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Carol Kane, Charles Durning, Colleen Dewhurst, Tony Beckley, Rachel Roberts ... see more see more... , Rutanya Alda , Carmen Argenziano , Steven Anderson , Arell Blanton , Charles Boswell , Michael Champion , DeForest Covan , Frank di Elsi , Trent Dolan , Kirsten Larkin , Dennis McMullen , Carol O'Neal , Joe Reale , Wally Taylor , Louise Wright , Randy Holland , Cheryl Wilson , Lenora May , Bill Boyett , Ed Wright

In this thriller, a baby-sitter is terrorized by an anonymous telephone caller who turns out to be a particularly persistent serial killer. When a stranger calls to ask, "Have you checked the children... read more read more... lately?" teenaged sitter Jill Johnson (Carol Kane) is understandably spooked. After a series of increasingly creepy calls culminates in a request for "your blood...all over me," Jill learns from the police operator that the man is calling from inside the house. One narrow escape and two dead children later, the police capture British maniac Curt Duncan (Tony Beckley). Several years later, the killer escapes from a mental institution and plagues Tracy (Colleen Dewhurst), a hard-drinking New Yorker. Foiled by John Clifford (Charles Durning), the same cop who investigated the original case, Duncan sets his sights back on his original victim, Jill Johnson, who, now married and out to dinner with her husband, has left her own young children at home -- with a baby-sitter. When a Stranger Calls helped inspire Drew Barrymore's famous opening scene in Wes Craven's Scream. Kane, Durning, and director Fred Walton would return for 1993's TV-movie sequel, When a Stranger Calls Back. Beckley died a year after the original film's release. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi

Flixster Users

62% liked it

31,533 ratings

Critics

40% liked it

10 critics

R, 1 hr. 37 min.

Directed by: Fred Walton

Release Date: September 28, 1979

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DVD Release Date: October 9, 2001

Stats: 1,091 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (1,091)

  • TheDudeLebowski65
    January 4, 2012
    TheDudeLebowski65
    When a Stranger Calls is a pulse pounding horror film. This is one of those films that use suspense to build effective horror to create the tension on-screen. Director Fred Walton crafts a tension filled horror film that combines suspense, terror with a few slasher film elements ... read moreand crime film rolled into one film. The thing that impressed me about When a Stranger Calls is the fact that director Fred Walton keeps the gore on a down low, unlike so many other horror films in the slasher genre of the 1980's, this one relies more on the suspense factor to build up the terror and tone of the entire film. Like with every viewer, I have to say that the first twenty minutes of this film are the most terrifying and intense; ion other words, it starts the film off with a bang. I enjoyed this film and I think it's a very good concept for a horror flick. I think the fact that the film limits its gore factor much like Halloween did, adds a lot more credibility to the film. The acting is good here, and the actors deliver memorable performances. When a Stranger Calls is different, and it's a film that blend psychological horror with a few slasher elements, but isn't a straight forward bloodbath. When a Stranger Calls is a terrific horror flick that uses traditional horror elements to create the horror that we see on-screen. The result is a terrifying and memorable film
  • WrenchLT
    April 25, 2011
    WrenchLT
    After being locked up for seven years in an insanse asylum for murdering two children, a psychotic Englishman escapes his confines and is loose on the streets of New York. The opening 15 minutes are a real nail-biter and the film ends in a similar fashion too with a couple of gen... read moreuinely frightening moments. The suspense lets off during the middle parts and things move along at a slower pace, but the menace and threat is always there with the chilling performance by Tony Beckley, which would be his last film after passing away due to cancer just after completing the film. A real good thriller for those that don't mind low body counts and zero gore.
  • ajv2688
    January 7, 2011
    ajv2688
    A terrifyingly realistic slasher movie, starring Carol Kane, who gives a fantastic performance. This is a great horror movie, and I recommend seeing it.
  • adammahler1
    December 14, 2009
    adammahler1
    Like two movies strangely fused together. The first is the better one, although Carol Kane has a strange accent and seems kind of distant for a teenager. It would be a great short film on its own (and the camerawork of the remake is much dumber).

    The second part of the composit... read moree movie is more of a 70s thriller-drama, which humanizes the unseen killer from the first part and asks whether being treated like a monster will make him kill again or is it just inevitable. The actor Tony Beckley makes this an interesting question. The director does a 180 degree on his horror movie and sees things from the monster's POV as he tries NOT to kill. Has this been done before?

    Beckley gives a great performance; still, it's hard to believe that he is the same bogeyman-like creature from the opening segment. Along the way, the movie forgets some things, like plot logistics, but remembers what's scary about nightmares intruding on real life.
  • matertenebraum
    November 23, 2007
    matertenebraum
    When a Stranger Calls" is a somewhat entertaining horror-suspense-thriller that starts off great, loses steam in the middle, then comes back for a good finish. The beginning of this movie is outstanding, with babysitter Carol Kane receiving obscene phone calls from an unknown man... read moreiac. This is far and away the best part of the film. It's scary, creepy, and downright eerie. But it doesn't sustain that level through the entire film. The mid-portion of the movie is rather dull, featuring a few lazy supporting performances. But "When a Stranger Calls" redeems itself with a nail-biting climax, even though the conclusion doesn't top the film's opening in terms of scariness. Carol Kane and Charles Durning are good in the roles of the terrified babysitter and the private detective searching for the killer when he's on the loose. "When a Stranger Calls" is not a great horror movie but a good one. And its better than the cable-made sequel that came out fourteen years later, "When a Stranger Calls Back".
  • jjnxn
    September 30, 2007
    jjnxn
    The most frightening first 15 minutes I've ever seen in a theatre, the last 15 also pack a wallop, in between the film sags but what a jolt nonetheless!!
  • YosemiteSamFan
    July 15, 2007
    YosemiteSamFan
    Watch it for the beginning and ending, which are truly terrifying and well done. The mid-section is somewhat interesting with Officer Clifford (Charles Durning) tracking down the madman, plus a tale about the madman meeting and stalking his next victim; which was very Hitchcockian.
  • fb100001266995067
    March 24, 2011
    fb100001266995067
    " Did you check on the children?"While I do have some horror movies higher then this, this one is by far the scariest. The 2006 remake is BS! But this one is great. I don't give a damn that it has a 40% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. I like horrors a bout phsyco killers. Because it c... read morean actually happen. Not like all these zombie movies. I was terrified during the whole movie. "I want your blood all over my body." God how does that not give you the chills. Seeing John Clifford's body covered in the children's blood. The phone call in the restaurant. And of course the end. The weird and chilling ending. The only thing I did not like was the acting of the teenage baby sitter it was just to fake. But wow what a scary movie this is.
  • snakegeek1
    January 23, 2011
    snakegeek1
    This one wasn't really a slasher it was more of a... I don't really know what it is. It isn't a horror film and it isn't a slasher film it isn't anything that it says it is really. Anyway the story behind this is I went to go see a play called Scary Musical and the whole thing w... read moreas just one inside joke and reference for horror fans so I had to watch a horror movie. This was one of the big ones that was referenced and the only one I hadn't seen so yeah, I watched this.

    On another note, This one will not be as creative as my review of T3. If I get another good idea for an original review I will utilize it. Sorry.


    Well, I must give the film props for keeping an urban legend alive far longer than it probably would have otherwise. And if the whole movie had been just like the first 23 minutes, this one would have gotten 98% on RT (there's always one...) and would be lauded as one of the greatest horror films of all time. As it is, the first 23 minutes is only 1/5th of the film so it goes downhill very fast from there.

    I'm not gonna do my regular structure for this because the movie is styled in a way that I can't. At the very least, I would be repeating myself.

    as I mentioned before, if the whole movie was just the first 23 minutes, it would be lauded as one of the greatest horror films of all time. It is an absolutely fantastic scene. One of the best opening scenes I have seen for a horror film. It is deservedly iconic. But...That's the last shred of quality that this film has. The film then drastically changes genres. it goes from an excellent horror film to a chase movie. Kinda like The French Connection or Soylent Green or something. It isn't horror. Then in the last 15 minutes it changes back to horror but by then, no one cares anymore. It isn't scary. Overall, this film is kinda like a reverse Sleepaway Camp: It has a great Beginning that everyone loves and then it dies...that's it (as opposed to Sleepaway Camp which starts dead then has an iconic ending everyone loves).

    So, my overall advice is this: watch the first 23 minutes and shut this off and pretend that there isn't anything else to the movie. If you do that it will become a favorite horror film of yours. If you don't like to leave things unfinished, well, you're in for a pretty crappy film.

    Final Score: 8/40 20% (S)


    TRIVIA TIME: 1. Star Tony Beckley was terminally ill throughout the production and passed away just after the principle photography was shot. Director Fred Walton dedicated the film's 1993 sequel 'When A Stranger Calls Back' to the memory of Beckley.

    2. Fred Walton originally shot this film as a short entitled 'The Sitter', which was essentially the opening 20 minutes of 'When A Stranger Calls'. However after the huge success of Halloween Walton saw the potential of expanding the short into a full-length feature. The script was then expanded into a feature length film about the pursuit of the villain.

    3. The character of the disturbed killer was based on a college acquaintance of director Fred Walton who somehow could just enter a room and automatically make others in the room uncomfortable.
  • SunilJawahir
    May 16, 2009
    SunilJawahir
    Carol Kane is believably terrified without being over the top.

View All When a Stranger Calls Reviews

Critic Reviews

Charles Cassady
December 15, 2010
Charles Cassady, Common Sense Media

Grim psychothriller with a few teen urban legends. Full Review

Pablo Villaca
April 1, 2006
Pablo Villaca, Cinema em Cena

Seus vinte minutos iniciais e finais (ou seja: as seqüências envolvendo Carol Kane) são suficientemente tensos, mas o longo segundo ato que traz a investigação feita pelo personagem de Durning jamais ...

Staci Layne Wilson
January 30, 2006
Staci Layne Wilson, Horror.com

The ultimately slow-moving film is book-ended by some truly classic horror movie moments. Full Review

Nick Schager
January 30, 2006
Nick Schager, Lessons of Darkness

Aggravatingly devoid of suspense. Full Review

Keith Breese
January 5, 2006
Keith Breese, Filmcritic.com

I dare you to try sitting through the middle 70 minutes. Full Review

Scott Weinberg
April 17, 2005
Scott Weinberg, eFilmCritic.com

Glorified slasher flick never advances beyond a great first act.

Ken Hanke
October 2, 2002
Ken Hanke, Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)

Effective suburban legend suspenser that becomes unintentionally funny by the end

March 26, 2009
Variety

Click to read the article Full Review

Janet Maslin
May 9, 2005
Janet Maslin, New York Times

Click to read the article Full Review

Chuck O'Leary
October 9, 2005
Chuck O'Leary, Fantastica Daily

No review available.

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