SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

Matrixiole Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

Glucedee It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

Leoni Haney Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

zkonedog There are some movies that, when you move past a certain age, you really struggle getting into the drama/suspense of the plot and characters. "When A Stranger Calls" is exactly that kind of movie.For a basic plot summary, this film sees babysitter Jill Johnson (Camilla Belle) terrorized by a mysterious caller who won't seem to leave her alone. As the calls keep coming in, Jill gets progressively creeped out and decides to take action.Like I said in the opening, the trouble with this movie is that once you are over about 15-16 years of age, the suspense themes of the film will no longer truly creep you out. Simply put, this is a "tween" flick through and through, as there really isn't enough "real" suspense to suck in those who have seen these types of efforts before.The other dramatic problem with "Stranger" is how they deal with Jill's antagonist. Instead of leaving anything to mystery, pretty much the whole scenario of what will happen is laid out in the film's opening scene. A bit more mystery might have been the way to suck in those viewers who aren't necessarily enraptured by the "babysitter in peril" angle.Overall, then, "When A Stranger Calls" is a below-average effort in the suspense genre, doing just enough to avoid a dismal rating. If you want any enjoyment from it at all, watch it with a young or pre-teen. Otherwise, this one can easily be skipped.

SlyGuy21 Man, and I was on a roll with good movies too! I mean sure I might've hit a speed bump with "Magic Mike XXL" but at least that had hot guys in it. This movie is all based on one scare, "A stranger keeps stalking this girl", this scare is then repeated for 75 minutes. It starts off slightly suspenseful, but after the fourth time of Jill thinking she hears something only for it to be a cheap jump-scare or nothing at all, the thrill dies pretty damn quick. And when I say "cheap jump-scare" I mean it. There's decent build up to the first few, but the payoff is something dumb like a cat, or a sprinkler system. And then after the film's climax, there's a balloon pop jump-scare for no reason (maybe in case you fell asleep which is pretty easy to do). I mean the concept of the movie is nothing new, if anything it's too toned down because of the PG-13 rating. I know the difference between genuine horror and just blood and nudity, but I feel like the lack of blood hurt this movie more than anything. The killer only gets two real characters, who served no real purpose to the plot anyway, but it looks like he just broke their necks. Compared to the previous victims that apparently got slaughtered off-screen, if you're gonna kill off nobodies in order to have a body count, at least make their deaths memorable.And I don't need boobs in a movie to hold my attention, but they would've made it at least a little bit more enjoyable than just a copy/paste scare structure. Oh wow, the stranger calls the house and hangs up. Oh wow, Jill thinks she hears something and goes to investigate. Oh wow, it was nothing. Repeat for the remainder of the movie. At least Jill acts like a real human would act in this situation when it starts, but by the end I barely cared. Also, I thought for sure the kids would get killed off. I know that makes me sound horrible, but I like when horror movies actually break certain taboos like killing kids and animals. I'm not saying they have to be tortured to death, but it makes the audience hate the killer more. Oh yeah, the killer in this is like a cardboard cut out. We don't know who he is, what his motives are, or why he chooses the people he does. I suppose the filmmakers did this to make him more mysterious and scary, like a Michael Myers character, but again the boring movie killed off the suspense. I would say "At least it's only 90 minutes", but "The Hitcher" from 2007 was shorter and at least I liked half of that movie. In fact I'd rather watch the first half of "The Hitcher" remake than watch this boring movie ever again.

dragana rrrrrrrrrr I could see on the forums, as well as by the overall rating, that this movie got some real hate. Now, Camilla Belle is no Carol Kane, by any means, and she's no Jamie Lee Curtis to be able to carry out almost an entire movie by herself, but she's not that bad. This version does differ from the original, especially in the last third of the film. Now, if you saw the original - then you know the major spoiler, the one thing that made the original really scary in the first place. And I agree with some of the reviewers that this is a cliché, but since it is rated PG- 13, I would strongly recommend this to younger viewers who are just entering the amazing world of horror movies. It's contemporary and modern and therefore more relate-able to the younger audience. What disappointed me the most were two things. First, even though Camilla Belle is okay, she lacks that true horror-heroine-quality that could've made this movie into a real gem. Decisions her character made in the movie were believable, and in some cases logical, but her acting was just not convincing enough. Second, they really played it safe and by doing so, stripped the movie of its original horror. The line "Have you checked the children?" kind of lost its meaning here by not correlating to the "stranger's" motives in the original plot, but I don't want to give anything away to those who haven't seen the original. So, I'm a bit disappointed because this could've been a really serious re-imagining of a classic, worthy to stand by its own. However, since this is not the case, watch it anyway, 'cause it's fun, but do see the original because it's scary.

OllieSuave-007 This is a nicely done thriller about Jill Johnson (Camilla Belle), who is being forced to babysit at a three-story house all by herself. Later, the phone rings and a stranger on the other end makes odd remarks. After Jill calls the police to trace the call, she discovers that the calls were coming from inside the house. Therefore, Jill attempts to make a mad dash to the door with the children, hoping to escape the threat before it gets her.The actors provided a serious performance, giving enough drama and suspense to make the horror film watchable and believable. The scenes with the stranger's voice over the phone, Jill and the kids running to hide themselves from danger, and the suspense making you wonder where in the house the stranger is lurking in all make this movie one thrilling ride and certainly will keep you intrigued throughout. The film's elements is almost like a mixture of "Scream" and "Panic Room" combined; it is a little predictable, but nonetheless, entertaining.Grade B-