NekoHomey
Purely Joyful Movie!
Smartorhypo
Highly Overrated But Still Good
AnhartLinkin
This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.
Rainey Dawn
The first time I saw this I was a pre-teen or young teen - must have been the very early 1980s then. The film was nightmarish to me then, still gives the the creeps today. And yes I was a teen babysitter.Those phone calls in the beginning still haunt my thoughts... and the film gets better from there - the last 15 minutes are just as terrifying.Big questions have been raised about how a man can use his bare hands in murder and rip apart the kids. The kids were a 4 1/2 year old boy & 3 year old girl - we are talking about a full grown mad man. BUT this seems to bother some viewers because they are unsure or seriously doubt the could really happen. I myself really don't know if it really is possible.Stalker-murderer phone calls? I do know that the original Night Stalker did make phone calls - so I know this much is possible.This film a nightmare for parents and babysitters alike... there are real life madmen.8.5/10
skybrick736
What's amazing about When a Stranger Calls is how much of a tone the first twenty minutes sets for the rest of the movie. The initial babysitter scene performed by Carol Kane as Jill Johnson is actually terrifying. In my opinion When a Stranger Calls, along with Suspiria, have the most attention grabbing introduction, prolific to the horror genre and truly suspenseful. The phone calls in the beginning are terrific and have some chilling lines. After the babysitting scene the film spins into a different direction becoming a cat and mouse chase between a detective and the killer. It's not that the middle section of the film was bad but it really didn't seem to flow that well with the beginning. Tony Beckley, as Curt Duncan, portrayed a great menacing, but at the same time sympathetic villain. There are scenes towards the end in the city that do drag a bit but the payoff is there at the end of the film. When a Stranger calls is definitely an underrated horror film that for me has replay value and nostalgia.
gwnightscream
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.
Toronto85
A deranged man harasses a babysitter late at night in 'When a Stranger Calls'. A teenage girl named Jill who is babysitting two children gets obscene phone calls, each time the person asking "have you checked the children?". She calls the police who eventually put a tap on the phone to see who is harassing her. They tell her the calls are coming from inside the house she is in! The man's been upstairs the whole time! It's revealed that he killed the kids... We then go seven years into the future. The killer has escaped from a mental institution and the police officer who was on the case years back John Clifford (now retired) has been hired to find Duncan and kill him. After stalking a woman he meets in a bar, Duncan eventually finds Jill who now has a husband and children. The conclusion is a shocker!'When a Stranger Calls' is like two movies put into one. The first fifteen minutes are some of the most intense and terrifying moments in horror movie history! It's pure horror. But the middle frame feels much more like a cop crime/drama. It basically follows Clifford trying to find Duncan in order to kill him for what he did all those years ago. Duncan falls for a woman who lives in the city, and it's basically him stalking her while Clifford stalks him. Then we get to the conclusion which is just as good as the first fifteen minutes of complete terror.I had nothing wrong with the middle frame of 'When a Stranger Calls', it was well written and acted.. it just wasn't as intense as the first part of the film with the babysitter getting the calls. IT fell flat when compared to the beginning. The acting was good all around, from Charles Dunning and Carol Kane to Tony Beckley as the psychopath Curt Duncan. Overall this is a horror movie that should be seen by all. Despite a bit of a slow middle frame, the beginning and ending are must see! 8/10
