Camilla Belle- Jill Johnson
Tommy Flanagan- Stranger
Katie Cassidy- Tiffany
Tessa Thompson- Scarlet
Clark Gregg- Mr. Johnson
Brian Geraghty- Bobby
Derek de Lint- Dr. Mandrakis
Kate Jennings Grant- Mrs. Mandrakis
Rosine "Ace" Hatem- Rose
Steve Eastin- Detective Hines
Lance Henriksen- the voice
Directed by Simon West
Screenplay by Jake Wade Wall, based on the 1979 screenplay by Steve Feke and Fred Walton
Distributed by Screen Gems
Rated PG-13 for intense terror, violence and some language
Runtime- 87 minutes
Website: http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/whenastrangercalls/
"When A Stranger Calls" Review
"When A Stranger Calls," directed by the pretty okay Simon West, is a remake of Fred Walton's 1979 flick of the same name probably most known for its classic "urban legend" opening of a babysitter all alone with the kids repeatedly getting odd and disturbing phone calls that the police trace back to the house the babysitter is in ("The calls are coming from inside the house!"). From what this reviewer has read (he hasn't seen the move but he did see a few excerpts from the famous opening on The Learning Channel's "Mostly True Stories: Urban Legends- Fact or Fiction?" show hosted by Natasha Henstridge) the original becomes a sort of cop hunting the bad guy flick after the opening. The Simon West version basically switches that story dynamic and focuses on the babysitter in peril story. We've seen the young woman in danger from the shadow clad man beast rapist strangler stabber before, perhaps a million times, so "originality" isn't an issue or a concern for this reviewer. Much more important is execution- how does the action and suspense play? West's movie tries very hard and tries to succeed, but it can't. Much like Eli Roth's much ballyhooed but utterly terrible "Hostel," "When a Stranger Calls" shoots itself in the face within thirty seconds, killing almost all of its potential suspense by mapping out the entire story at the beginning.
The movie starts with a quick cutting montage of a carnival next to a house. Families have all kinds of fun at the carnival while something potentially sinister is going on at the house. A phone keeps ringing. A woman keeps answering. The woman wants to know who is calling. All she gets is a voice. A sinister voice (there's THAT word again). A few more cycles of the goings on at the carnival and the goings on at the house and then wham! A light comes on in the house. A dark form melts in from the netherworld. A scream! And bam wham! The movie is over. Now we know everything that's going to happen in the ensuing ninety minutes before we even get a chance to see the protagonist in action. Perhaps we're supposed to identify with the killer, who we don't see, and throughout the rest of the story we're supposed to pine for his full on appearance. The problem with that is the killer, right at the beginning, before we even get to see anything else, isn't that interesting. The killer is just a guy, something to be dealt with by someone we have no connection with yet (unless it's some kind of hip and edgy artist movie where its all random people in a rambling ensemble piece pontificating about life and love and then running into the killer at random times and getting thrown into a wood chipper or buried alive in the cement foundation of the apartment complex being built by the university or some such). So immediately we're let down. Yeah, all kinds of music video ooh and ahh is happening, keeping the movie moving, but, again, who cares? What's wrong with starting out slowly and building up the suspense, getting to know the potential victim (or victims) before they become dirt food? Are we all afraid that the audience is going to walk out of the theatre if something ooh and ahh isn't happening right at the beginning?
When the beginning is over and we get through the Steve Eastin as a big fat cop about to barf at the carnage scene, we move on to the main story involving a young high school track girl, a one Jill Johnson (Camilla Belle). She's running around the gymnasium, getting timed by the coach, presumably for the upcoming super important track meet. She's not running up to her full potential, or so the track coach claims. Jill is upset about life. Her boyfriend Bobby (Brian Geraghty) cheated on her with her best friend and uber skank Tiffany (Katie Cassidy) and she's being grounded for going over her allotted cell phone minutes (something like 800 minutes over. That's fairly substantial). And she has to pay her parents back for the money they spent on the phone bill. Jill is going to have to go babysitting. Her father Mr. Johnson (Clark Gregg) drives her out to the boonies where the very rich Mandrakis family lives. The Mandrakis parental units (Derek de Lint as Dr. Mandrakis and Kate Jennings Grant as the obvious Mrs. Mandrakis) are going out to dinner and a movie or a concert or something (they're going out. They have kids. They need someone to watch them). Jill doesn't want to do this. Jill would rather be hanging out with her friends and school chums at the big bonfire effigy rally thing but she's going to have to suck it up and watch these Mandrakis kids. Mrs. Mandrakis goes through the typical rigmarole of emergency numbers and refrigerator privileges and the maid lives here (Rosa, played by Rosine "Ace" Hatem) and the older son away at college often stays in the guest house way in the back of the property and he may be home so don't be afraid if you see the lights on. And then there's the security alarm and the arming number. The doctor and his missus go on their date and Jill is alone.
The house is spooky. It's huge; it's got an indoor bird sanctuary with bass fish in a maze aquarium, a sneaky cat running around, a fireplace that can be turned on using a remote, and some freaky sculptures upstairs by the kids' bedroom. The room lights come on when you enter a room and then they go off when they leave. And it's huge. Jill tries to keep her mind off of the spookiness (she explores the house, trying to get the lay of the land, she tries to do some homework she brought with her, she goes into the parents' bedroom and tries on the mother's fancy shmancy jewelry). She gets calls from friends. And then it begins. It. Over and over again. Weird phone calls. And that's the mode the movie pretty much plays until the end.
If you discount the beginning and the overwhelming music, the second part of the movie is quite good. The suspense (what's left of it) is good, and when the bad guy is revealed it is a bit of a shock. A bit. The whole "don't show the monster's face because it's scarier that way" idea actually works here. But, again, what we have here is a movie that just doesn't work the way it should work.
Camilla Belle does a decent enough job as the protagonist. She can be tough, even when she's terrified out of her mind, and she isn't the spoiled rotten suburban kid throughout, which may have been a mistake if we're ultimately supposed to identify with the killer instead of the heroine. Katie Cassidy as Tiffany isn't in the movie very long but she plays the backstabbing awful girl for all its worth. If this movie was rated "R" she'd have gotten naked at some point. Tessa Thompson plays the sassy black friend to Jill (have you ever noticed how all white girls in the movies have all knowing sassy black best friends? Is this the "Clueless" effect?). All she really does is the eye roll thing and the "dump him already" routine. The rest of the cast is pretty much irrelevant as they don't really do much of anything. The only other cast member with something worthwhile is Tommy Flanagan's very creepy "Stranger" character. His presence works, the flick's one big plus. And, oh yeah, there's Lance Henriksen. But we don't get to see him. You'll know it when it happens.
This is an interesting choice for West, as his other flicks have been big budget action flicks (the great "Con Air" and the first "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider" flick, and the fairly decent John Travolta "The General's Daughter") and this is more of a teen slasher thing. It's not like he's poor, in severe debt (he's a Bruckheimer lackey, doing the executive producer thing on his CBS show "Close to Home") so why go do a thriller like this? This reviewer applauds his decision to do it. It's not a great movie, not that good, but dammit he tried something else. If he wants to do another one, that'd be fine with this reviewer (not necessarily a sequel to this movie, but something else in the vain of this movie. Just, you know, done better).
So, should you go see "When a Stranger Calls?" Yeah, if you have to. It might be better as a rental down the line. It's a disappointment. It is better than "Hostel," though, so it does have that going for it.
Only if you gots to.
The 411: “When a Stranger Calls” is a remake of the 1979 movie of the same name. It’s one of those pseudo slasher thriller things that tries really hard, and almost succeeds. Almost. There’s quite a bit of stuff that needs to be changed, altered, and forgotten for it to really sing. Director Simon West gets points for trying something different. He should try this type of movie again with a different execution. Focus on the stuff he did well this time and make something spectacular next time. This reviewer thinks he has it in him. Not the reviewer. West.
