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Printer-Friendly ModeStranger Calls lacks originality, manages without violence
February 6, 2006 —
Do you ever get the feeling that you're being watched? Do you ever feel like someone is out there monitoring your every move? It's a creepy feeling. But it's one that you won't feel while watching When a Stranger Calls.
The movie follows a seemingly ordinary day in the life of high school student Jill Johnson (Camilla Belle), who has to spend her weekend watching a rich doctor's children so she can pay back her parents for her extremely large cell phone bill. This may sound ridiculous already, but it actually comes off as believable.
While sitting around the very luxurious (and secluded) Colorado home, Jill begins getting phone call after phone call from an unknown creep who will not tell her what he wants. She gets about a hundred other phone calls from her seldom-seen high school friends, just to inch up the tension by making the phone ring that much more during the movie.
Finally, fed up, Jill calls the police, who trace the call and inform her that (surprise!) the calls are being made from inside the house.
Now, this story is probably familiar. If you haven't heard it in the form of an urban legend, you may have seen it in the movie Scream. Or perhaps you even saw the original When a Stranger Calls, which was released back in 1979.
So why make a movie about something that has been done time and time again? Because it is an easy way to make money. The strange thing about all of this is that When a Stranger Calls is not as bad as it should be.
Contrary to what commercials may lead you to believe, this latest film from director Simon West (Tomb Raider, Con Air) is not a horror movie. A more appropriate label would be teenager-friendly thriller. Unlike recent horror flicks like Hostel and Wolf Creek, When a Stranger Calls relies less on gory special effects and more on old-fashion growing suspense. The lack of brutal murders allows for a PG-13 rating - and a lot more youthful moviegoers handing over their babysitting money at the cinema.
Fortunately, the movie succeeds because of what it leaves out. We do not need to see senseless killing by some maniac in a plastic mask to ensure that we get scared. Just knowing that someone is out there but not knowing where is scarier than Jason Voorhees standing at the top of the stairs.
The suspense is minimal at first, as Jill shrugs off the phone calls. This makes the movie drag a little because really, there is nothing to care about. Camilla Belle, as cute as she may be, is not interesting enough to carry a movie all by herself. But once she realizes she is in danger, the movie picks up.
We even get a glimpse of the crazed stranger, which takes some pressure off Belle, as she (thankfully) is no longer the only person on screen.
The end of the movie is typical chase / struggle / escape scenes with nothing out of the ordinary to set it apart from any other movie. In fact, the entire 83 minutes has nothing to really set it apart from any other movie, false scares included. But When a Stranger Calls still has a certain charm that makes it enjoyable.
The one thing that is missing is that sense of fear that comes from knowing that someone is watching from the shadows. Throughout the movie, this is only implied. We never see that the stranger is anywhere near the house until right near the end.
Even though it may not be very original or even very scary, When a Stranger Calls is a good movie for a dull night, but it might be better to just wait for the DVD. Just don't watch it while you're watching the neighbor's kids.