When a Stranger Calls
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Movie Reviews of When a Stranger Calls
Movie Review: good ole suspense
Summary: 5 Stars
A real masterpiece of suspense, even 30 years later! While the remake is still very good, I was surprised to feel even more electrified by the original version. Definitely a classic!!!Movie Review: Excellent chiller
Summary: 4 Stars
I have seen a lot of horror flicks and suspense/thrillers in my day and the first 21-mintues to When a Stranger Calls easily rates as possibly the very best first act I have ever seen. From the way it was written, shot, scored and acted there is for me no doubt it's just simply perfection. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. The phone calls may not be the scariest in the sense that the caller at first doesn't say anything threatening or even sexual.
Each minute of the first act raises the tension unlike any horror flick I have ever seen. By the time you reach the end of the first act you'll be held in such suspense that scaring you is now simple. Any filmmaker can create a jump scene where the killer or ghost or whatever pops out of the corner. Most of the time jumping back is just simply a reaction. How many movies have you watched where you jumped back, but weren't scared at all? It's just a reaction and any filmmaker can do that regardless if they are good or a hack.
That is why I normally prefer movies like this that are a bit more subtle. Problem is though after the opening act business does indeed slow down. Most people say the middle sections are boring and it's kind of hard to argue with them. Though I will say the middle sections of When a Stranger Calls does get better on multiple viewings. The filmmakers did such a great job in the opening act that we the audience are on such a high that anything afterwards is bound to be a let down.
The screenplay written by Steve Feke and Fred Walton was overall pretty good; the first act was very well written and extremely creepy, but after that the movie changes focus. It seems the story will be built around Jill Johnson played by Carol Kane, but instead the movie focuses on the killer Roy Duncan played by Tony Beckley and a private detective named John Clifford played by Charles Durning who is on the hunt for the psychotic killer.
When a Stranger Calls isn't the typical horror movie, yes I consider it a horror flick for the sole reason the movie does aim to scare you. Not in the typical horror movie way, but with more suspense. Some suspense flicks have nothing to do with horror where as others play off some kind of primal fear often found in the horror genre. The 2nd half becomes more of a crime drama. We follow Roy Duncan and to be honest the guy is quite pathetic.
Feke and Walton take an interesting approach; Duncan is obviously a psycho but he's so pathetic we almost feel sorry for him. But the man is a child killer and I cannot feel for them. They are the lowest of the low. He's homeless, broke we see him get beat up and later beg for money. Hardly the typical movie villain; problem though is he's just not an interesting enough character to follow around. Tony Beckley does an out-standing job. There is no denying his talents in this movie as an actor. But the character just simply was not interesting.
Charles Durning does a great job though at carrying the movie. He is the more interesting of the two characters and his obsession with finding the killer is entertaining. But what went wrong with the middle sections? Simple it goes back to the killer just not being interesting enough. For almost an hour of the movie it's John Clifford hunting down Roy Duncan. While it's not as boring as some people make it out to be, I do think Steve Feke and Fred Walton could have done more. Their screenplay does seem to drag in some spots and by a certain point the movie does sort of repeat itself, but thankfully the final act gets back to Jill Johnson.
I didn't hate the middle sections, but they weren't as strong as they could have been. I personally always felt the movie should have been Jill's story with Roy Duncan being in the movie a little less. It would suck to lose the scenes with Charles Durning because he was so great same goes for Tony Beckley, but I personally think making it Jill's story and use Clifford and Duncan as more of a sub-plot would have worked better. The remake attempted to do just that and failed big time.
As stated earlier the opening act was just brilliant; director Fred Walton gets the most out of every single shot and raises the suspense and tension unlike any movie I have ever seen. Like I said anybody can do a clichéd scare movie, but it takes real talent to do what Fred Walton did. The 2nd half while yes does lose a little bit of steam, Fred Walton is still able to keep the suspense level at a decent level. The scenes with Colleen Dewhurst who plays Lisa are well done overall and remind us what kind of movie we are watching. The hour mark features a great and creepy scene with her and Roy Duncan. Though when all is said and done the Lisa character seems nothing more than filler scenes. It never really goes anywhere, but does provide some decent suspense.
The final act is when things really pick up and we return to Jill Johnson who is now married with 2-kids of her own. Besides the opening act, the final act is the most solid. It goes back to being very creepy and while it does lack compared to the opening it does give us some chills and thrills. Like I said before I do believe When a Stranger Calls is a movie that needs multiple viewings. The opening act was so brilliant anything afterwards is bound to bet a let down. It might be boring at first, but when you see it again you might be able to appreciate it a little bit more. I've come to enjoy the middle sections even if it wasn't as good as it could have been.
Carol Kane was great and I do believe the movie might have worked better had the focus been more on her and use Duncan and Clifford as a sub-plot. Kane does appear in half the movie actually. It's just she's used in the opening and ending, which results in roughly 40-minutes or so screen time, but since it's so far between it seems like she's barley in the movie.
Despite some problems with the middle sections, When a Stranger Calls is a highly suspenseful and very creepy movie with excellent performances. I'd advise those who felt the middle sections were boring to give it another try. It does grow on you and for those who haven't seen it just expect more a crime/drama with some suspense thrown in during the middle. But the opening and closing act just might be the best you'll find in this genre.
Movie Review: Like Rick Springfield Used To Sing - Don't Talk To "Strangers"
Summary: 4 Stars
"Okay, you really scared me, if that's what you wanted. Is that what you wanted?"
"No."
"What do you want?"
"Your blood..., all over me!" - Babysitter, Jill Johnson has a bloody nightmare on her hands "When A Stranger Calls"
Carol Kane & Charles Durning star in one of the most creepiest films from the seventies & easily boasts the most thrilling & suspenseful twenty minutes of any opening film in cinema history.
"Strangers" opens with Jill Johnson, an average high school student, arriving at the Mendrakis household to babysit for the couple's two flu ridden children, while the Mendrakis' go to a social function.
After talking to a few friends on the phone, Jill starts to settle in for the night & do some homework, when the phone rings. At first, there's no one there, then the heavy breathing, & then the question:
"Have you checked the children?"
Jill, uneasy, calls the police. The cop tells her it's probably a prank caller whose nowhere in the area, trying to get a rise out of her & succeeded. The cop then tells Jill if the strange calls continue, to call back & a trace can be put her on phone.
The calls do continue:
"Why haven't you checked the children?"
"I can see you - but you can't see me!"
Jill calls the police back & they trace the calls.
Needless to say, Jill isn't happy with the results as she finds out that herself & the kids are not alone & are in the house with Curt Duncan, a merchant seaman from England & a psychotic madman.
Jill narrowly escapes by running out of the house & into the arms of Lt. Clifford the policeman summoned to the house.
The Mendrakas children are not so fortunate, becoming Duncan's latest victims being slaughtered minutes after their parents have left for the evening.
Fast forward to 7 years after the tragedy, & Duncan escapes his incarceration in a mental hospital & hunts down Jill, terrorizing her husband & her own two children. Dr. Mendrakis hires Clifford, now a licensd P.I. to hunt down & possibly kill Duncan before he gets his hands on Jill & her family.
"I had to come back. Don't you know why?"
Originally a sequel to another creepy film, "Black Christmas", "When A Stranger Calls" became a stand alone film after the success of John Carpenter's "Halloween" from the prior year.
"Stranger" does have a severe problem. The second act sags like a pot belly. The viewer watches Duncan trying to hide from the authorities with no place to go. So does the movie. There are some errie things Duncan does, but, comes off more like a stumble bum. The first & third acts are what make this film worth the rent.
This DVD version is still barebones, by the numbers disc with no extras. Audio is Dolby mono.
Movie Review: Unassumingly terrifying, but - beware - edited
Summary: 4 Stars
This is one of the purest horror movies I've ever seen. No blood, no slashers, no torture - just terrifying suspense, best watched and savored at night and in the dark.
However - when I saw this as a kid, I distinctly remember a scene where Charles Durning and Colleen Dewhurst were talking in her apartment, and she was telling him about her loneliness, how she just wanted to make it to the end, and he then offered to take her out for ice cream sometime, and she actually seemed happy for once in the movie. That scene - and perhaps others - were edited out of this version. Why? That one scene interjected a wonderful interpersonal scene that expanded on Colleen Dewhurst's character and brought a humanitarian juxtaposition to the suspenseful 2nd half of the movie, and for me it was badly missed in this edited version. I'm disappointed that the movie was edited when it wasn't long in the first place, and see no reason to have done it other than to move us more quickly to the end game. But sometimes the chase is just as interesting as the end. Perhaps someday a "Director's Cut" or "Special Edition" will restore the movie to its original length. This disk also comes with no bonus features as well, which is disappointing. Although Tony Beckley (playing Kirk Duncan) died shortly after making this movie, it would be interesting to hear what the actors had to say about it before some of them (Durning, Kane) made their less satisfying sequel.
Movie Review: Not how I remembered, but still good
Summary: 4 Stars
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!