When a Stranger Calls

5.1

The 1979 thriller would make a solid short film. Its bookended by disturbing encounters featuring the pale pixie Carol Kane. The first 25 minutes set up a scary believable scenario and the final 15 minutes resolves the conflict. The middle however, is a meandering weakly-scripted cat and mouse game. We've seen both the cliche cop hero and the crazy killer hundreds of times before and not much changes here. The only purpose to the fat in the middle is to bring sympathy to a lunatic who mangles children with his bare hands. It is a bold move by the filmmakers and works in part only due to the impressive performance by Tony Beckley.

The overdramatic post-production camera zooms and psychedelic sound effects are horribly dated and do little to raise the tension. Carol Kane's restrained performance in the opening is commendable and helps sell the reality of the situation. But by the end of the film, when she finds herself wandering through a deceptively empty house yet again, her mirrored performance weakens the impact of the climax. After the tension is resolved and the credits roll, there remains a nagging feeling that all was for naught and nothing can really be learned here. The film's biggest strength is its terrifying premise that fails to go anywhere. I picture the movie-going audiences of 1979 emerging from the theater on a Friday evening, in search of the real highlight of the night.