Thursday, May 14, 2009

When A Stranger Calls (1979)

4.5 / 5 Apr '09

Tagline: ...Fear is the Message!
Directed by: Fred Walton
Written by: Steve Feke, Fred Walton
Actors include: Carol Kane, Charles Durning, Colleen Dewhurst
Genre: Horror, Thriller
Length: 97 minutes
Banned: Nope
Country: USA

Review:
Well it seems that people have mixed reactions about this one, but I loved it. I found it to be an incredibly tense and creepy film with doom written all over it. I should warn you, there isn't blood, there isn't even really much or any violence...it's all implied but it's extremely powerful and it would be unnecessary to go over the top here. This is a tight intriguing thriller that has one of the most tense first half hours of anything. We meet a careless babysitter who seems to not want to check on the kids. She starts receiving phone calls to go check on them but for some odd reason she brushes them off. Then things get worse and she tries to call the cops and so on, I dare not spoil the surprise if you don't already know, but even if you do it's so well filmed it's great! From there we meet up with the erm stranger on the outside world as a homeless man. It actually goes above and beyond in a fascinating character study of a man who is mistreated and homeless. He seems like he's trying to make an honest effort to behave, but people are so darned cruel. It's an interesting social statement as well as one heck of a great movie. If you want blood, guts and action you may be disappointed, but if you are looking for an actual thinking psychological film that won't disappoint, I highly recommend this one.

Availability:  On DVD

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