If ever a film succeeded on its first twenty or so minutes then it would be Fred Dalton's bone-chilling 'When A Stranger Calls.' Indeed, the opening films - based on an urban legend known as 'The Babysitter & The Man Upstairs' is a terrifying reminder that not all horrors lurk in the hands of monsters, but things which are far closer to home. Carol Kane stars as Jill Johnson, a babysitter for a doctor, who begins to receive a series of scary phone-calls from a weirdo who asks her to "check the children." Of course, Jill isn't bothered about the seemingly prank calls but when they continue - even after checking the children upstairs - she become rather spooked and so phones the police. The authorities tell Jill that if she can keep the caller on the line for long enough then they'll be able to trace the call which, ultimately to her horror, turns out to be coming from upstairs!! In horror Jill flees the house, the children murdered upstairs - and cue a murder investigation - the result being that an English sea merchant being arrested and sent to an asylum.
If this blog was to concern the best beginnings of films then 'When A Stranger Calls' would easily be in the top three, and despite the fact that the film soon becomes a rather tepid thriller, it still maintains a level of suspense as seven years later the killer escapes from the institution and eventually beings to stalk Johnson, who, whilst having dinner with her husband at a restaurant, gets a call from the deranged man who asks her whether she has "checked the children." This results in a creepy set of scenes which I won't give away in case you haven't seen the film, but 'When A Stranger...' is still a decent little chiller which is basically a remake of Walton's original short film, 'The Sitter.' In 1993 a sequel of sorts, 'When A Stranger Calls Back' was made, and wasn't a bad little movie and also stars Carol Kane.
No comments:
Post a Comment