That was an excellent one.

Awesome Movie

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

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".

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

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??

Making Contact is a terrible movie I saw as a kid about some little dork who's Dad dies and stupid stuff happens to him. Stuff comes alive, he gets picked on and dark forces..oh no. I remember thinking it was going to be scary and nothing in it was good at all. What a piece of garbage. It's as if the filmmakers looked at all the popular movies of the early 80's and tried to rehash it into a sure fire hit. *