When A stranger calls – Movie Review

When A stranger calls – Movie Review

When A Stranger Calls is a remake of the 1979 movie of the same name but unfortunately the standards have dropped considerably. I know I have seen the original movie a couple of times but not for many years. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the
original, it is parodied in Scream, when Drew Barrymore is babysitting and answers the phone. It is also parodied in Scary Movie. I can assure you that the original is an overall better movie and a much creepier movie but this 2006 version isn’t a total write-off.

In the 2006 movie, we have Jill Johnson (Camilla Belle) babysitting in a palatial estate, trying to make some extra cash to pay off her exorbitant cell phone bill. The ultra-rich couple for whom she is babysitting lives in a house that I would guess is worth
somewhere in the neighbourhood of $10 million, has a guest home and is equipped with every do-hickey and gadget you could imagine except for one thing – call display on the phone in the damn living room. Jill sits back and gets ready to enjoy her night in
this remote but comfy home when the phone rings. I can’t remember exactly how many calls she gets but eventually she realizes there is some dude on the other end breathing and watching her and he eventually asks “Did you check the children?” The phone calls
continue until Jill calls the police, has the calls traced and is told they are coming from inside the house. That is when all hell breaks loose.

With When A Stranger Calls, director Simon West has basically took an idea that lasted in the original movie for maybe twenty minutes and stretched it out into a feature length movie. The whole “did you check the children” fiasco in the original movie lasted
somewhere in the neighbourhood of twenty minutes and was absolutely terrifying. In this day and age, with all the technology, call display and what not, telephones aren’t nearly as scary as they were in 1979. In fact, the only time I can remember being scared
on the phone since 1990 was when my friend Doug phoned me and farted into the phone. Phones just aren’t scary but Hollywood somehow manages to get a few economical thrills out of this worn out idea.

I have to admit, when I sit down and think about it, When A Stranger Calls is a totally asinine movie and idea. There are just so many horror clichés in this movie that it’s a wonder how they managed to fit so many into such a short film. They use the old
“noise in another room that ends up being the cat or the ice machine in the fridge” scenario one too many times; or the old “the phone rings but it’s actually the ex-boyfriend or best friend” scenario. Then there’s the windy, rainy night; open garage door;
house with creepy statues all over the place; security system that just doesn’t seem to work. The parents calling and saying “don’t worry, you don’t have to check the children” – nice parents; and of course the police – taking about 20 minutes to get there.

There’s just so much wrong with Stranger that I’m almost embarrassed to say this – I was mildly entertained. I mean, don’t get me wrong. Once the movie was over, I really felt like ramming my head through a plate glass window. But it was a Saturday night,
I was bored, I was looking for a few cheap thrills and Stranger fit the bill. There were a few parts in the movie that were mildly frightening and it isn’t a long movie by any stretch of the imagination so that is always a good thing.

In the end, I would only recommend When A Stranger Calls to a person who is looking for a short, cheesy thrill ride. Even then, about 80% of the people in the world looking for this will not get that from Stranger. Perhaps it is a better movie to sit at
home alone with all the lights off and watch on a rainy Friday night. But if I had to choose between the original movie and this one, go with the original. The “did you check the children” dude in this movie isn’t nearly as scary as the guy in the ‘79 movie.
Hell, even the sequel, “When A Stranger Calls Back” (the 1993 TV movie) has a hell of an opening scene that puts this entire movie to shame. So you’ve been warned – worth some cheap thrills but nothing special. Proceed with caution.

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Posted by Fahad Zafar on Feb 15 2012. Filed under Movies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry