Cover Art

Credits

Director: Simon West Starring: Camilla Belle, Tommy Flanagan, Katie Cassidy Screenplay: Jake Wade Wall Music: James Dooley Tagline: Evil Dials Home. Country: USA

As punishment for her excessive cell phone chattering all American high school student Jill Johnson is lumped with a boring baby sitting gig on the night of the years biggest bonfire bash. At first it looks as though she has scored a cosy job however as the house is swish, the kids are in bed, and the fridge is well stocked, but her plans for a lazy evening on the couch are shattered by an anonymous telephone caller whose intrusions become more and more intimidating as the film progresses…

Director Simon West – who usually handles more extravagant action fare like Con Air and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider – has served up an exceptionally well polished piece of cinema with this update of a minor 70's classic, but right from the opening credit sequence it is obvious that we are in for nothing more than a clichéd and unoriginal thriller. At the very least though the film does try to do something different with the original formula, and in some respects this fancy pants update is more effective than its 70's predecessor. The original When a Stranger Calls wasted a lot of time outside the house, which killed much of the tension the filmmakers had worked so hard to establish, whereas the remake tries to keep us firmly in its clutches by focusing solely on the tormented baby sitter as her fear escalates over the course of the evening. As a result much of the film hinges on the performance of star Camilla Belle, (who is in virtually every frame), and she does a solid job, giving us a likeable leading lady who is vulnerable enough to warrant our sympathy, yet feisty enough to fight back when the going gets tough. The proceedings aren't harmed any by the fact that she also happens absolutely gorgeous; and in fact, pretty much everything in this film is pleasing to the eye, from the lavish set design (the house looks spectacular), to the moody cinematography, but if you look underneath the flashy exterior you'll see something less appealing.

For a thriller, When a Stranger Calls is not very thrilling. There are loads of cheap scares and several drawn out sequences where I assume I was supposed to be biting off fingernails while perched precariously on the edge of my seat, but they just didn't quite work. Seriously – if I see a black cat jump out of the shadows one more time I'm going to puke. It's been done to death already! The family friendly PG-13 approach has also damaged the films effectiveness. An opening credits stalk and kill sequence is set up to show us just how nasty the stranger really is, and hardened police officers attending the aftermath of this supposedly vicious murder (I say "supposedly" because it occurs off screen) are sickened by the sight of the victims remains, yet we the audience don't even get to see so much as a drop of blood on the walls. That hardly has us trembling in fear of the stranger, does it? And to make matters worse this is followed directly by a high school gym class scene which concludes with the teacher telling the girls to "hit the showers", but are we treated to gratuitous shots of these nubile young ladies lathering up their naked bodies in a steamy shower room? No, of course not! It cuts straight to a shot of our dried-off and fully clothed heroine much later chatting with her boyfriend in the hallway about their relationship hassles. What a jip!

An eighteen minute making-of is also provided which is little more than your average Hollywood promo piece. Simon West stresses that he is making a thriller as opposed to a horror film while Camilla Belle loses genre cred by revealing her distaste for gore movies. Wuss! Everyone had a great time working on the film apparently, and they all have the utmost respect for everyone involved with the production. How lovely. This fluffy making-of is followed by two and a half minutes of unspectacular deleted footage, and trailers for The Da Vinci Code, The Exorcism of Emily Rose, Monster House, Population 436, and Ultraviolet.