Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 9786302797633
Format: Closed-captioned
ISBN: 6302797632
Label: Sony Pictures
Languages: Array
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Sony Pictures
Release Date: 2001-08-28
Running Time: 97
Studio: Sony Pictures
Theatrical Release Date: 1979-10-26

Released a year after John Carpenter's 1978 Halloween, this thriller by longtime actor-turned-director Fred Walton has held a strong following of its own. In an exemplary piece of suspense, the film begins with a babysitter (Carol Kane) fielding threatening phone calls while on the job. She soon finds that a pair of children in her charge have been murdered in their beds; she is nearly killed herself by the homicidal maniac before police arrive. As with Halloween, the action jumps some years ahead, when Kane's character is herself a wife and mother--and the monster escapes from a mental institution to re-create his original carnage in the heroine's own home. Between these exciting bookends, the film loses its way and becomes dissatisfying and obscure. But Walton compensates by engineering a couple of great horror moments worth savoring. Tom Keogh

Customer Rating:
Summary: When A Stranger Hits Redial
Comment: "What are you going to do tonight?" a friend of mine asked.

"I'm going to watch a movie, an old scary one. WHEN A STRANGER CALLS. It's supposed to be good."

"Is that the one with the babysitter?"

"I don't know. I haven't seen it."

"Yeah. I know that one. It's famous, right? It's the one where you find out he's calling -- "

"Shut up shut up shut up! I don't want to know anything about it. I like to go in fresh."

So I went in fresh, and ten minutes in, I realized that I already knew the creepy twist. And if you've been told at least three campfire tales in your life, I'd wager odds that you know the twist, too. Even if you've never seen the movie in question.

That's not so bad. The first twenty minutes of the original manage to be tense without trying the patience. The elfin Carol Kane stars as a babysitter named Jill who finds her night plagued with strange phone calls. The caller never says much, but what he does say (voiced with fragile menace by the late Tony Beckley) can melt the nerves. It's the kind of powerful scene that is usually found at the climax of a movie.

And therein lies the problem.

WHEN THE STRANGER CALLS (1979) has a neat idea, but nothing to go with it. After the First Act scare, the movie becomes philosophical and ponderous. The camera follows two men: Charles Durning as the dispeptic private detective John Clifford and our resident serial killer, Curt Duncan. "He's from England."

It's not unheard of for a "horror" movie (that's where you'll find this title shelved, but the genre is misapplied) to reveal some of the basic humanity of its villain, but this flick goes a step further and exposes his tenderest vulnerabilities. He is made more human, brittler, his actual madness becomes a place for pity. All of this while Clifford pursues him with squinty-eyed persistence and a lock needle in his pocket. (If you've never heard of a lock needle before, it is a long, pointy thing that you would never, ever want to carry in your pocket.)

Trying to reverse the roles like that -- murderer becomes society's whipping boy versus the man trying to get vengence beyond the law -- makes for an interesting social studies lesson. But it's not hard to get the picture within the first fifteen minutes, and yet there are roughly forty more to go. After this, the finale is a welcome burst of energy, but it doesn't linger with quite the smack that the intro offers.

Certainly a movie that could use some renovation, right? So thought Simon West, whose directorial debut was Con Air. And thus a remake was born.

Watching the remake immediately after the original might have been a bad idea, but it did make a few things very clear to me.

First of all, West must've been aware of the first film's shortcomings, because he only sticks to what worked for the original: the first twenty minutes. Granted, the first twenty minutes would make a GREAT episode of The Twilight Zone (I could've sworn it already was), but a feature-length movie? Errrmmmm.

And there's the unfortunate part. West's re-do steals some scene direction and a lot of lines from the original. But to pad the film out, he has added the tricky maze of a doctor's absurdly large house, along with all of the doctor's weird gadgetry (automatic lights, a greenhouse built in the center of the house, a remote controlled fireplace). He also gives us a few unnecessary characters (a ridiculous visit from a friend and a live-in maid ... why are these people hiring a babysitter if they have a live-in maid?). This plus a very fragile sub-plot involving jogging.

West moves fast once the movie has finally exhausted it's key line ("He's calling **** ****** *** *****!"), which is wise. It gets a little awkward when the kids get involved, but only because they are such poor actors that West films them mostly in obscurity and gives them no lines whatsoever. And whereas the first film shows the killer in a shadowless spotlight, West keeps him as murky as his voice, this time around the over-done gravel of Lance Henriksen. It's a predictable trade-off, and it has predictably mediocre results.

It's a movie that knows what it has going for it. Even after fullfilling the necessary wrap-up, though, West can't resist one last stinger, a completely unnecessary but totally understandable last moment zing that, of course, concludes with the greatest thing about either of these movies:

"HE'S CALLING ...

No. I'm not going to be the one to spoil it for you.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: About that mid-movie...
Comment: As generally pointed out, the beginning of this movie is one of the better Suspense sequences made, while the ending, if a bit weaker, is still well done and exciting.

But that notoriously "slow" middle section really is better than some credit it. It fleshes out the characters very well, creating some sympathy for the "psycho" and showing the darker side of the "good guys", while introducing the "bar fly" character played very well by Colleen Dewhurst. The pace is much slower than the rest of the movie, but adds frustration to the mix of emotions sparked by the movie. Perhaps the ending would not be as thrilling without the unsuccessful search to contrast it.

The real problem is that someone looking for a "scary" movie will be disappointed by the realism of the middle of this one; spoiled by the beginning and welcoming the ending, many will resent the in-between. But for those who can appreciate a little more "meat" to a scare-flick, this does a decent job.

It's not Hitchcock, but has some of those elements.

The DVD quality was good; there were no extras to speak of, but a good buy, if the price is low.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Not how I remembered, but still good
Comment: I remember being terrified by this movie as a child ...

I remembered the first 20 minutes vividly, and it is still just as scary as it was when I was a kid. Carol Kane is quite good as the terrified babysitter. The phrase: "Why haven't you checked the children?" will now make you uneasy. It is quick paced and suspenseful. (I am sure I never saw past this point.)

Then we jump forward in time to when the harasser escapes the insane asylum and begins his reign of terror again. After a prolonged police drama sequence (really unnecessary) we return to the babysitter, Carol Kane, now all grown up and with a family of her own. Her and her husband go out for the night, and disturbing things begin to happen to her babysitter!!

Overall, still a good film, even though the middle of the film (the bulk of it) lost my interest at times I still enjoyed it. Tony Beckley has some truly great scenes as the demented stalker and Carol Kane is the quintessential hysterical woman. Watch and enjoy!

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Customer Rating:
Summary: The first 20min is worth it all
Comment: If for know other reason the first 20min of this film is worth checking out. If you want tension suspense and pure terror this is it. If your a fan of this type of film or even a film student the begining of this film alone is worth a look.....The rest of the film is slow with no action and kind of falls apart really. I'm not sure how you top the first part of this film with the great mood it sets with it's camera work and music !

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Very freaky
Comment: This movie is by far one of the creepiest, and not alot goes on in the plot. It's the classic "babysitter" story..."have you check the children?" A babysitter, is recieving prank phone calls. First the caller just breathes into the phone, then he starts saying weird things. The voice on the line is soooo creepy, with every phone call the tension builds and builds. The end is classic...This is one that should be in every horror collectors, collection!

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