A babysitter is menaced by mysterious and frightening phone calls.A babysitter is menaced by mysterious and frightening phone calls.A babysitter is menaced by mysterious and frightening phone calls.
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Did you know
- TriviaAfter the success of Halloween (1978) director Fred Walton decided to expand a short film into a feature one, which resulted in cult classic When a Stranger Calls (1979). First 20 minutes of the latter is a shot-for-shot remake of this short film.
- ConnectionsReferenced in Going to Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film (2006)
Featured review
All it's missing is Carol Kane
No one would deny the first twenty minutes of WHEN A STRANGER CALLS is pure classic horror material: perfectly edited, shot, and acted, genuinely terrifying. Unfortunately, that film meanders after that, taking the viewer through dull, muddled material until we get to a good finale that still cannot top the opening. So, it's no shock to discover WHEN A STRANGER CALLS was an expansion of the director's earlier short film, THE SITTER.
THE SITTER is just about the same as the opening of WHEN A STRANGER CALLS, right down to the dialogue and the weird use of freeze frame. It's a brilliant short, only flawed by a somewhat wooden lead actress who's no match for Carol Kane in the later version. But still, this is good stuff and worth seeking out.
THE SITTER is just about the same as the opening of WHEN A STRANGER CALLS, right down to the dialogue and the weird use of freeze frame. It's a brilliant short, only flawed by a somewhat wooden lead actress who's no match for Carol Kane in the later version. But still, this is good stuff and worth seeking out.
helpful•94
- MissSimonetta
- Aug 1, 2019
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- $12,000 (estimated)
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