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When a Stranger Calls by Simon West
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Canada
DVD Cover InformationActor: Brian Geraghty, Camilla Belle, Katie Cassidy, Tessa Thompson, Tommy Flanagan Director: Simon West Brand: Sony Producer: John Davis Producer: Ken Lemberger Producer: Paddy Cullen Producer: Wyck Godfrey Writer: Fred Walton Writer: Jake Wade Wall Writer: Steve Feke DVD: Region Code 99 Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); French (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 5.1 Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Full Screen Picture Format: 1.33:1 Running Time: 87 minutes DVD Release Date: 2006-05-16 Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested) Studio: Sony Pictures
Movie Reviews of When a Stranger CallsMovie Review: When a psycho calls Summary: 4 StarsWhen 16 year old Jills' boyfriend kisses her best friend she spends an excess of about 700 minutes on her mobile discussing it with him and so her parents make her get a baby-sitting job to pay the money back. And (surprise, surprise) the house she is babysitting at is a deserted mansion in the middle of (the woods?) nowhere.
At first the babysitting is a pretty enjoyable experience for Jill - the house is massive and full of fun and impressive gadgets and furniture, plus the children are already asleep in bed when she gets there so she hasnt really got any work to do either. But then the creepy phone calls begin and she cant contact any of her friends for help because they are all at this bonfire-party on the top a hill somewhere in town. At first she dissmissed the calls as a sick joke but then she discovers that the caller is watching her and he asks if she's checked the children...
This horror movie is more suspencefull than scary because nothing really happens for quit a while apart from her receiving creepy calls. In the last 20 minutes there is some horror and action as she discovers dead bodies and tries to escape the caller etc and the ennding is pretty chilling, too.
Overall this is quite a good horror movie (especially if you prefere suspence over gore) that I would reccomend if you are looking for a good horror/thriller movie.
Summary of When a Stranger CallsIn this chilling suspenseful thriller a high school student (Camilla Belle The Ballad of Jack and Rose The Lost World: Jurassic Park) is terrorized by a series of ominous phone calls from a stranger to 'watch the children.' Her fear escalates to terror when the babysitter realizes the call is traced to reveal that that they are coming from within the very house she's in. Also starring Brian Geraghty (Jarhead) and David Denman (Big Fish The Replacements TV's 'The Office' and 'Angel') When a Stranger Calls is a chilling thriller that will make your hair stand on end!Format: DVD MOVIE Genre:?ACTION/ADVENTURE/THRILLERS UPC:?043396145108 Manufacturer No:?14510 The smartest thing about the remake of When a Stranger Calls is that it strips the original 1979 version to its bare essentials as a primal exercise in stormy-night terror. While taking the original film's suspenseful first act and expanding it into an 87-minute cat-and-mouse game, screenwriter Jake Wade Wall adds a few clever updates involving cellphones and home-security services, as well as the maze-like menace of a lavish modern home that serves as the setting for mayhem when cute teenager Jill (Camilla Belle, in the role originated by Carol Kane) takes on a babysitting job that she may live to regret. Someone is stalking her in the big, expensive glass palace that her employers call home (a splendid set designed by Jon Gary Steele), and that creepy voice on the phone (belonging to Lance Henriksen, master of doom-laden threat) should've been her first clue to grab the pair of terrified kids she's supposed to be protecting and leave the house ASAP. But no, the script, the overwrought score, and the uninspired direction of Simon West (Con-Air, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider) insist that poor Jill be put through a Halloween-like night from hell, complete with a black cat as an omen of nasty things to come. Kudos to Wall and West for attempting to generate horror through suggestion (by keeping the homicidal stalker mostly off-screen), but let's face it: the original film is hardly a classic (its TV-movie sequel, When a Stranger Calls Back, is considerably better), and the remake takes too long to yield minimal rewards. Maybe Jill should've just unplugged the phone. --Jeff Shannon
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