I think having seen the opening scene parodied so many times, and having seen the Scream movies, and knowing what the ultimate payoff of that opening scene is, I was under the impression I had actually seen the original When a Stranger Calls. Turns out, I had not!
Granted, the film's beginning is definitely the best part, building tension pretty well for a payoff that anyone who's told scary stories around a campfire has probably already heard. Carol Kane is not the most convincing teenager, which may be part of the reason she disappears after that opening for the majority of the movie, returning only for the climax, but she's such a unique screen presence and she's so good, that I can forgive that. (And if you want proof that her performance is so integral to the effectiveness of the movie's first half, just watch The Sitter, the original short the movie was based on.)
The middle part of the movie takes a bit of a turn, becoming more of a procedural that follows a detective (Charles Durning, excellent) as he tries to find the escaped killer (Tony Beckley twitchy, sweaty and sickly perfection, probably because he was, sadly, pretty ill during the filming, and would die a few months after it opened), who is in turn wandering the city seeking refuge before becoming fixated on a tough barfly (Colleen Dewhurst, amazing; how'd she find her way into this?).
It's ultimately a weird mash-up of genres, but because of that, it does stand apart from your standard slasher movie of the era. I enjoyed it so much, I decided I'd give the sequel a try, even though I didn't have high hopes for it since it was filmed over a decade later, and was a direct to cable release.
Turns out, When a Stranger Calls Back is pretty good too! Both Carol Kane and Charles Durning return, this time helping out a college student who five years earlier had a similarly traumatic experience babysitting. When she starts to notice weird things happening in her apartment, she seeks the help of Kane's Jill, the college guidance counselor. Pretty lucky to have a guidance counselor who's no stranger to babysitting trauma!
As in When a Stranger Calls, the psycho in this one is unique, to say the least. I think the movie benefits a lot from knowing very little going in, so I won't say more about him. But I will say I was howling with gleeful laughter at the film's climax. It's ridiculous, but in a good, giallo kind of way.
I watched When a Stranger Calls on Peacock. When a Stranger Calls Back is available to stream on a lot of free services, but I chose to watch it via the Shout! Factory Blu-ray release via my library since it's a better print, can be viewed in widescreen or original TV ratios, and includes the original short, The Sitter.
1 comment:
Agree with all you wrote. I thought I knew When a Stranger Calls, too, until I rewatched awhile back and was baffled by the mid-section of the movie. It is slow, but the performances are great! And the sequel is different enough and same enough to really be a treat. And hey, any Kane and any During is always welcome compared to a lot of other actors.
Post a Comment