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When a Stranger Calls
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Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 9786302797633
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
ISBN: 6302797632
Label: Sony Pictures
Languages: English (Original Language), Analog
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Sony Pictures
Release Date: August 28, 2001
Running Time: 97 minutes
Studio: Sony Pictures
Theatrical Release Date: October 26, 1979
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Editorial Review:
Released a year after John Carpenter's 1978 Halloween, this thriller by longtime actor-turned-director Fred Walton has held a strong following of its own. In an exemplary piece of suspense, the film begins with a babysitter (Carol Kane) fielding threatening phone calls while on the job. She soon finds that a pair of children in her charge have been murdered in their beds; she is nearly killed herself by the homicidal maniac before police arrive. As with Halloween, the action jumps some years ahead, when Kane's character is herself a wife and mother--and the monster escapes from a mental institution to re-create his original carnage in the heroine's own home. Between these exciting bookends, the film loses its way and becomes dissatisfying and obscure. But Walton compensates by engineering a couple of great horror moments worth savoring. Tom Keogh
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating: - Not how I remembered, but still good
I remember being terrified by this movie as a child ...
I remembered the first 20 minutes vividly, and it is still just as scary as it was when I was a kid. Carol Kane is quite good as the terrified babysitter. The phrase: "Why haven't you checked the children?" will now make you uneasy. It is quick paced and suspenseful. (I am sure I never saw past this point.)
Then we jump forward in time to when the harasser escapes the insane asylum and begins his reign of terror ... Read More
Rating: - The first 20min is worth it all
If for know other reason the first 20min of this film is worth checking out. If you want tension suspense and pure terror this is it. If your a fan of this type of film or even a film student the begining of this film alone is worth a look.....The rest of the film is slow with no action and kind of falls apart really. I'm not sure how you top the first part of this film with the great mood it sets with it's camera work and music !
Rating: - Very freaky
This movie is by far one of the creepiest, and not alot goes on in the plot. It's the classic "babysitter" story..."have you check the children?" A babysitter, is recieving prank phone calls. First the caller just breathes into the phone, then he starts saying weird things. The voice on the line is soooo creepy, with every phone call the tension builds and builds. The end is classic...This is one that should be in every horror collectors, collection!
Rating: - Excellent chiller
I have seen a lot of horror flicks and suspense/thrillers in my day and the first 21-mintues to When a Stranger Calls easily rates as possibly the very best first act I have ever seen. From the way it was written, shot, scored and acted there is for me no doubt it's just simply perfection. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. The phone calls may not be the scariest in the sense that the caller at first doesn't say anything threatening or even sexual.
Each minute of the first act ... Read More
Rating:  - A Sitter's Worst Nightmare
Even after nearly 30 years, the original "When a Stranger Calls" is still as frightening today as the day it was released. Again, I must strongly suggest not to watch the horrible remake from a couple of years ago, which totally ruins the tale. Part of the suspense of the original was the fact that we, along with Carol Kane, didn't know where the phone call was originating from. It's every babysitter's nightmare--and played so convincingly here. The beginning of the movie is really the reason for three ... Read More
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