When a Stranger Calls (2006)
Average Rating: 3.2/10
Reviews Counted: 90
Fresh: 8 | Rotten: 82
What's fitting punishment for running up the phone bill? Why have that person baby sit; that'll teach them. Or better yet, make that person through this poorly acted, fright-free remake of the 1979 movie of the same name. Camilla Belle is a looker, but she got nothing on Carol Kane, the actress who originally played the part, when it comes to range. The final straw is that the payoff isn't worth the tedium that comes before. Just hang up on this one.
Average Rating: 3/10
Critic Reviews: 15
Fresh: 1 | Rotten: 14
What's fitting punishment for running up the phone bill? Why have that person baby sit; that'll teach them. Or better yet, make that person through this poorly acted, fright-free remake of the 1979 movie of the same name. Camilla Belle is a looker, but she got nothing on Carol Kane, the actress who originally played the part, when it comes to range. The final straw is that the payoff isn't worth the tedium that comes before. Just hang up on this one.
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Average Rating: 3.1/5
User Ratings: 457,494
Movie Info
A teenage girl becomes a demented serial killer's prey in this big-budget remake of the 1979 thriller that became a TV late-show favorite. When a Stranger Calls takes its title and basic premise from the original, which -- for its first 15 minutes or so -- featured Carol Kane as a frazzled babysitter plagued by creepy, invasive phone calls. This time around, the doe-eyed Camilla Belle plays Jill Johnson, a high-schooler dealing with the usual set of crises: an unfaithful boyfriend, a bitchy best
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Cast
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Camilla Belle
Jill Johnson -
Tommy Flanagan
Stranger -
Tessa Thompson
Scarlet -
Brian Geraghty
Bobby -
Clark Gregg
Mr. Johnson -
Derek de Lint
Dr. Mandrakis -
Kate Jennings Grant
Mrs. Mandrakis -
David Denman
Officer Burroughs -
Arthur Young
Will Mandrakis -
Madeline Carroll
Allison Mandrakis -
Steve Eastin
Detective Hines -
Lance Henriksen
Voice of the Stranger -
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When a Stranger Calls Trailer & Photos
All Critics (98) | Top Critics (15) | Fresh (8) | Rotten (82) | DVD (15)
If you've seen either Black Christmas or Halloween, there's nothing new here: the hyped-up score keeps telling us we ought to be scared, but the suspense feels mechanical and fake.
Top CriticThe film is not quite suspense-free, but almost. When finding a dead body underwater isn't scary, something is very wrong.
This version is a thin, protracted study in shifting Hollywood strategies.
A production that never comes close to realizing its potential to tweak the viewer's primal fears.
If there's a single dead-wrong instinct in this movie that isn't pursued with the blind determination of an amorous terrier during high-scent season, darned if I can remember it.
This leaves young Belle (The Ballad of Jack and Rose) to wander rooms aimlessly, and for the musicians and Foley artists to work feverishly pretending there's reason for suspense.
Amateurish direction by Simon West ("Laura Croft: Tomb Raider") contributes to the utter failure of this pathetic update of the original film of the same title.
No plot, no originality, no stars -- and no reason for you to go and see this crap.
...just as needless a remake as one might've expected.
You know a horror movie's in trouble when the fake scares outweigh the real ones.
I can't help feeling that this updating could have been a little more imaginative -- the only wrinkle on the basic plot is that it uses mobile phones.
While teen chillers tend to be exercises in extreme dullness, at least director Simon West tries to wring some suspense out of the scenes here.
Atmospheric but generally disappointing thriller, despite a passably tense climax and an eye-catching performance by newcomer Camilla Belle.
Having abstained from character development and stalling for something to do between calls, the movie dwells in the house's dark corners, plugging plot holes with overzealous sound design.
Loud, noisy, flashy but too rarely chilling.
This year's "I Know What You Did Last Summer"...You'll be totally immersed and near on the verge of drawing sweat
god damn why in the world would they only remake the first 20 minutes?
Não percebe que a premissa é insuficiente para sustentar 90 minutos de duração e, conseqüentemente, o resultado deixa muito a desejar com relação ao original.
...it did half the trick for me and for that...it receives half the marks.
I'll be damned if I can find anything to like
This remake of a 1979 thriller starring Carol Kane isn't particularly mysterious ... Unexpectedly, given his background in exploitation dramas, director Simon West doesn't push the horror to the max.
Long distance information? Get me Hollywood, USA: I've got a rusty ice pick to bury in the gullet of whoever greenlighted this pointless exercise.
When a Stranger Calls understands that when alone and isolated in an unfamiliar place, an overactive imagination can be as frightening as any real threats.
The only reason to watch this punishingly dull remake is to ogle raven-haired beauty Camilla Belle.
Audience Reviews for When a Stranger Calls
Super Reviewer
Super Reviewer
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- Jill Johnson: Stop calling me you sick...
- Officer Burroughs: Jill, we've traced the call it's coming from inside the house!
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Movie: ID: 14662876 Title: When a Stranger Calls Release Date: 2006-02-03 00:00:00.0 MPAA: 3 Status: 1
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