When a Stranger Calls (2006 film)
| When a Stranger Calls | |
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 Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | Simon West |
| Produced by | John Davis Wyck Godfrey Ken Lemberger |
| Written by | Jake Wade Wall |
| Starring | Camilla Belle Brian Geraghty Katie Cassidy Clark Gregg with Madeline Carroll and Arthur Young |
| Music by | James Dooley |
| Cinematography | Peter Menzies, Jr. |
| Editing by | Jeff Betancourt |
| Studio | Davis Entertainment |
| Distributed by | Screen Gems |
| Release date(s) | February 3, 2006 |
| Running time | 87 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $15 million |
| Box office | $66,966,987 |
When a Stranger Calls is a 2006 American horror film and a remake of the 1979 horror film of the same name based on the urban legend "The Babysitter and the Man Upstairs". In the film, a teenage babysitter receives increasingly threatening calls from a brutal serial killer whom she first assumes is simply a prankster.
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[edit] Plot
On one side of town, a babysitter and the kids she is watching are brutally murdered. The police are disgusted as it is implied that the murderer used his bare hands to rip them to shreds. The film then changes to teenager Jill Johnson (Camilla Belle). She is going through average teenage crises, having her boyfriend, Bobby (Brian Geraghty), cheat on her with her best friend Tiffany (Katie Cassidy), and going over 800 minutes on her cell phone, for which her dad, Ben (Clark Gregg), is making her babysit for a rich family to pay the debt. This causes her to miss a school bonfire, which her friend, Scarlett (Tessa Thompson), is attending. She arrives at the exquisite and elaborate Mandrakis House, perched upon a lake with a maid and a greenhouse built in the center. The parents (Derek de Lint and Kate Jennings Grant) show her around and tell her their numbers, stating that they won't be back until midnight. The kids are upstairs asleep. Jill begins the night by snooping and trying on Mrs. Mandrakis' jewelry. She then starts receiving anonymous phone calls; she first dismisses them.
Tiffany visits and Jill forces her to leave. Tiffany attempts to leave but tree branches knocked down supposedly by the storm block the road. Tiffany gets out to move them and is attacked by an unknown figure. The calls continue inside, each one becoming more alarming. When the caller asks, in a deep voice, "Have you checked the children?" she goes upstairs to check the children, but when she comes downstairs the phone rings and the caller asks, "How were the children?." Jill calls the police after the caller makes Jill aware that she is being watched. The police tell her they can trace the calls if she is able to keep him on the line for one minute. Whilst waiting for the caller to ring, she sees someone in the guest house. Jill rushes over and the assailant calls her at the guest house. She succeeds in keeping him on the line for a minute but realizes that he has called the wrong phone line. Jill quickly makes her way back to the house after she sees a light turn on and he calls her once more. This time she succeeds in keeping him on the line and the police hurriedly inform her that the calls are coming from inside the house. Jill finds Tiffany's dead body in the upstairs bathroom while investigating a shower that was turned on and is soon attacked by the caller, apparently the same person who killed the babysitter on the other side of town. She gets the kids and they run into the greenhouse. Jill finds the maid Rosa dead in the pond. The man breaks in but they escape and Jill manages to lock the man inside the greenhouse. He escapes from the greenhouse and while the kids escape from the house, the man attacks Jill. There is a struggle and Jill manages to stab him in the hand with a fireplace poker. Jill runs out of the house and into the arms of a police officer.
Right before the stranger is taken by the police, his horrific face is shown by the moonlight. She awakens in the hospital and the phone rings. She lets it ring, worrying that the events will reoccur. She waits for a time then nervously picks up the phone. As she hears nothing and begins to place the phone down, the camera pans to see her reflection in the mirror, revealing the stranger behind her. The stranger grabs Jill and attempts to murder her again. Jill screams hysterically but wakes up from her dreams, still in the hospital. The film ends with the doctors desperately trying to stop her frantic panicking, leaving the viewer to wonder if the events caused her to become insane.
[edit] Cast
- Camilla Belle as Jill Johnson
- Thomas Flanagan as The Stranger
- Katie Cassidy as Tiffany Madison
- Tessa Thompson as Scarlet
- Brian Geraghty as Bobby
- Clark Gregg as Ben Johnson
- Derek de Lint as Dr. Mandrakis
- Kate Jennings Grant as Kelly Mandrakis
- David Denman as Officer Burroughs
- Arthur Young as Will Mandrakis
- Madeline Carroll as Alison Mandrakis
- Steve Eastin as Detective Hines
- John Bobek as Officer Lewis
- Lance Henriksen as The Stranger's voice
[edit] Marketing
For the release of the film, AOL Instant Messenger ran ads beckoning users to IM Jill020306. When messaged, "Jill" (a Colloquis-style program) made small talk before panicking, as she received calls from a stranger asking her to check the children. She then gives the user her phone number (a toll-free 877 number) and asks them to call her. When users call, they hear an ad for the movie.
Also, around the time of the DVD release, a new screen name appeared, Jill051606, to tie in with the DVD release date, May 16, 2006. It does not involve calling her, but instead she directs you to a video security system on the official DVD site where the shadow of the stranger passes by frequently.
MySpace ran an advertisement: the profile for Jill051606, in which users can add the profile as a friend, leave comments, and read Jill's blog.
[edit] Reception
On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, 9% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 88 reviews.[1] The biggest criticism of the remake was that it gave away the moment of suspense from the original by revealing the source of the calls in the previews.
[edit] Box office
The film opened at #1 with $21,607,203.[2]
As of 19th march 2006, the film grossed a total of $47.9 million in the domestic box office, and $66.9 million worldwide.[3]
[edit] Home media
The movie was released on May 16, 2006 on DVD and PSP. Special features include two commentaries (one with Camilla Belle and Simon West; the other with Jake Wade Wall), deleted scenes, a 20-minute making-of featurette, and trailers.
[edit] Cancelled sequel
Screen Gems had green-lit a sequel, rumored to be titled When a Stranger Returns, in which Hayden Panettiere was to play the babysitter. Screen Gems has since scrapped the film.
[edit] Awards
In 2006, it was nominated to the Golden Trailer Awards in the category "Best Thriller".
[edit] See also
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Official website
- When a Stranger Calls at the Internet Movie Database
- When a Stranger Calls at Box Office Mojo
- When a Stranger Calls at Rotten Tomatoes
- Mikkelson, Barbara & David P. "The Babysitter and the Man Upstairs" at Snopes.com: Urban Legends Reference Pages.
- Film Review Xdafied.com.au
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