Words can’t hurt, but they can be terrifying. This is put to very good use in the opening scenes of When a Stranger Calls, the 1979 horror film directed by Fred Walton. The protagonist, played by Carol Kane, is Jill Johnson, a young woman babysitting two children in the home of Mr and Mrs Mandrakis. During the night, she begins receiving telephone calls after which the caller either hangs up or asks, “Have you checked the children?” The caller is persistent, and Jill becomes concerned enough to call the police, who finally intervene, trace the call, and tell Jill to leave immediately because the call came from another line in the same house. Jill survives the ordeal, but the children aren’t so lucky; they were murdered by a homicidal lunatic, Curt Duncan (played by Tony Beckley). He is apprehended and sent to a psychiatric hospital, from which he escapes seven years later. John Clifford (played by Charles Durning), a former police detective who had investigated the case, is hired by the children’s parents to track him down and make sure that he doesn’t harm anybody else. Duncan spends most of his time living as a homeless person on the street and tries to befriend middle-aged Tracy Fuller (played by Colleen Dewhurst), whom Clifford would use in an attempt to lure him. In the meantime, Jill, now married and with two children of her own, receives another phone call with someone asking her, “Have you checked the children?”
Fred Walton based When a Stranger Calls on The Sitter, his own 1977 short film, which had been based on a popular urban legend. The first twenty minutes, which follow the plot of the original, are a display of superb creation of suspense, with Carol Kane, one of Hollywood’s most effective character actresses, delivering a great performance as a scared woman in one of her rare starring roles. When this segment ends, Walton tries to fill the rest of the film with something different, putting the emphasis on the characters of the killer and the former policeman. The first, played by English character actor and Walton’s friend Beckley, is portrayed not as a faceless evil monster but as an actual human being who at least tries to live some sort of normal life when taken over by his homicidal urges. Beckley, who was mortally ill during the production and died a few months after the premiere, plays him in a way that almost evokes sympathy from the audience. It takes Charles Durning as an ex-policeman turned vigilante to remind the audience with whom they are dealing, and he does so with a short but effective description of what the killer did to the children. In the end, the film returns to conventional horror parameters and, despite Walton’s best efforts, can’t hide clichés, while more perceptive viewers might spot some implausible elements of the plot. When a Stranger Calls, made with a small budget, provides solid amounts of entertainment, and its relative commercial success, as well as a television sequel and a 2006 remake, aren’t that surprising.
RATING: 6/10 (++)
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