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When a Stranger Calls
Columbia/Tri-Star // R // October 9, 2001
List Price: $19.98 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
"The calls are coming from inside the house!"
You've surely heard this urban legend, which is teetering on at least forty years of age, at least once. A bored babysitter wasting the hours watching late-night television while the children are fast asleep upstairs is startled by a series of phone calls where a deranged male voice mutters, "Why haven't you checked the children?" After tolerating far more of these than she should, our plucky babysitter phones the police, who trace the call and...::gasp!::...inform her that the maniac is using an upstairs phone.
That's a decent enough summary of the first twenty minutes of 1979's When A Stranger Calls, which stars helium-voiced Carol Kane as Jill Johnson, the terrorized babysitter. To pad this out to feature film length, the stalker, played by Tony Beckley, isn't content to limit his hijinks to a single victim. After being let out of his posh rubber room a number of years later, maniacal Curt Duncan turns his attention towards a decidely-not-teenaged woman he bumps into in a dingy bar, with the detective who cornered the monster in the first place keeping close tabs to ensure history doesn't repeat itself. This wouldn't be much of a movie if lightning didn't strike twice, of course, and writer/director Fred Walton even manages to wrangle Jill back for a second round with Duncan.
The first portion with Jill is excellent, with nothing in the way of grue but an exceptionally effective score and claustrophobic photography build far more tension than a couple of drums full of the red stuff could ever hope to provide. The remainder of When A Stranger Calls borders on excruciating, thanks to the tedium brought about by the prolonged stalking of Colleen Dewhurst's Tracy. Duncan's second assault isn't remotely as unnerving or suspenseful as the opening scene, with next to nothing of interest until the final moments of the film. The usual nasties that plague low-budget suspense flicks like this are absent -- the acting's decent enough all around, the dialogue didn't make me wince repeatedly, and what few makeup effects are to be found aren't laughably bad. The poor pacing is really the only problem, and perhaps Duncan would've been better off contributing the first twenty minutes to an anthology instead of unnecessarily stretching a successful short out to an hour and a half.
Video: The 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen presentation of When A Stranger Calls falls short of what I typically expect from Columbia/Tri-Star, though I'm uncertain how many of the problems can be justifiably associated with the transfer. A quick peek at reviews of Laserdisc and VHS releases noted the mediocre image quality of those releases, but I'd wager that this DVD release is a significant improvement over those previous efforts, at least. Black levels are unstable, a problem exacerbated by the heavy and distracting grain that frequently rears its head. Noticeably soft shots are sandwiched in between those that are relatively sharp, another irritation. Colors don't have the washed-out appearance so often mentioned in reviews of the full-frame Laserdisc, but the trade-off is that they come off as several shades too dark. I've probably been spoiled by a steady supply of painstakingly spiffed-up films from the same time period, but the number of specks and minor print flaws seemed a tad more than I'm used to seeing nowadays. For the sadistic, the flip side of the disc features a full-frame version of the film.
Audio: The score by veteran television composer Dana Kaproff is the true star of When A Stranger Calls, and it's beautifully reproduced on this solid monaural track. Fidelity is above-average for a mono soundtrack for a movie of its age, and bass response is rather impressive. I didn't detect any assorted pops and crackles or heavy hiss at any point, either. Very well done, and I rather doubt that a stereo remix would've sounded appreciably better. A French mono track is also available.
Supplements: There are no extras related to the film itself, though there are a couple of bonus trailers for other CTHV thrillers.
Conclusion: The bulk of When A Stranger Calls doesn't live up to its very memorable opening, and the lackluster presentation only makes this disc more difficult to enthusiastically recommend as a purchase. Though it's available for as low as $13 from some online retailers, a rental would probably be your best bet. Rent it.
Out of curiosity, the cover isn't the original poster art, is it? Please, please say it's not. I have over 300 discs in my collection, and honestly, this is the most amateurish cover art out of all of them, bar-none.
You've surely heard this urban legend, which is teetering on at least forty years of age, at least once. A bored babysitter wasting the hours watching late-night television while the children are fast asleep upstairs is startled by a series of phone calls where a deranged male voice mutters, "Why haven't you checked the children?" After tolerating far more of these than she should, our plucky babysitter phones the police, who trace the call and...::gasp!::...inform her that the maniac is using an upstairs phone.
That's a decent enough summary of the first twenty minutes of 1979's When A Stranger Calls, which stars helium-voiced Carol Kane as Jill Johnson, the terrorized babysitter. To pad this out to feature film length, the stalker, played by Tony Beckley, isn't content to limit his hijinks to a single victim. After being let out of his posh rubber room a number of years later, maniacal Curt Duncan turns his attention towards a decidely-not-teenaged woman he bumps into in a dingy bar, with the detective who cornered the monster in the first place keeping close tabs to ensure history doesn't repeat itself. This wouldn't be much of a movie if lightning didn't strike twice, of course, and writer/director Fred Walton even manages to wrangle Jill back for a second round with Duncan.
The first portion with Jill is excellent, with nothing in the way of grue but an exceptionally effective score and claustrophobic photography build far more tension than a couple of drums full of the red stuff could ever hope to provide. The remainder of When A Stranger Calls borders on excruciating, thanks to the tedium brought about by the prolonged stalking of Colleen Dewhurst's Tracy. Duncan's second assault isn't remotely as unnerving or suspenseful as the opening scene, with next to nothing of interest until the final moments of the film. The usual nasties that plague low-budget suspense flicks like this are absent -- the acting's decent enough all around, the dialogue didn't make me wince repeatedly, and what few makeup effects are to be found aren't laughably bad. The poor pacing is really the only problem, and perhaps Duncan would've been better off contributing the first twenty minutes to an anthology instead of unnecessarily stretching a successful short out to an hour and a half.
Video: The 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen presentation of When A Stranger Calls falls short of what I typically expect from Columbia/Tri-Star, though I'm uncertain how many of the problems can be justifiably associated with the transfer. A quick peek at reviews of Laserdisc and VHS releases noted the mediocre image quality of those releases, but I'd wager that this DVD release is a significant improvement over those previous efforts, at least. Black levels are unstable, a problem exacerbated by the heavy and distracting grain that frequently rears its head. Noticeably soft shots are sandwiched in between those that are relatively sharp, another irritation. Colors don't have the washed-out appearance so often mentioned in reviews of the full-frame Laserdisc, but the trade-off is that they come off as several shades too dark. I've probably been spoiled by a steady supply of painstakingly spiffed-up films from the same time period, but the number of specks and minor print flaws seemed a tad more than I'm used to seeing nowadays. For the sadistic, the flip side of the disc features a full-frame version of the film.
Audio: The score by veteran television composer Dana Kaproff is the true star of When A Stranger Calls, and it's beautifully reproduced on this solid monaural track. Fidelity is above-average for a mono soundtrack for a movie of its age, and bass response is rather impressive. I didn't detect any assorted pops and crackles or heavy hiss at any point, either. Very well done, and I rather doubt that a stereo remix would've sounded appreciably better. A French mono track is also available.
Supplements: There are no extras related to the film itself, though there are a couple of bonus trailers for other CTHV thrillers.
Conclusion: The bulk of When A Stranger Calls doesn't live up to its very memorable opening, and the lackluster presentation only makes this disc more difficult to enthusiastically recommend as a purchase. Though it's available for as low as $13 from some online retailers, a rental would probably be your best bet. Rent it.
Out of curiosity, the cover isn't the original poster art, is it? Please, please say it's not. I have over 300 discs in my collection, and honestly, this is the most amateurish cover art out of all of them, bar-none.
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