When a Stranger Calls

1979

Action / Crime / Drama / Horror / Mystery / Thriller

18
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 38% · 16 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Spilled 49% · 25K ratings
IMDb Rating 6.4/10 10 14242 14.2K

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Plot summary

A student babysitter has her evening disturbed when the phone rings. So begins a series of increasingly terrifying and threatening calls that lead to a shocking revelation.


Uploaded by: OTTO
December 21, 2018 at 10:32 AM

Director

Top cast

Carol Kane as Jill Johnson
Carmen Argenziano as Dr. Mandrakis
Charles Durning as John Clifford
Tony Beckley as Curt Duncan
720p.BLU 1080p.BLU
808.06 MB
1280*682
English 2.0
NR
23.976 fps
1 hr 37 min
Seeds 4
1.44 GB
1920*1080
English 2.0
NR
23.976 fps
1 hr 37 min
Seeds 8

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by Sleepin_Dragon 7 / 10

That opening sequence is still incredible.

It's a story we've all seen before many times, a babysitter is terrified by an unknown stalker...

..however there is something pretty different about this one, for my shame, I had no idea this film existed, I enjoy what I now know to be the remake, but this original version deserves the credit for originality.

There is some real tension in the first twenty minutes, it's a very powerful start, you are made to feel very uncomfortable as you watch Jill go from irritation to sheer panic.

Credit to Carol Kane, I think she plays the part of Jill very well, it's such a sincere performance.

The music and filming work really well, a lot of thought went into its production. Nowadays we're hardened to gore and violence, and horror in general, I can imagine when this went out, many people felt uneasy when home alone.

I think there is some real menace in this film, the scares are real, it's just a shame that we only really get them at the beginning, and the end of the film. The middle segment of the film doesn't quite have the same bite as the start and finish, but overall, it is still a cracking horror, 7/10.

Reviewed by boblipton 8 / 10

"The phone call is coming from inside the house!"

Babysitter Carol Kane is terrorized by a madman who keeps calling, asking her if she's checked the children. When she calls the police, they say they'll investigate..... and eventually tell her that the call is coming from inside the house.

I don't know how that worked in a day and age of only landlines and few homes with more than one telephone line. The first twenty minutes of this is a model of terror, based on the modern urban myth that Jan Brunvand calls "The Babysitter And The Man Upstairs". Although the 1950 murder of Janett Christman is sometimes cited as a source of this story, Professor Brunvand's researches have tracked many of these stories to antique sources; I had the pleasure of pointing out to him that an early version of "The Wedding Photo" appeared in Shakespeare's TWELFTH NIGHT.

Scholarly musings aside, this is a well produced little shocker, with a cast that includes Ron O'Neal and Colleen Dewhurst. It's a definitely a must-see for those with a taste for this sort of movie.

Reviewed by claudio_carvalho 8 / 10

A Very Scary and Real Thriller

Jill Johnson (Carol Kane) is babysitting two children, when a stranger insists calling her in the phone, asking her to see the children in the upper floor. She decides to telephone to the police, to trace the phone call. When the office on duty tells her that the call is from inside the house, Jill panics. Seven years later, the maniac escapes from the asylum and the private investigator John Clifford (Charles Durning) is hired by the father of the children to kill the man.

It is almost impossible to write a summary of this thriller without spoilers, so I have to stop here. A couple of days ago, I watched 'When a Strange Call Back', a type of sequel of this film. I was amazed with the beginning of the story, one of the most scary I have ever seen. Yesterday I decided to see 'When a Stranger Calls' and it is indeed a tense and suspenseful thriller. The situation through which Jill passes is amazingly real and scary. When the police officer tells Jill that the phone call is from inside the house, he heart of the viewer 'jumps'. This part is too frightening. The greatest problem in both movies is the continuation of the story seven years later (five in the sequel). It breaks the tension and the viewer gets completely lost about what happened to the characters. With a better sequence, this film certainly would be considered a classic. The story is excellent, and the performances are very realistic. In my opinion, the famous 'Scream' copied the introduction of this film. In Brazil, it was released on VHS only, and the quality of the image is not good. It deserves to be released on DVD. It is really worthwhile to watch this film. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): 'Mensageiro da Morte' ('Messenger of Death')

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