... When she arrives at the house she is shocked, it's a luxurious flat on the waterfront, with expensive gadgets, stark architecture and closets full of expensive clothes. The kids are asleep in their beds and she is left to talk to her friends on the house phone and look around. But out of ... Read review
To Jill Johnson (Camilla Belle), it was the perfect babysitting job. The parents were ... more
away. The fridge was stocked. The children were tucked into bed. But then the phone rings and an ominous voice asks, Have you checked the children? Jill's quiet night...
Evil dials home... To Jill Johnson (Camilla Belle) it was the perfect babysitting job. ... more
The parents were away. The fridge was stocked. The children were tucked into bed. But then the phone rings and an ominous voice asks "Have you checked the childre...
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Curt Duncan a psychopathic murderer is apprehended by a detective John Clifford and ... more
sent to an asylum. Years later - he escapes to begin a new reign of terror. Once again the now aging detective sets out to track Duncan down. The climax provides twist after twist and one of the most terrifying cinematic endings ever.... The simple reality shows it could really happen... anywhere... at anytime... and to anyone... Additional
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Production Year: 2000 - Horror - Director: Keenen Ivory Wayans - Original Language: English - Classification: 18 years and over - Starring: Carmen Electra, Anna Faris, Kurt Fuller, James Van Der Beek, Keenen Ivory Wayans
Advantages: The Lead Is Pretty Disadvantages: Everything Else Imaginable
...of her mobile phone. When she arrives at the house she is shocked, it's a luxurious flat on the waterfront, with expensive gadgets, stark architecture and closets full of expensive clothes. The kids are asleep in their beds and she is left to talk to her friends on the house phone and look around. But out of the blue, strange, sinister phone calls urge her to lock everything up and stay stationary with fear, scared by any noise in the house. But ... ...imagined?
When A Stranger Calls is a dreadful, silly, annoying little teen thriller which lacks scares, thrills or anything of major merit or interest. The whole thing is really dull, the premise irritating, the cast wooden and by the time the script kicks in and something actually happens you will be about ready to switch the thing off and forget about it - seen only as a misstep in your movie viewing resume. The main problem is ... more
Jill Johson is annoyed; after a fight with her parents she is stopped from going to the school bonfire and has to babysit two kids 100 miles away from her friends, without the use of her mobile phone. When she arrives at the house she is shocked, it's a luxurious flat on the waterfront, with expensive gadgets, stark architecture and closets full of expensive clothes. The kids are asleep in their beds and she is left to talk to her friends on the house phone and look around. But out of the blue, strange, sinister phone calls urge her to lock everything up and stay stationary with fear, scared by any noise in the house. But as the calls become increasingly frightening, she is forced to question the whereabouts of this prankster, could he be closer than she imagined?
When A Stranger Calls is a dreadful, silly, annoying little teen thriller which lacks scares, thrills or anything of major merit or interest. The whole thing is really dull, the premise irritating, the cast wooden and by the time the script kicks in and something actually happens you will be about ready to switch the thing off and forget about it - seen only as a misstep in your movie viewing resume. The main problem is that nothing actually happens..... there is very little action and even less characterisation - there isn't a reason to care whether the characters live or die and the screenplay is stupid enough to leave the film without any climax (except a laughable, spoof like attempt at a twist). Tension is replaced with irritation, thrills are sidelined for stupidity and it is extremely difficult to get past the un-believability and flatness of the whole thing.
The first half of when A Stranger Calls has to be the most boring and irritating of any movie; it consists of characters saying stupid things in air-head accents as well as the lead character walking around a house jumping at various objects (cats, coats, lights, sprinklers - I kid you not) and getting not-all-that-threatening phone calls. Considering that the movie only last 87 minutes, it is miraculous just how longwinded and tedious the crew make the whole thing, although I will give credit to the editor, who manages to show about a million exterior shots of the house in less than half an hour. I'm not exaggerating; the whole film is a complete bore with only a slight pickup of pace, towards the very end and even this 'climax' peters out without any real conclusion or action. When the 'fight' sequences do rear their heads they are fairly well choreographed and at times kind of (read: not especially) exciting with some nice sharp camera angles and a few good sound effects but it really is too little, too late.
Simon West's direction doesn't help things; he shows no visual finesse, no knowledge of how to build tension, no sense of pace and doesn't even attempt to give the film a sense of continuity or intelligence. He uses loud sound effects and screeching violins to build tension and fright instead of making the events truly unsettling and he doesn't make the stakes high enough; the main threat doesn't feel menacing, the fight sequences aren't very gritty, the horror is truly less than chilling and the overall sense of dread is non-existent. What could have been a brain dead but fun horror showdown is turned into a tepid, witless excuse to make a quick buck; the characters aren't ever in any real danger (the script is too busy pandering to the age's 8-12 crowd for that) and there is not one scrap of blood in the whole thing (how it garnered a 15 certificate I will never know). This isn't immediate or urgent film-making; it doesn't get the heart pumping or force you to sit on the edge of your seat ...... it's simply bland and cynical.
The screenplay sticks rigidly to the horror formulae, but doesn't use the clichés to its advantage, there's no campy fun to be had, no genuine chills offered and the dialogue is enough to kill all of your remaining brain cells. None of the events make sense, characters pop in and out without much explanation and the big 'twist' - which could have offered a few screams and a bit of tension- is signposted from the get go (not mentioning the fact that it is clearly shown in the trailer). To make up for the heap of junk that is the first half the scriptwriters try to pack a lot of things into the second, making the movie loose all focus and making the audience loose all interest. The situation is never given any weight - the writing is too flat and routine, they could have injected some punch into the proceedings, but choose to lay a boring foundation and then tack bits of tedious trickery on. The opening sequences is meant to build tension for the events to come, but only serves to build your expectations (which are shortly dashed) and the finale doesn't make much sense, it opens up more questions than it answers (where is she? Why is she there? What that real? Who was the killer? Why was he harassing her? Where are the kids? Is it all a dream?) and comes off as a cheap rip off of countless, better executed horror flicks. The whole thing would have been better if it had gone down the I Still Know What You Did Last Summer route and threw out all logic or suspense and gone for campy, bloody, stupid fun.
Camilla Belle does a fairly good job in her flat role; she looks attractive in a figure hugging top and is engaging enough to stop you from completely despairing of it all. She does little to lift the film from disaster territory, but she fits into the scream-queen role with some screen presence and a tough attitude (which makes the final sequences at least a little believable). The film has one good thing going for it, the amazing house which serves as its central set piece. It's all sharp edges, glass and dark shadows; it allows for a lot of hiding places and builds a slight amount of tension. The glass exterior makes the character's seem more vulnerable and hypes up the fear and anxiety of the situation and the coldness/ blandness of the surroundings provide the film with a sly detached quality that keeps the audience at a certain distance which adds some semblance of tension. The camera work does a good job of keeping the film visually interesting and exciting.
Overall When A Stranger Calls is a very annoying and incompetent piece of modern day horror movie making; it takes its audience for fools, it offers very little which is entertaining and treads very familiar ground throughout. I wouldn't recommend this film, unless your looking for a replacement for sleeping tablets.
Advantages: A couple of decent scares Disadvantages: Alarmingly unoriginal
...that get increasingly creepy; especially when they start telling her to "check the children". Is someone playing tricks on her or is there something more sinister at hand?
"Con Air" director Simon West, is an old hand at shooting action, so you would have thought he'd be able to make a competent stab at the teen slasher market. How wrong could you be? You know a horror movie is formulaic when you stop watching for sinister shadows and bogey man ... ...nous to check for intruders when she discovers the front door is open. She also needlessly puts herself in danger, by running around in the dark and wooded area that surrounds the house and whenever she hears a spooky noise, she heads towards it. She's the kind of scream queen heroine you want to die because she is so stupid. She's far too easy to unsettle and it only takes a couple of second-long silent phone calls to set her on edge. That being ...
afy9mab 09.08.2006
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of When A Stranger Calls (DVD)
Advantages: Some good scares, doesn't rely on buckets of blood... Disadvantages: Jill Johnson (main character) is so stupid!
* iNTRODUCTIOn *
When A Stranger Calls is a modern up-date of the 1979 classic which unlike the re-make spans several years, not just one night. It was absolutely terrifying with Jill being revisited by her stalker several years later when she's grown up making for a more full and thick story to sink your teeth into. The re-make (which i'm going to review for you now) unfortunately doesn't go down this route which is a shame because it could have ... ...The World
'...the scare-free When a Stranger Calls is the worst of the seminal horror movies from the late '70s and early '80s that have been getting the remake treatment lately.' New York Post.
...so it depends on the person really, i can't guarantee, like me, that you'll enjoy it!
* eXTRAs *
There's not a huge ammount but what is here is decent. You get a Director and Cast Commentary which gives you a good insight into the making of the movie ...
ghost_w1 11.11.2006
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of When A Stranger Calls (DVD)
Advantages: I don't think there's any redeeming features about this! Disadvantages: I don't think there's any redeeming features about this!
When A Stranger Calls is a remake of the 1979 horror, now I haven’t seen the original but my Dad has & after seeing the remake he told me that the original was miles better than the remake & I can very easily believe that! When A Stranger Calls was released 3rd February 2006, it’s rated 15 & runs for approximately 99 minutes. The film pretty much bombed at the box office, having said that it did gross an estimated $66.9 million on a $15 million budget ... ...to the not even mediocre When A Stranger Calls is a significant drop in class & if his next film follows the same pattern my predictions for it are extremely bad!
The main character Jill Johnson is played by Camilla Belle who’s appeared in films such as: Jurassic Park & 10,000BC. Her upcoming film is called Push & stars Chris Evans & Dakota Fanning.
When A Stranger Calls, I think the title pretty much gives it away don’t you? For those of you who ...
Great_reviewer07 27.02.2009
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of When A Stranger Calls (DVD)
Advantages: Great cinematography Disadvantages: script, acting
...to the guest house, but when she enters she finds an empty guest house, and as she peers out of the window she notices Rosa's light go on in her room, which triggers her to race back to the house, re-activate the alarm and dash up to the third floor and into Rosa's room only mto find it empty and the shower running and gripping the phone in her hand she gets a call from the police warning her that they had traced the call and stranger calling is ... ...movies. The atmosphere is the
only thing making the movie intense and thrilling.
So finally when the stranger calls just hang up this movie
is a waste of time, i would not recommend this to anyone looking
for an intense thriller.
Thanx for reading
Rosie
xxx<3 ...
brodiegirl 09.08.2007
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of When A Stranger Calls (DVD)
Advantages: Good scares Disadvantages: Lack of reason for its existence
...for friends of her parents when they go out for the evening. As strange phone calls start to come through, things take a sinister turn for the worse, At first, Jill believes that its some friends of her ex boyfriend are making prank calls, but as the calls get more personal and creepy, she becomes aware of someone watching her. Jill takes all the right steps, calling the police, switching on the alarm, locking the windows, and closing the curtains, ... ...the old cliches chucked at the screen. But for me, entertainment can be just about switching off for 90 minutes and having a great time, and When A Stranger Calls delivers in that respect. So kick off your shoes, and prepare to be scared the hell out of. ...
bilbob20 20.12.2006
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of When A Stranger Calls (DVD)
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Advantages: When the movie isn't boring you it's scary as hell! Disadvantages: The middle section of the film will make you lose interest...
only to next track down the girl that he haunted years ago and finish off what he started. We are then introduced Jill who is now married with two children. One night she goes out to dinner with her husband to celebrate when she recieves a phonecall at the restaurant...and yes...you've guessed it...the voice says:
'Have you checked the children?'
It terrified the life out of me! What then follows is a terrifying if not a little short finale which will be giving me the creeps for a long long time. You won't be dissapointed...well apart from the quality of the DVD...if you can even call it that!
* dVD & EXTRAs *
Well the DVD doesn't come with any extra's whatsoever which is a shame because i would have loved to have seen some for such a great movie. What else is terrifying about this DVD is the quality of the picture and sound ...
Advantages: fantastic edge of the seat viewing Disadvantages: had to hide behind the sofa a few times.
she (jill) thinks she is just turning up for a routine babysitting job but she is about to be plagued by calls from a prank caller, as these calls become more and more threatning jill decides to call the police.
the police trace the calls and this brings the line of the movie that had the hairs on the back of my neck standing to attention. (miss the calls are coming from a mobile from inside the house, i repeat the calls are coming from inside the house). now she has to fight for her-and the kids'- lives in a struggle for survival.
this movie is a remake of the 1979 original, Simon West's WHEN A STRANGERCALLS , having not seen the first movie i am unable to comment on whether or not this is the better of the two or not, but i can tell you the original would have to have been some film to better this!
one thing for me which ...
Advantages: Great opening, Excellent casting. Disadvantages: Middle of film is dull
Classic film! Absolutely great! The first 15 minutes boast one of films all time scariest opening scenes!
16 Year old Jill (Carol Kane) is babysitting for a doctor when she receives frighteningly horrifying phonecalls... "Have you checked the children?"... Charles Durning has possibly the most horrifying voice I have ever heard so the part was cast beautifully...
Jill calls the police and they trace the calls... When she asks "What do you want from me?" she is told "Your blood... all over me"... The phone rings and the police reveal the biggest shock of all!!!
Then we witness possibly the most excrutiatingly boring mid film of all time where we just forward a few years where Jill has grown up and has children of her own... And the monster has been released from prison with one thing on his mind... The one that got away years ago ...
When 16-year-old Jill exceeds her mobile phone minutes, her parents force her to spend the night babysitting at an isolated mansion-like house. Without a mobile phone or car and all her friends' phones out of range, Jill is particularly isolated--the perfect victim for a psychopath on the loose. As she begins to get calls from a heavy-breathing stranger, what at first seems like a prank slowly becomes a real threat, creating a panic-filled evening for Jill.
Release details
DVD Region
DVD
Studio(s)
SONY PICTURES HOME ENTERTAINMENT; CINRAM LOGISTICS
Director, Cast & Writer commentaries,, Deleted scenes,, Featurette - The making of WHEN A STRANGER CALLS,
Aspect Ratio
2.40 Anamorphic Wide Screen
Sound
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
Professional reviews
Review
...a genuine spine-chiller (News of The World, 03/08/2006)
The new WHEN A STRANGER CALLS is enjoyable (Sight And Sound, 10/08/2006)
DVD Description
A slick remake of the 1979 original, Simon West's WHEN A STRANGER CALLS is a modern update of a well-known suburban legend. When 16-year-old Jill (Camilla Belle) exceeds her mobile phone minutes, her parents force her to spend the night babysitting instead of attending a huge bonfire bash. As Jill's father drives her to Dr. Mandrakis's house for the evening, we are given the sense from the long drive, spooky music, and winding roads that the home is literally at the end of the Earth. Perched over the edge of a steamy lake, the mansion-like structure is made entirely of dark wood and glass. With an arboretum built into its centre, the palatial home feels both Zen-like and forbidding. With the children already asleep, Jill spends the first hour indulging in secret babysitter pleasures like snooping and trying on Mrs. Mandrakis's jewellery. Without a mobile phone or car, and all her friends' phones out of range, Jill is particularly isolated--the perfect victim for a psychopath on the loose. As she begins to get calls from a heavy-breathing stranger, what at first seems like a prank slowly becomes a real threat, creating a panic-filled evening that's any babysitter's nightmare. Using modern-day luxuries like caller ID, security alarm systems, and motion-sensor lights to its advantage, the film plays with themes of technology and wealth, pondering how much protection they actually provide. Clearly targeted at a teenage audience, the film contains relatively little violence--lacking some of the graphic scenes that most people remember the original by--and instead uses unfamiliar spaces and a sense of the unknown to keep audiences scared.
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