A cell phone connection serves as a link between the past and present for a police detective and his dead niece in Don't Let Go, a new supernatural thriller from Blumhouse Productions that debuted at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival earlier this year. It's a little bit Frequency, a little bit Looper, with a smidgen of good old-fashioned crime drama thrown in for good measure.
(Mild spoilers below.)
The film stars David Oyelowo (Selma) as Detective Jack Radcliff, who looks out for his young niece Ashley (Storm Reid, A Wrinkle in Time, Euphoria). Ashley's father (and Jack's brother), Garrett (Brian Tyree Henry, Atlanta, Joker), is bipolar with a history of drug and alcohol abuse, as well as the occasional bit of drug running. He's been on the straight and narrow for several years now, but Jack still gives Ashley a cell phone so she can call him if she needs him—like when her dad forgets to pick her up from the movies after dark. One day Jack gets a panicked phone call from Ashley, and rushes to his brother's house, only to find Garrett has shot his wife and daughter, and then himself, apparently in the midst of a manic episode. It's ruled a murder/suicide, but something about the case feels wrong to Jack and he starts poking around, to the annoyance of his boss, Howard (Alfred Molina, Species, Da Vince Code).
At the funeral, Jack tells his LAPD colleague and best friend Bobby (Mykelti Williamson, Con Air, The Purge: Election Year) he prayed for a second chance to fix things. At home alone one night, his phone rings, and the caller ID says it's Ashley. She's calling from the past, two weeks before the murders, unaware that she is talking to her Uncle Jack from the future—at least not at first. Jack realizes he has a chance to save Ashley and change the past—possibly saving himself in the process—if he can figure out what really happened that day. And the clock is ticking.