Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
Still scary, September 3, 2005
I would have to agree that Carol Kane is the engine in this movie. Her acting is superb as the frightened babysitter and later victim of a madman.
The first 18 minutes are relentless and memorable (similar to the beginning of the first 'Scream' flick). The director draws the tension so tight you sit literally on the edge of your seat.
The last 18 minutes are equally as taut. However, the middle of the movie is slow and could have been written much better.
I still gave this movie 5 stars because it still holds the thrill... even if it's only in the beginning and the end.
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41 of 46 people found the following review helpful:
Very scary without being gory, February 27, 2005
"When A Stranger Calls" came out the year after the original "Halloween", and although it is not as widely acclaimed or known, it's just as scary, if not scarier, in a much more subtle manner.
The film starts off with Jill (Carol Kane), a young babysitter minding two small children for the evening, the children having already been put to bed for the night by the parents before they leave. She begins to receive anonymous, frightening phone calls with the caller ominously asking, "Have you checked the children?" and "Why haven't you checked the children?" then hanging up. Scared, she calls the police, who at first tell her to calm down, then instruct her to try to keep the caller on the line if he calls again, so the call can be traced. When she obliges and they trace the call, the real terror starts. I remember when I first saw this film, and my reaction to this revelation was unparalleled by any film I had seen at that time.
I am trying not to give away too much - if you haven't seen this film, be careful of other online reviews; I came across several that were real spoilers, and without any forewarning.
The first part of "When A Stranger Calls" is very fast-paced, then the middle part takes the audience seven years ahead; Jill is now a married mother. The film slows and becomes more of a psychological study; the criminal from the beginning sequence has escaped from the asylum. Along his wanderings he comes across Tracy (Colleen Dewhurst), a tough barfly he fixates upon. John Clifford (Charles Durning), who was the police detective investigating the original case, re-enters the scenario to try to track down the escaped madman, Curt Duncan (Tony Beckley).
This part of the movie is slower but much more interesting, in my opinion, and shows how scary a film can be without any real gore factor. Tony Beckley (in his last role) is very convincing as a murderous madman; his careful and understated portrayal make the character Curt Duncan even more terrifying. Colleen Dewhurst's performance as Tracy helps this part of the film move very well (she was always an extremely good actress) and she makes Tracy's toughness, vulnerability, and smarts very believable. Charles Durning as Detective Clifford is a typical part for him, and he handles it well, with his usual street-savvy tough-guy exterior aplomb.
The direction by Fred Walton, and the subtle, creepy soundtrack help push this film beyond the realm of being just another standard 1970's scream-inducing shock flick.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
The best opening scene to a horror/suspense movie you'll see, October 8, 2005
When a Stranger Calls, originally written as a one act play where a psychopath terrorizes a baby sitter via phone, was padded for the film, adding a middle where we meet the killer and an finale where the killer goes after the baby sitter again. I don't want to say much more about the plot other than to say that the middle part demotes this film from 5 to 4 stars for me. The film generates too much sympathy for the killer. For me, I would have rather had the director make the killer a faceless evil presence like Michael Myers in Halloween. In Psycho it was different as Hitchcock played the audience like a piano, transferring its sympathy from Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) to Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins) after the shower scene. Even after being exposed as the murderer, Norman still elicits sympathy. However, the killer in When a Stranger Calls is a different case. His acts are so shocking and terrible that I felt the filmmakers should have made him less of an object of pity and more of a monster. Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, John Wayne Gacy, The Zodiac and Richard Ramirez have shown that monsters without redeeming qualities do exist.
However, this film is well worth watching for the first act alone. Carol Kane is able to shed the bubbleheaded weirdo image she was typecast into after Taxi and portray a three-dimensional character who is rightfully terrified of her psychopathic caller. The director, using ever decreasing lighting, evokes an increasing level of terror from the audience, leading up to one of the most jolting revelations in horror/suspense film history. The third act is very well done as well with one last shock that will scare the hell out of you. However, it is the film's first act that sets it apart and which makes it well worth seeing, even taking into account the very flawed second act. One thing is for sure -- for the rest of your life, you will never be able to hear this phrase without feeling a chill up your spine:
"Have you checked the children?"
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