Thursday, October 04, 2018

When a Stranger Calls (1979)

When a Stranger Calls is a 1979 horror film starring Charles Durning, Carol Kane, Colleen Dewhurst, and Tony Beckley. Watching this is a tense experience. Kane is a babysitter who can't reach the parents of the children she's babysitting and who keeps getting anonymous calls asking her, "Have you checked the children?" Durning is the police officer she appeals to for help. The first 20 minutes are "now consistently regarded as one of the scariest openings in horror movie history" according to Wikipedia's sources.



The New York Times says, "The movie is full of fine actors, but they all seem to have been wedged into the wrong roles" but calls it "an energetic first film". Moria gives it 2.5 out of 5 stars and says, "While it is occasionally effective, When a Stranger Calls is also a somewhat listless film."

8 comments:

  1. Oh, I like Charles Durning. Will give this a try

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    1. He's always worth watching. The whole cast was great, and I'm glad I found this one :) Hope you like it.

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  2. I probably shouldn't have watched this right before midnight. Although it had me on the edge of my seat and my heart was pounding, I agree that there was something "off" about it. However, I probably won't sleep for a long time tonight.

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    1. That opening had me right where they wanted me, and I watched it on a sunny morning. I don't know what it would've been like to watch it in the middle of the night!

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  3. Wow, this is a film that I actually know, and I loved it! Have a great day, Valerie

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    1. I missed all these horror films when they were released -just not my thing at all at the time- and I'm coming to all of them late.

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  4. I'm pretty sure I watched this one. Not into horror films, as you know, but I have seen a few of them. ;)

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    1. It made quite the splash when it was released, at least as I recall, but I didn't see it until recently, having come to horror films so late :)

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