UnowPriceless hyped garbage

Stoutor It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

Lidia Draper Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

Mathilde the Guild Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Michael_Elliott When Michael Calls (1972) ** 1/2 (out of 4)Mildly effective made-for-TV flick about a woman (Elizabeth Ashley) who begins receiving phone calls from her nephew Michael but the only problem is that he died fifteen years earlier. Soon her ex-husband (Ben Gazzara) and other nephew (Michael Douglas) begin to investigate is Michael could actually be alive or if someone else is just trying to do her harm. These TV flicks from the 70s always have that certain atmosphere that can only be found in movies like this, BAD RONALD and DON'T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK. This here certainly isn't as good as those two examples but we still get that eerie atmosphere and that alone makes this worth sitting through even if in the end this isn't a classic. I think the best thing going for the film are the performances by the three leads. Gazzara plays a lawyer who doesn't mind throwing his weight around to get what he wants and I thought he was pretty good in the role. That tough rawness he brings to all his roles is always fun to watch and he certainly helps keep this thing moving along. Ashley is also very good in the film, although it's hard to believe her as the aunt to Douglas especially when in real life she was only five years older than him. With that said, she certainly displayed a certain vulnerability that made the movie a bit more effective. Douglas is billed as a "Special Guest Star" but he actually has a pretty big role here and appears throughout the movie. The screenplay tries very hard to be like something you'd expect to see from Hitchcock as it tries to keep the suspense up by having you constantly guessing what's going on. I think it's pretty simple to figure out what's up after about the forty-minute mark but I'm sure some might be kept in the dark up until the ending. While I didn't fall for all the twists and turns this still turned out to be fairly fun thanks in large part to the cast and whoever it was that voiced the kid on the phone. Another good thing about these films from the 70s that dealt with phones is that they were always able to find someone creepy for the voice work.

Robert J. Maxwell Michael is -- or was -- the brother of Elizabeth Ashley and Michael Douglas. Thirteen years earlier, he ran away into a Vermont blizzard at twelve and his body was found months later and identified because of his coat. Ashley is now the mother of a young girl and is estranged from her husband, Ben Gazzara, a "high-powered lawyer." Gazarra comes to visit his wife and child and he seems like a nice, loving guy. Michael Douglas has become a bland psychologist who works with exceptional children at the nearby Greenleaf School.That's the set up. Then suddenly Ashley and the rest begin receiving phone calls from what sounds like the voice of a terrified young boy who claims to be Michael. The calls say things like, "Help me!" and "I'm dead, aren't I?" So where are the calls coming from? Are we into the supernatural? Or is there something more mundane going on? Everyone is puzzled. The local doc is puzzled too, but he's murdered -- stung to death by his own bees. (His death has absolutely nada to do with the plot.) A sheriff is murdered too. And, well, there's a reason for the sheriff's death, though it too has nothing to do with the plot. The sheriff must be murdered so that his dead body can plop unexpectedly into the middle of a Halloween display and cause the audience to erupt in shrieks.After half an hour or so, I was fairly convinced of two things: (1) Ashley and Gazarra would get back together again at the end, and (2) Michael Douglas was the murderer. I figured Douglas was the killer not because he acted strange in any way, and not because he had a motive, but because of The Law of Excess Characters. He had too prominent a part and too little to do.After the New England setting was established I was hoping the film would convey a strong sense of place. Not picture-postcard pretty, of course. We don't necessarily want maples aflame because this is early winter, after all, and anyway autumn foliage in Vermont would be trite. Not to worry. The dismal chill of Toronto defeated any effort in that regard. The whole movie in fact seemed to be made for TV. I swear, there are even mini-climaxes before what appear to be breaks for commercials.Ashley is attractive, sexy, and competent. She has the eyes of a calf and her long nose slopes down and out in a fascinating French curve. Gazarra is competent too, and a bit more light hearted than his usual persona. Michael Douglas is here in an early role. He's vaguely handsome. How does he do at this stage of his career? Not too bad, actually. He plays the character as wispy and at times almost feminine, but that's what the role calls for. Only once, at the climax, does he flood out in a spasm of excruciating insight. His old man handled that kind of scene even better -- in "The Juggler" and "Champion."

tamstrat As several others here have stated, I too watched this movie when it originally aired on TV back in 1972 when I was 11 years old and it was very scary then and is pretty creepy today, now that I am in my 40's. Helen (Elizabeth Ashley) lives alone with her young daughter and she starts receiving creepy, threatening phone calls from "Michael", her nephew who supposedly died in a blizzard after running away from home 15 years earlier. The acting is good, especially a young Michael Douglas, but there were several things left unanswered, why did Michael run away, why after all these years do the phone calls start up, etc? But overall the movie is a good little flick to watch with the lights off. Enjoy!!!

thehauntedchamber Spoilers:If I ever received a phone call such as the one portrayed in this movie, I can tell you for certain that I would never again answer the phone. And if you're looking for scary phone calls then this movie's for you. So long as you don't pay attention to anything else about the movie. In short, this movie lacks characterization and a foundation story line that you can "buy into". The ending was't predictable but was a "cop out" nonetheless. The movie needs information about Michael's death; this would have answered the question of "why, after 15 years is michael suddenly calling people." It would have also made the story line, that you find out about in the end, more believable. Since no character development was done, we have no feeling for any of the characters and this is really needed for the ending to be less dissapointing.Not a total waste of time but I'm glad I didn't spend money just to hear a few wierd phone calls.