge", "The Fog (1980)", "Prince of Darkness", "The Secret of NIMH", "The Last Unicorn", "Excalibur", "Howl's Moving Castle", "The Amityville Horror (1979 and 2005)", "The Omen (1976)", "The Phantom Tollbooth", "The Orphanage", "Krull", "The Dead Zone (1983)", "Watcher in the Woods", "The Haunting (1963 and 1999)", "The Legend of Hell House", "Burnt Offerings", "The Pit", "Dolly Dearest", "Twilight Zone The Movie", "Witchboard", "Visitors", and "The Ghost and Mr. Muir".
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2/10
What did I just watch???
toya-9441330 December 2022
This has to be one the worst movies I've ever seen. So bad it's laughable and causes copious amounts of eye rolling and questioning your decision to even watch it. There are entirely too many head scratching moments. It's basically a rip-off of Poltergeist, E. T. and a bunch of other movies along with a completely nonsensical plot. I mean, there is no rhyme or reason at all to this movie. In some scenes it's like the director wasn't familiar with human emotion or behavior and just threw together a poor mimicry of them. There is absolutely nothing original about this movie. Every aspect of it is something from other movies. Even the score is a knock-off of the E. T. score. And don't get me started on the horrendous acting and awful dialog. Like this isn't even good enough to be considered a decent parody. It's quite clear the director LOVES Steven Spielberg because this whole movie is basically a fan letter to him. It's literally poorly written/directed fanfiction. I'm glad he came a long way from this embarrassing mess. But hey, you gotta start somewhere.
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8/10
I think it is entertaining for kids.
cloydesyfox5 February 2005
Warning: Spoilers
I first seen this movie when I was only 9 years old and it scared the crap out of me! I think we all have a little weak spot for dolls. They just creep people out for some reason. This movie is by no means scary though.

For a kids movie it is quite good ... I think it has a good dark side to the movie and yet it not too disturbing. I know the movie is a bit far-fetched but what do you expect when you rent or buy this type of film? A documentary? Anyway ... I think this movie is definitely worth watching if you like horror movies and are looking for something a little different. Plus special guest appearance by Darth Vader! PeAcE
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Devil Doll Eat your heart out
Rattrap0074 June 2001
Warning: Spoilers
A perfect candidate for MST3K! Blatantly rips off stuff from other movies. Summary is as follows:

9 year old Joey's dad dies (He is beter off NOT appearing in this film anyway). About a week later Joey get's a call from his dad on his toy phone. I mean come on the kid is supposed to be 9! Isn't he a little old for a little toy phone? Not only that but you can see he has Sesame Street curtains. He has a toy robot with a mind of it's own that looks a bit like R2-D2 with arms and eyes. He get's teased at school because the other kids know he is a loser after he tells them about his talk with daddy. Anyway when he chases that stupid robot into an old house up the hill he finds a ventriloquist dummy. But it is EVIL!! Also we now learn Joey is a very powerful telekinetic and can move stuff with his mind. (Yeah right!) Believe it so far? I didn't think so. He tries to bury it but his stupid teacher sees him running away and returns the doll. Anyway he learns Joey's secret and calls in people from the local college to investigate this unexplained happening. Well the bullies aren't gonna let him get away that easily. They plan to sneak past everyone and do something to Joey. But the doll is in the old house the bullies are using as a fort and traps them there. A little girl Joey likes tells him what happened and they go to save them. The bullies are scared by their nightmares (Darth Vader, fat kid see's a giant killer hamburger, etc) Joey saves them, the doll get's defeted, and joey dies. The paramedics can't save him. All of a sudden all his toys come alive like in the start of the film. Plus Star Wars toys move and fly on their own (Eat your heart out ILM!) and the final shot is of Joey's eyes opening indicating he is alive again.

Like I said. VERY farfetched. It is a crappy kids film. Just plain bad!
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9/10
i have seen this movie as a kid yikes!
scarybookfan16 May 2005
up until about a couple of days ago I had no idea what this movie was called.Afew days ago someone answered 1 of my question/comment about the movie Magic.That steered me in the right direction.I am glad that person knew this movie because I'm 28 and I don't want to still be thinking about the title of it. It scared me into frantic!!To this day I still don't like them but in some weird way i am compelled.I ordered it so I should be getting it in the mail.Can't wait!I am pretty sure this is the movie...WOW. I rated it a 10 because from my earliest memories it was awesome.Tales From The Crypt (HBO)had an episode called My Brothers Keeper. It had (I think it had Don Rickles and definitely Bob Golthwait). And to this day I consider it Terrifying! There is a Old twilight zone episode with a dummy in it. Does anyone know what the title of it is??
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The Worst Film
SuperSpy-34 April 1999
I know no other way of describing this painfully wretched film except by saying that it is one of the worst contributions to the world of movies that I have ever seen! Directed by German-born Roland Emmirich, who would later emerge to direct the big-budgeted blockbuster epics "Independence Day" and "Godzilla," this film makes up in bad acting what it lacks in creativity. Is this film supposed to be a horror film? All I saw was a lawsuit waiting to happen, since it showcases (or rather steals) the creativity and genius of such classics as "E.T.The Extra-terrestrial" and "Poltergeist." If you're looking for laid-back, horror film to enjoy with your friends on a casual Friday night, this isn't it! This is by far one of the most boring and stupendous pieces of work I have ever seen! It is deserving of 100 Razzi Awards! Before I start to puke, I must sign off and get this disgusting, no-good film out of my head. But before I do, I'd like to make a brief comment for the wonderful (yes, I'm being sarcastic!) Mr. Emmerich: 'Please, for the love of god! For the love of Hollywood! Spare us a sequel to "Godzilla!" I wouldn't know how to cope!'
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