Joey (1985 film)

Joey (released in the United States as *Making Contact*) is a 1985 West German techno-horror-fantasy film produced by Centropolis Film Productions (now Centropolis Entertainment). It was co-written and directed by Roland Emmerich. The story centers on nine-year-old Joey Collins, who, following his father’s death, uses a small phone to communicate with what he believes is his deceased parent. He is then menaced by a possessed ventriloquist dummy named Fletcher, which summons demons and evil forces to threaten Joey’s friends, mother, and enemies. To defeat the doll, Joey must enter the spirit world for a battle between good and evil, while also developing telekinetic powers that spiral out of control.

The cast includes Joshua Morrell as Joey Collins, Eva Kryll as Laura Collins, Jan Zierold as Martin, Tammy Shields as Sally, Barbara Klein as Haiden, Matthias Kraus as Bernie, and Jack Angel as the voice of Fletcher the dummy.

Emmerich stated that his goal was to make entertaining films for a broad audience and revive Germany’s film industry, noting that artsy movies might satisfy the ego but wouldn’t sustain an industry. He pointed to filmmakers like Spielberg and Lucas as models. The production took eighteen months; Emmerich kept costs low by building his own effects studio in an abandoned factory rather than hiring an established effects house. To shoot in English, he recruited actors from an American military base in Germany. Completion was delayed when Emmerich scrapped the initial effects work and re-did it entirely.

In North America, the film was released as *Making Contact* in a heavily cut 79-minute version. Despite mostly negative reviews, it recouped its budget in Germany alone and earned additional profits from foreign sales. A two-disc DVD set later included both the original 98-minute cut and the edited North American version. In 2017, Kino Lorber released the US cut on Blu-ray. German critics largely panned the film, dubbing Emmerich “Spielbergle” (“little Spielberg”) for his use of tropes popularized by American blockbusters. The US cut was riffed during the 2022 *Mystery Science Theater 3000 LIVE: Time Bubble Tour*.