Cell (film)

Cell, a 2016 American science fiction horror film, adapts Stephen King's 2006 novel of the same name. Tod Williams directed the movie, with Richard Saperstein, Brian Witten, and others producing. The screenplay came from King and Adam Alleca. John Cusack stars alongside Samuel L. Jackson and Isabelle Fuhrman. This marks the second King adaptation to feature both Cusack and Jackson, the first being 2007's *1408*.

The film debuted on video on demand on June 10, 2016, before a limited theatrical release on July 8, 2016. Its story follows a New England artist who tries to reunite with his young son after a mysterious signal broadcast through the global cell phone network transforms most people into mindless, vicious animals. Critics largely panned the film upon release.

**Plot**

Artist Clay Riddell left his wife Sharon and son Johnny behind to pursue his dream of publishing a graphic novel. A year later, at Boston International Airport, Clay calls his family on his cell phone with good news about his career. His battery dies, so he switches to a payphone. An electronic signal, later called "the pulse," broadcasts across mobile networks worldwide, turning cell phone users into rabid killers. Clay witnesses two planes collide midair and flees into a subway station. One plane crashes, destroying the terminal. Clay finds survivors in a subway car. Train conductor Tom McCourt explains that the power is out, the train cannot move, and the station will flood within hours because the pumps are shut down. Tom suggests abandoning the train and traveling through the tunnels. Clay agrees, and a third man joins them as they try to escape the airport.

Near the tunnel's exit, the third man is killed by an infected person, later dubbed a "phoner." Clay leads Tom to his apartment. That night, teenage neighbor Alice Maxwell joins them; she killed her mother in self-defense. The three decide to leave Boston. Heading north through New England to find Sharon and Johnny, they grab weapons from a house and are chased by phoners to a nearby river. They hide as the infected emit signals from their mouths and then walk away.

After sundown, the trio arrives at a private school and meets two survivors: headmaster Charles Ardai and student Jordan. Charles theorizes that the phoners have developed a hive mind and are telepathic.