Had it not been for digits and a signal, these flicks woulda never made it to the closing credits.
Cellular- This one's a no-brainer. A kidnapped Kim Basinger uses a smashed-up phone to reach anyone who might be able to rescue her. She somehow manages to connect to Chris Evans, prompting him to run around town, dodging dead spots and racing against his phone's battery life, as losing the connection spells disaster for the victim. She should've just called Superman's phone booth instead.
The Matrix- Moments before the agents can capture Neo from his desk job, he receives a FedEx package with a cell phone in it. Morpheus (a cheap-man's James Earl Jones) calls and gives him a GPS-worthy escape route. Does your network do that?
Scream- Wes Craven's call-before-you-kill serial murderers would never have worked for Hitchcock. Let's face it, the line, "I'm at the gas station down the street, but as soon as I hang up and run to your house, I'm gonna gut you like a fish!" doesn't get the blood pumping like a guy watching you through your bedroom window.
The Host- Without the use of a handy-dandy cell phone, the Asian family in this monster flick wouldn't have known which sewer their precious little Hyun-seo was trapped in. We don't want to spoil the end of the movie for you, but (SPOILER ALERT!) despite what that Sprint guy might tell you, no amount of text messaging can save a little girl from a big, hungry monster.
The Departed- There's only one way to communicate with your superiors when you're deep undercover: smoke signals. We kid, we kid. In the modern age, cell phones take care of all your covert needs, and that's just what Billy Costigan Jr. and Colin Sullivan—two moles on either side of the law—used to text message, tip off, and backstab this fine flick's entire cast.
Panic Room- When robbers break into Meg Altman’s (Jodie Foster) new house, she flees for the safety of the panic room’s four-inch steel walls with her cell phone. Movie over? Think again. There’s only so many places that Verizon dude can go, and a metal death chamber isn’t one of them.
The Bourne Supremacy- After incapacitating a lowly customs agent in Naples, Italy, CIA-operative-turned-man-on-the-run Jason Bourne makes a duplicate of the unconscious schlub's SIM card, allowing him to eavesdrop on calls from Langley, gain vital information about his past, and make contact with the woman who may or may not be his savior, Pamela Landy.
24- Ponder this: If Jack Bauer ever forgot to charge his cell phone before one of these 24-hour seasons, he wouldn't have been able to scream at his CTU superiors, hatch new, bat-shit insane plans, or have Chloe aid him with her computer wizardry… And we'd all be dead.