When a Stranger Calls (1979)

It´s been said, the opening and climax are great. I personally would add that Carol Kane is awesome. The middle part just hasn´t dated well. It can feel at times like trying to stretch a shorter concept but it adds to the psycho´s sociopathy and the cop´s motivation. That does bolster the climax, not as quotable as the opening but kind of scarier. It wouldn´t work as well without that "middle part" even if it should ideally be a bit shorter. After knowing what we learned about the characters, the suspense and the film itself have grown all the way up. I genuinely got the chills at the very end and that is worth more than all the jump scares in the book. It´s flawed, but a solid classic nonetheless. You´ll probably sleep with the lights on and isn´t that what horror films are about?

Charles Durning, Carol Kane, Tony Beckley and Colleen Dewhurst star in this 1979 horror film. This begins with woman, Jill Johnson (Kane) babysitting a couple's 2 young children. She starts getting disturbing phone calls by a mysterious man. Soon, she learns that he's in the house and is almost attacked by him. The police get there to save her, but are too late when they find the children already murdered. The late, Beckley plays the killer, Curt Duncan who escapes from a mental hospital after 7 years and tries to find Jill. The late, Durning plays investigator, John Clifford who is determined to hunt Duncan and the late, Dewhurst plays Tracy, a woman who Duncan sets his sights on. This is a good, suspenseful horror film with a good cast I recommend.

"Why haven't you checked the children?" asks the bogeyman caller and that's a damn good question.1979's When a Stranger Calls feels (and was) like a short indie film remade and stretched because of the success of 1978's masterpiece, Halloween. So much so, that this, being my first time ever seeing the film (on 10/2/13,) I was amazed that so much more happens outside the babysittin' house than what we saw.Naturally, any horror fan, like me, has seen clips of Carol Kane answering the phone more than dozens of times. In fact, die-hard horror fans will laugh through this scene because of it being thoroughly and mocked incredibly well in the comedy/horror classic: Student Bodies. But, for a first-time viewer who spends his days avoiding as many spoilers (and reviews) until I actually see the movie, I was completely blown away that 70% of this movie takes place outside Carol Kane's role.Unfortunately, for all of us, frontrunner to the movie's credits, Carol Kane's small-bit story is the most interesting and the rest of the less horror/more mood tale felt, well, too much a stretch. And hence, the short indie film is very obvious when they added in the middle 70% of footage.What we have here is: Carol Kane's babysitting Jill takes to studying vs. ever once doing her job. Okay, well, she studies and answers the phone, repeatedly. Only problem is, when the caller repeatedly asks if the children have been checked in on, she never thinks to do so. I guess the audience is supposed to sympathize with her and her being relentless stalked over the phone, but realists, like me, are angered by the fact she always put herself first.Well, she was proved wrong. Despite being told, she wasn't the intended target, and the kids had been brutally, but mercifully never shown, slaughtered in the beginning by a crazy man. He's easily caught once the police do something about her calls/screams for assistance. And fast forward seven years later……and we get into the dull 70% I was referring to. The killer escapes the mental ward (hmmm, that sounds a tad familiar – at least when the Friday the 13th creators stated they wanted to blatantly rip-off Halloween, they did their best, and succeeded, in creating a new movie) and he now stalks someone at the complete opposite end of his previous demented craving: Tracy, a middle-aged woman. Enter in ex-cop, turned vigilante, Clifford who stupidly reports his intentions to the police of his desire to find and kill the killer. Naturally, in this movie's realm and not in real life, he's sent on his way to "seek justice" by using Tracy as bait.When that, and the boring 1970's melodrama 70% of the film falls flat, the obvious, albeit completely ludicrous storyline returns to Jill. Again, this sounds all-too familiar. The plot-hole in the Halloween series, specifically decades later in Halloween H20, was how Michael Myers could track down his original target, Laurie Strode. At least here, you have to give them credit for being ahead of the game in 1979 and show how easy it is for this homeless, resourceless and wanted killer to find Jill.I thoroughly expected so much more out of this "classic" that I've heard so much about and saw endless clips of the phone'a'ringing scenes. What I got was a pathetic, useless and thoughtless attempt to cash in on Halloween. It would've been tremendously more suspenseful, and horrific, had they focused their story on Jill, and maybe, just maaaaybe, have her check the kids just once, like she was paid to do.* * * Final thoughts: Now, the cycle's complete. I finally "get" the opening segment that Student Bodies was spoofing. While I always found that opening Student Bodies segment absolutely hilarious, I never knew the full reference to what they were talking about until now. Thankfully, I can continue watching and understanding that great movie more, over this one I'll likely never see again.

Here's one of those movies that takes a few different turns, in one nice pay off with those immortal words "Have you checked the children?". Also in it's time, this horror would of been in the pushing the envelope territory, featuring some bloodied flashback scenes involving child murder. Carol Kane babysits for this family, oblivious to the fact, a killer is lurking inside. Throughout the night she's pestered with calls from an anonymous phone caller, using those immortal words, and some others, where Kane's driven to the point of "No more". She calls authorities and soon the gruesome discovery is made. Fast forward to our looney, Kirk Duncan, who's escaped in a truly believable, genuine, and unnerving performance from our English nutter, who Durning (in a likable and fun performance), once a Detective in charge of that horrible murder scene, now a PI, is tracking Duncan down with intent to kill, so may'be Durning, mentally scarred by the memory of that fateful night, can finally move on with his life, when the scummy psycho's disposed of. You would at first assume this movie was all to take place in one night, involving babysitter and talker/caller, but this is impressively different, although it does lose it's terrifying edge and oomph, when it changes direction, slowing down. This indeed is a palpable martyr here. Nothing equals the first 20 minutes or so, yet still there are moments, throughout, the majority in thanks to our prime performer nutso, and then there's a twist you won't see, made more terrifyingly real by the young actress's great performance. Colleen Dewhurst turns in a great performance as a forties single woman who frequents this dive where Duncan makes a goose of himself, in a pathetic display for companionship. The wuzz of a nonchalont bartender (I know people like this) lets the patrons control the show. WASC has a soft spot with me. A favorite I like to viddy now and again. If you want a good fright, this is one of the better titles to pick.