When Michael Calls (1972)

This film is the type that truly scares you, because of the unknown factor. Who's the mysterious caller? Is it a prank, a ghost, or something even darker? Of course, having pillars of the community die in ugly ways adds tension. Plus the child's voice is chillingly desperate and surreal, like an angry ghost out for revenge. While there may be darker or more violent movies, few rival this in atmosphere and emotional claustrophobia. Who can our main character trust? Who wants her to suffer? The answer will shock you. Also watch for a excellent performance from a young Michael Douglas. A word to the wise: Watch this with friends, it's too creepy for solo viewing.

"When Michael Calls" was made in 1972 and stars Elizabeth Ashely as Helen Connelly, a woman going through a divorce from her high powered attorney husband (Ben Gazzara) and has moved to a small New England town with her young daughter Peggy (Karen Pearson). Her nephew Craig (portrayed by a young Michael Douglas)is a psychiatrist at the Greenleaf School for Boys, an institution in the same town for troubled young men.Things begin to get scary when Helen starts receiving eerie calls from a young boy who claims to be Michael, her nephew (and Craig's brother) who died 15 years earlier after he ran away from home in a snowstorm. You have to remember this movie was made long before there were cell phones or caller id, and the calls are genuinely creepy.My only complaint about this movie is that I wish that the makers of this film would have spent more time answering some basic questions such as why would the calls start suddenly after 15 years? Who is the voice of the young boy on the other end of the line? These questions are never explained and I think it would have been nice to have the answers to these basic questions. There are a couple of not real scary murders until the killer is revealed at the end. Despite some minor flaws, I love this movie and remember watching it when I was a kid when it came out in 1972. I recently got to see it again when it aired on the Fox Movie Channel. It was also fun to see Michael Douglas in the picture as he is very young and basically at the beginning of his long and storied career. Fans of 1970's Movie of the Week will definitely have to see this one!

This made for TV film is based on a novel by John Farris and it's a dreary and uneventful domestic drama, not a thriller, and though only 73 minutes long, it feels endless. The film has no atmosphere or style, and Phillip Leacock's low key direction brings the movie to a halt. The title refers to phone calls from Michael a supposedly dead boy who ought to stay that way. His phone calls are more bothersome than creepy, and the characters' react with so little concern that there is absolutely no sense of urgency or suspense, and the characters are the dullest group of would be suspects ever assembled, and the actors seemed to have phoned in their performances. My advice, If Michael calls, hang up! If you like films featuring menacing phone calls, try Talk Radio, Who Killed Teddy Bear?, Black Christmas, or When a Stranger Calls instead. Even Sorry, Wrong Nuumber or I Saw What You Did! have more substance. Besides being awful, When Michael Calls is outdated. Thank God for caller ID!

I remember being scared to death when this film first aired on TV in 1971. Of course, I was all of nine years old at the time. When Michael Calls was recently shown on Fox Movies, and I had a chance to relive my memories of terror. Surprisingly, the film holds up remarkably well, even with the tacked on and predictable happy ending that ties up all the loose ends. I even had to turn a light on while I watched!