Hey folks, Harry here - I really enjoyed the original suspense thriller WHEN A STRANGER CALLS, one... I just freaking love Carol Kane. I first knew her as Simka on TAXI, but later in life as I've discovered her in CARNAL KNOWLEDGE, THE LAST DETAIL, DOG DAY AFTERNOON, ANNIE HALL and on and on... It was just odd to see her in this thriller and I loved her in it. I cared about her. It was a thriller that creaked, and I liked that. I can't imagine what Simon West does with this, but here... we don't have to, Enigma Boy does us the service...
Hello again. Enigma Boy here with another review of a test screening in the good old smog capital of the United States, Los Angeles. Tonight there was a screening of the new remake of Fred Walton?s 1979 sleeper thriller hit ?When a Stranger Calls.? This one is financed by Screen gems, directed by commercial director Simon West (?Con Air?) and written by Jake Wade Wall, who is also helming the Dave Meyers remake of ?The Hitcher.? The remakes aren?t going away, folks, so don?t even bother complaining.
This review is going to be fairly short, because this is a movie where nothing really happens. It falls under the continuing trend of lackluster PG-13 horror movies that somehow find a reasonable theatrical audience despite their straight-to-video pedigree. I see this one going the way of ?Cry_Wolf? and ?Venom,? though, so when the film comes out this coming February, don?t expect a ?Boogeyman?/?Grudge? turnout.
First things first?it?s not a very good movie, although a fast-paced climax gives it a certain tension worthy of catching very late at night on premium cable. If you like your thrillers tight and suspenseful?and who doesn?t??this one will bore you until the 65-minute mark.
Camilla Belle (Rose from this year?s ?The Ballad of Jack and Rose,? but now a lovely woman) plays the Carol Kane part in the original as Jill, a high schooler in the small mountain town of Buford. While dealing with boyfriend troubles?her blonde best friend Tiffany has complicated matters by kissing the teenage hunk Bobby, Jill?s squeeze?she incurs a horrible debt of cell phone minutes, and must make up the money she cost her parents by taking on additional babysitting jobs. She must take care of the rich remote lakeside estate belonging to Dr. Mandrakis. The kids are asleep upstairs and the fancy-schmancy house has a good security system, so it seems like a pretty easy night of work.
Not so. For a stranger is calling. It?s in the title. Or didn?t you know? Those creepy calls where all you can hear is something breathing very
very
very slowly on the other end. It?s unnerving, but more irritating than scary. She tries to deal with her relationship with her boyfriend over the phone, involving a visit from the dreaded Tiffany, but these are plot threads that are left unresolved and so we are left with Jill walking around the house, hearing the phone ring roughly every five minutes, picking up, asking who it is, being told to check on the children upstairs, and then freaking out.
The police become involved, but essentially this is a one-set movie after the 20-minute introduction. We get a lame opening, some monotonous high school drama, a tour of the house?which lacks light switches, instead having the lights turn on automatically upon entrance into the room?and then a whole lot of Jill having hissy fits.
One would think that a constant sound of dread?the piercing and abrasive phone rings?would build a level of suspense, but mostly it?s just tedious. There is some hoopla about the cops trying tracing the phone number. As with most of these movies?although this is not the case in real life?the caller must stay on the phone for at least 60 seconds to be tracked. The audience is cheated out of a great deal of suspense, though, because every time we look down at Jill?s watch, 15-45 seconds have passed instead of the film?s five. It?s a lame device.
Finally, an hour into the film with nary a scare outside of two ?It was the cat? jumps, she gets the call. ?We traced the call. It?s coming from inside the house! Get out of there now!?
The final 20 minutes have a certain primal terror to them, and I must give props to Simon West for making the most of these moments. Unfortunately, it?s too little too late. Much like the original movie, the middle is a lagging bore. One thing I?ve always liked about Mr. West is his pacing. I am an unabashed fan of ?Con Air??one of the last great dumb action movies?and respected ?The General?s Daughter? without outright liking it. Those shout-outs may put my critical objectivity into question, but I make no apologies for my taste. His third film ?Lara Croft: Tomb Raider? was a disaster, but at least it made money and was not nearly as bad as the Jan DeBont sequel.
Here, West wastes many a good opportunity, hoping that Jill?s panic will work its way into the audience. Alas, that never comes.
The film?s saving grace is Ms. Camille Belle herself. While not a top-notch actress, she is a genuinely beautiful woman who makes the 85-minute running time go by that much smoother. With her dark part-Brazilian features and a natural non-Hollywood body?you know what I mean?she is good horror movie eye candy. Welcome back to the 80s, it seems. Check her out here: Click, and here: Click and check it out for yourself. She?s been in the business a long time, and she has now blossomed into something even more.
The opening sequence of the film falls under that post-Kevin Williamson style of throwing in an unrelated murder, this one near a loud carnival, simply to imply that there is a terror on the loose in this small town. The forensic scene makes no sense??That?s just the thing. There was no weapon?
huh??and its excision could give the real story a true sense of the unknown, as opposed to simply, ?There?s a killer out there.?
Really, this is a film where a great many things don?t make sense, but it?s almost as if we as an audience are not even supposed to question such things. I?m all for suspension of disbelief, but when a creepy voice is tormenting you and telling you to check on the children upstairs, you do it and not wait 30 minutes wandering around rooms that light up automatically.
If you want a good trapped-in-the-house thriller, I would recommend the underrated ?Hostage? from this year.
--Enigma Boy
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