Release Date: February 3, 2006
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for intense terror, violence and some language
Directed by: Simon West
Starring: Camilla Belle, Brian Geraghty, Tommy Flanagan, Tessa Thompson, Clark Gregg, Derek de Lint, Kate Jennings Grant, David Dennan
Plot:
While babysitting, a high school student is terrorized by a stranger who calls her, asking "have you checked the children lately?" The police eventually notify her the calls are coming from inside the house.
Review:
Another horror remake at hand which is not surprising whatsoever. When a Stranger Calls is a remake of the 1979 film written and directed by Fred Walton. This remake is an utter disaster. The flaws are enormous in this film and its actually tough to find positive qualities, if there is any. It represents many of the things that do not work in horror films. There is no build up, suspense, scares, interesting twists, nothing worth spending your precious time to view this film.
When a Stranger Calls stars Camilla Belle as Jill Johnson, a high school student who baby-sits a couples children while they go out. Here is where a good hour of the eighty seven minutes of When a Stranger Calls takes place. This one hour of the film offers nothing more than Jill sitting around, talking to her friends on the phone and constantly being prank called by a serial killer. I don't think I have ever heard that many rings on a telephone in such a short period of time. Quite Frankly, the rings actually serve as an annoyance and When a Stranger calls doesn't move from this position.
Camilla Belle delivers a horrible performance in which some of her reactions are laughable. The viewer will not for one second buy into the fright that she seems to be experiencing. There isn't anything frightening about phone calls in which no one answers. In fact, blank phone calls are made to many people every day and yet what can make one suspect that its someone after them. This film is inaccurate to what its portraying and it ranges from silly to terrorless.
Remakes are designed to modernize the original and make it perhaps better and more entertaining. When a Stranger Calls fails in both departments and its worst acted, uninspiring written and becomes a comedy after a while. This film is also uninvolving in which we actually don't care about the characters or care what will happen to them. This is thrillerless and becomes an exercise of how much pain a human being can take. Director Simon West has loads to learn from filmmaking.
West is the director of this film and we are talking about a man whos used to making action films. Con Air and Tomb Raider are in his filmography and neither make any kind of major impact and When a Stranger Calls can't make any. While there are a couple of scenes of good camera work, this film doesn't know how to scare its audience and instead it uses the tired and old cheap scares. What we get in this film is a handful of loud sounds when one might think the killer is approaching, but in actuality its one of her friends visiting her.
When a Stranger Calls is bad in most of its running time. There is a scene in which one of Jill's friends comes over to the house and has a drinking problem. This girl grabs a bottle of liquor from the shelf and intends to drink while Jill says to not do it and that she needs to control her drinking problem. High School students having a drinking problem is hilarious, when they shouldn't and can't be drinking in the first place. When a Stranger Calls is simply a mess from start to finish. This is a very simple film that is never entertaining nor smart. The ending of this film is also a final note to declare its level as a disaster.
