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When a Stranger Calls | Year: 1979 Classification: Horror Directed: - Fred Walton (II) Actors/Actresses: - Charles Durning - Carol Kane have you checked... the children? I saw this with my parents when I was in 6th grade... I can't believe they took me to see this disturbing film! I just stopped having nightmares last year. It was such a popular film, however, that about every kid in my school had seen it and before such phrases as "Where's the Beef?" and "Show me the money!" became part of pop culture, everyone was saying, "have you checked the children?" Seriously though, this film isn't for children. It's true life horror and even more true to home in these violent days we live in. When this film came out, no one ever heard stories about Polly Klaas or other children abuducted from their own bedrooms, or intruders entering a home for any purpose other than burglary. Sure, it happened... but it wasn't as prevalent as it is today. Not contented enough to kill two young children with his bare hands, the antagonist intends to finish off the babysitter as well. Carol Kane is superbly convincing as the terrorized babysitter and Charles Durning does a stunning job as the police detective that won't rest until he can get rid of this guy for good. Slow in some places, but they're really just getting you calm enough so that scare the wits out of you when you least expect it. The film is most focused on psychological terror... you really don't see much violence, you just hear about it and expect it. It may seem a little unsophisticated by today's standards, but it will scare the willies out of you. HORROR AND SUSPENSE...AND ONE HECK OF A NAILBITER MOVIE! I am 14 so I am pretty much into the real scary and more recent movies like Scream 1 and 2 and The two Last Summer movies. But after seeing them, it's always nice to settle down the intensity with a movie like WHEN A STRANGER CALLS. I had trouble locating this video, so I ended up seeing the sequel WHEN A STRANGER CALLS BACK first. I thought it was very good. The first one is good also. Carol Kane portrays her role of Jill wonderful. All I can say is it is real suspenseful. Not too suspenseful, but just enough to get you biting your nails. THE STORY: Carol Kane portrays Jill, a babysitter who gets the terrifying phone call repeating the same message call after call: "have you checked the children?". Finally, the eerie experiences result in a terrifying sequence as the police discover the calls are coming from inside the house Jill is in. Then...seven years later after she has kids of her own...the caller returns only to cause an unbelievably conflicting story. You won't want to stop the VCR to go to the bathroom, cause you may be afraid to!! Haha just kidding! It is a good mystery movie, though. When a Stranger Calls Now before anyone who really loves this movie takes a hissy fit (hehe), let me first say that this isn't a bad thriller. The acting from the cast is excellent, especially from the leads Carol Kane, Collen Dewhurst and Charles Durning. The atmosphere is dark and eerie, making this a thorougly effective and powerful thriller. But I found that the space between the opening "check the children" scene all the way to the ending where Carol lies beside...(well I won't spoil it), was completely unnecessary. It was quite dull and boring in this section of the film and would've been better and alot more scary without it. Overall though, a fantastically scary thriller. Buy When A Stranger Calls at Amazon.com Buy posters at Allposters.com Jamster - the latest ringtones for your phone!  Search with Walhello on the Internet on When A Stranger Calls Search with the Priority Search Engine on When A Stranger Calls This page in other languages: Suomeksi | Nederlands | Deutsch
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