When A Stranger Calls
                                       (1979)
                                          review by Head Cheeze


There was a time that I gave this film much more credit than it deserves, but 
that all ended with the day that I saw Bob Clark's Black Christmas which When
a Stranger Calls borrows more than liberally from. Still, this film did manage
to prod a few solid scares out of me, and, while the entire "threatening phone 
guy" premise was lifted from Black Christmas and later adopted by Scream, I 
actually think it was done most effectively here.

Young Jill (Kane) is left to babysit at the Mandrakis home, where she spends the 
evening alternating between homework and gabbing on the phone with friends.
When she recieves a call asking her if she's "checked the children", she 
dismisses it as a prank from her friends, but as the calls keep coming she (and
the viewer) become increasingly paranoid and she calls the police and.....well, if
I tell you anymore and you haven't seen the film, then it will blow it for you, but
if you DON'T mind ruining the surprise, highlight the text below:

The police trace the call, and it's COMING FROM INSIDE THE HOUSE!! AAARGH!

When a Stranger Calls is wierd film in that it's first twenty minutes and last ten are 
some really nailbiting stuff. The film's middle hour, however, plays out like some
sort of episodic television crime drama, with haunted ex-cop John Clifford 
(Durning) chasing around the murderous drifter Curt Duncan (Beckley), until the
film's denouement, which takes us back to the horror film that was the beginning.
Fred Walton (who made his directorial debut here) shows a tremendous gift for 
suspense early on, but when the film gets "gritty" it's as if he went on a vacation
mid-production, only to return for the excellent final minutes. 

While I cannot say with full confidence that Walton and co-writer Steve Feke stole
their best bits from Black Christmas, there must have been some sort of subliminal
theft afoot, because the big "realization" scene is not only filmed in a similiar 
manner as Black Christmas, it is also scripted almost verbatim. Thus, When a 
Stranger Calls loses some luster with me, but none so much as any other slasher
rehash I've witnessed, and, as mentioned, I DO think Walton handled the material
better than Clark, infusing much more tension into the phone play by having the 
protagonist isolated. A lot of credit goes to Kane for her fear is contagious stuff.

Columbia/Tristar's Region 1 release is little reason to celebrate since the only
thing we get is a solid image transfer and standard Dolby 2.0 mono soundtrack, and 
a couple of trailers. It should be noted, however, that the DVD can be had for less 
than $15 bucks.

Suspected plagiarism aside, one can't argue that When a Stranger Calls has become
something of a horror classic, albeit an imperfect one. The opening salvo Walton
launches comes at a nerve-wracking pace, and while the middle act is more police
drama than horror film, the payoff is a satisfying one.