One minute she’s a Bond girl and an A-list actress; the next she’s making straight-to-the-shelf efforts like The Call.

Pulpy B movie that it is, The Call is a decent thriller/chiller that’s strong on characters and nicely paced.

Berry plays LA 911 operator Jordan Turner, a total pro who inadvertently causes the death of a young girl who’s been kidnapped by a homicidal maniac and who Jordan has battled to save.

Riven by grief, she hangs up her headset and trains rookie operators – until fate intervenes and another teenage girl, Casey Welson, played by Abigail Breslin, is abducted from a mall by a homicidal maniac.

As a race against time flick, The Call works well. Much of it is played out between the two leads as Turner fights her fear of failure again and Welson is trapped in a car boot and only the voice on the other end of the line can save her.

There’s plenty you’ve seen here before in any episode of Criminal Minds, with the killer, played by Michael Eklund, a guy with serious psychological issues who tries to get over his sister’s death by kidnapping blonde teens who look like her and bringing them to his surgical ward basement to cut them up.

The only pity here, after a believable hour or so of drama, is that the movie descends into OTT silliness as Turner decides to track down the killer herself, leading to an ending that is truly laughable. That said, it’s a movie that punches way above its small budget and should keep you on the edge of your seat.

DVD EXTRAS: Surprisingly good, with the Blu-Ray with DVD and UltraViolet code worth seeking out. It has a featurette on the real life call centre, stunts special and deleted scenes.