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When a Stranger Calls (1979)

Director: Fred Walton

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Movie review

From Time Out Film Guide

An anonymous phonecaller urges the babysitter to check the children... Two competently handled sequences of protracted suspense, featuring the killer at large in a darkened house, bracket a less effectively realised murder hunt through the city streets. However, this stab at the soft underbelly of American middle class paranoia looks increasingly contrived once the film loses direction in the daylight outside, and a realism intrudes that the film-makers just don't know how to handle. Not as atmospherically eerie as Halloween nor as mechanically effective as Black Christmas, but there's one great moment when the husband in bed turns into a stranger. Kane is the babysitter (later wife and mother), Beckley the killer, and Durning the cop.

Author: CPe 0000-00-00 00:00:00

Time Out Film Guide

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User reviews of this film

  • Garry said...
    Posted on Sep 28 2008 12:26 It's a pity this above average psycho flick sags so flabbily in the middle because it constantly hints at, but just fall short of deliverng, something more interesting than usually found in it's genre. The poor pacing makes the film feel overlong and routine. However the gripping and inventive opening sequence as well as some thrills in the climax go some way to providing some compensation. The other plusses include the performances, not least a remarkable interpretation of the murderer by Tony Beckley. His psychopath is an oddly moving blend of timidity, vulnerability and outright creepiness.
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Cast & crew

Director: Fred Walton

Producer: Doug Chapin, Steve Feke

Cast: Charles Durning, Carol Kane, Colleen Dewhurst, Tony Beckley, Rachel Roberts, Ron O'Neal full cast

Genre(s): Thrillers

Duration: 97 mins

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