MamaGravity good back-story, and good acting

Stevecorp Don't listen to the negative reviews

Kamila Bell This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Raymond Sierra The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

BA_Harrison When A Stranger Calls opens in fine form, with babysitter Jill Johnson (Carol Kane) having a really bad time of it, a menacing nuisance caller repeatedly ringing to ask whether she has checked on the children. In a panic, Jill contacts the police, who put a trace on the calls-only to discover that they're coming from inside the house! When the cops arrive, they find Jill hysterical, the caller-a psycho named Curt (Tony Beckley)-having killed the children in their beds.The ending of the film is also pretty good, the killer returning after 7 years to menace poor Jill once more, this time threatening her own children.What a shame, then, that the middle section of this slasher is such a bore, with cop turned private detective John Clifford trying to track down the recently escaped Curt and make him pay for his horrific crimes. It's dull, drawn out police procedure, Clifford making his enquiries, eventually staking out the home of middle-aged bar floozy Tracy (Colleen Dewhurst), who is being stalked by the dangerous maniac. This part really drags and goes nowhere, Curt always managing to make his escape.Worth watching for the tense bookend scenes, but it's a shame that the film wasn't consistently good the whole way through.

tupungato As I waited to buy my ticket for "When A Stranger Calls," the promotional poster to the right of me included the words: "Unequivocally, the most frightening movie I have ever seen." The critic who made that concise comment expressed well my own response, and apparently that of the others in attendance, considering the writhing and uncontrolled screaming.Writers Steve Freke and Fred Walton created suspense and tension very effectively by getting viewers to live through the potential victim by focusing attention, as s/he did, where they shouldn't. The actors, too, did their job to make certain scenes almost too much to tolerate by reacting believably, either with appropriate fear and panic (Colleen Dewhurst and Carol Kane), or with determination, frustration, and vulnerability, in the case of the seasoned but imperfect detective played by Charles Durning.For the many people who have known life only with phones they can carry in their pocket, When A Stranger Calls may not keep them awake late at night. While they know (but probably take for granted) the incredible capability of an I-Phone, they probably can't imagine the power of a telephone that remained seated on a table or attached to a wall. They don't know what one experiences when he answers a call at 11:30 pm, repeatedly says "hello," but gets something disturbing in return. Did the menace who called to breathe heavily or mumble unintelligibly pose a real threat? Did he know where the victims lived? Was he calling from just down the street? At least the four walls and locked doors of home made one feel protected... until he saw When A Stranger Calls. The story didn't clarify how the psychotic prankster could make those phone calls. A person couldn't pick up a telephone, dial that phone's number, and cause another phone in the house to ring. Occasionally, families did maintain more than one telephone number, but the young children in When A Stranger Calls would not likely have needed a line to themselves.

PimpinAinttEasy The beginning is very good with the phone calls coming in. The sinister background score is used to great effect. Carol Kane is really cute. I expected a slightly cheesy thriller with a man who kills children at the center of it all.There are some potentially interesting characters.Charles Durning's character is apparently obsessed with the child killer. But why? There is no real character development to show why he is so obsessed.There is the lonely woman (played by Colleen Dewhurst) at the bar. The child killer becomes obsessed with her. What was her story? We do not know. She disappears after a while.Then we are supposed to feel sympathy towards the escaped child killer. But the child killer's days outside the jail are very uninteresting. And then Carol Kane's character makes a comeback towards the end.So the film starts off as a cheesy thriller with a beautiful babysitter. Then some really adult characters make their entry. But none of it is particularly well developed.The film tries to be many things. But ends up as nothing.

markcope1981 jill johnson is babysitting for a couple she is soon getting creepy phone calls from a man who wont stop calling they trace it to discover spoiler alert he has gotten into the house jill escapes but the kids aren't lucky soon the killer curt duncan is caught but breaaks free a pi is hired to find him soon he is after jill now a mother for the second time i liked this movie first and last part but that second half and people hate the remake pros likable people good acting terrifying score the killer is scary cons the second half overoll i like this film has moments pretty good except for the middle nothing happens at all unless you consider a pi flashing a picture of the lunatic asking about him action then jill returns it picks up pace becomes good again i like it carol kane is the saving grace in a sea of nothing