One Call Away

Shot on Sony FX3

One Call Away is a crime horror drama centred around a fictional serial killer, the ‘Driver’, who operates in the shadows of a bleak urban sprawl in the 2000s. We track their nightly routine of searching for victims by scrolling the pages of a local phone book, calling them at random, driving to their homes… and then returning to their own home to feed their cat. Their pet is not just something they look after, however. It’s their greatest companion, whom they care deeply for. The cat is their rock. When the Driver comes home one night to find their cat missing, their world is turned upside down. They look everywhere for him, hunting the streets at night for one of their own now. But there’s no sign of their cat. The next night, they look for him again, but he’s nowhere to be found. The endless days roll on and the Driver’s cat has not come home. The days soon turn into weeks and, despite posting ‘Missing Cat’ posters around town, there’s no sign of him. Faced with the possibility of a future without their beloved companion, the Driver disposes of their tools, their phonebook and slaughter knife, unable to carry on with their usual work due to this painful absence. Eventually, they decide to leave town for good, to start over, unable to stay in a place haunted by memories of their conrad. On their way out, however, they receive an unexpected call. Someone from their area has come across the Driver’s injured cat. The Driver literally stops in their tracks when they hear the good news. Back at home again, with their baby in their arms, the killer tends to their injured cat’s wounds, who appears to have maybe been in a fight with another feline. When they finish dressing and cleaning him up, the Driver feeds their cat as usual. Everything seems back to normal… just normal enough for them to pick up a new knife and start all over again. The film was inspired by true crime documentaries about serial killers operating in large urban areas in the 20th century and 2000s, and the question of what life would truly be like for them behind closed doors.