Product Description

In this chilling suspenseful thriller a high school student (Camilla Belle The Ballad of Jack and Rose The Lost World: Jurassic Park) is terrorized by a series of ominous phone calls from a stranger to 'watch the children.' Her fear escalates to terror when the babysitter realizes the call is traced to reveal that that they are coming from within the very house she's in. Also starring Brian Geraghty (Jarhead) and David Denman (Big Fish The Replacements TV's 'The Office' and 'Angel') When a Stranger Calls is a chilling thriller that will make your hair stand on end!Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE/THRILLERS UPC: 043396145108 Manufacturer No: 14510

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #19444 in DVD
• Brand: Sony
• Released on: 2006-05-16
• Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 1.77:1
• Formats: Full Screen, Closed-captioned, Color
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, French
• Dubbed in: French
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .15 pounds
• Running time: 87 minutes

Amazon.com
The smartest thing about the remake of When a Stranger Calls is that it strips the original 1979 version to its bare essentials as a primal exercise in stormy-night terror. While taking the original film's suspenseful first act and expanding it into an 87-minute cat-and-mouse game, screenwriter Jake Wade Wall adds a few clever updates involving cellphones and home-security services, as well as the maze-like menace of a lavish modern home that serves as the setting for mayhem when cute teenager Jill (Camilla Belle, in the role originated by Carol Kane) takes on a babysitting job that she may live to regret. Someone is stalking her in the big, expensive glass palace that her employers call home (a splendid set designed by Jon Gary Steele), and that creepy voice on the phone (belonging to Lance Henriksen, master of doom-laden threat) should've been her first clue to grab the pair of terrified kids she's supposed to be protecting and leave the house ASAP. But no, the script, the overwrought score, and the uninspired direction of Simon West (Con-Air, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider) insist that poor Jill be put through a Halloween-like night from hell, complete with a black cat as an omen of nasty things to come. Kudos to Wall and West for attempting to generate horror through suggestion (by keeping the homicidal stalker mostly off-screen), but let's face it: the original film is hardly a classic (its TV-movie sequel, When a Stranger Calls Back, is considerably better), and the remake takes too long to yield minimal rewards. Maybe Jill should've just unplugged the phone. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews

Great thriller
This is a great thriller that will keep you at the edge of your seat. A good one to watch to have a little fear while taking a break from blood and gore.

If the stranger calls, tell him you want a refund!!!
I loved the house, big, spooky and I WISH I could afford a place like that.
Sorry, that's where the compliments end.
NOT scary!!
NOT interesting!!!
NOT memorable!!!!
Blah acting, a villian who couldn't scare a three year old.
Does she even try to *69 him in the movie???
I honestly don't remember, I think I dozed off a few times.
Caller ID???
Gee, here's a thought......call the police after the FIRST phone call.
You don't wait till the hundredth terrifying phone call before you decide to act.
Then, I suppose that wouldn't make a very interesting movie.
Then again, this WASN'T a very interesting movie.
No atmosphere in the direction, no feeling in the acting, a script that was written by people who have never seen a horror movie.
From start to finish, crap!!!
Another Hollyweird remake that's a total disaster.
AVOID!!!

Eh, could have been better, was a tame movie (includes a Spoiler)
Not a bad movie, it kept me in suspense the entire time wondering when the killer would show up, and so I won't say it was an entire waste of my time to watch, but it could have been better. Maybe it's because this movie is rated PG-13, so not much they can do horror-wise to scare the audience, and as a PG-13 suspense/horror movie it was okay.

Jill is a high school teen who unfortunately ran up the minutes on her cell phone, and in punishment she has to work to pay it off, so she gets a baby-sitting job.

The family lives out in the middle of nowhere, off a lake in a huge house with lots of glass windows (floor-to-ceiling). Very nice place, and very isolated and I thought the scenery and location was very effective in adding to the suspenseful atmosphere of the movie.

Throughout the night she begins to get strange phone calls, heavy breathing or creepy remarks from a strange man. At first, she puts it off as prank calls, but as they increase in frequency and creepiness, she beings to get fearful of who is calling her and why.

Okay, I will say this movie did keep me glued to the TV wondering when the killer would show up and why he was stalking Jill and playing this phone game with her. But once he appeared on the scene I was disappointed. He didn't do anything frightening, he just chased her around, grabbing her throughout the house.

**SPOILER AHEAD**



*****SPOILER*****


Okay, don't say I didn't warn you! You've been warned!!! =)


The ending was also a disappointment, the killer doesn't die, there is no great struggle/fight scene between the killer and Jill, and then the police come, he gets caught, and that's that. The end. You don't learn why the killer has stalked and killed other teen baby-sitters before Jill, you don't learn the motives of the killer either. You don't even get scenes from the killer's perspective, it's all told from Jill's POV.

If you are looking to be truly scared or disturbed then this is the wrong movie for you. It's a pretty tame movie, and although it will get your heart pounding for a bit, it's not a very good horror movie. If you're still curious, by all means go ahead and watch, but don't expect anything great.