When a Stranger Calls
Studio: Screen Gems
Rated: PG-13
Release Date: 2006-02-10
Cast: Camilla Belle, Katie Cassidy, Brian Geraghty, Tessa Thompson
Director: Simon West
Screenwriter: Jake Wade Wall
WorkNameSort: When a Stranger Calls
Our Rating: 1.00
Doing its damndest to vanquish its myriad of competitors for the title of Most Unnecessary Remake in Modern Horror, this familiar Stranger exhibits not a smidgen of awareness that its premise has been ripped off 500 times and parodied in three Scream movies. In the world in which director Simon West is living, we’ve never before seen a young woman (jailbait du jour Camilla Belle) terrorized by a psychopathic caller who knows she’s alone and wants to cover himself in her blood for no good reason in particular. The sole deviations from formula are having the heroine exceed her cell minutes (to keep her from thwarting the repeat-dialing sadist in the first act) and upgrading the location to an obscenely elaborate dream home which could have made for a nifty statement on today’s horrific real-estate market, but merely provides a high-tech backdrop for a thoroughly generic game of hide and seek. Hey, Mr. West: The call is coming from INSIDE YOUR OWN ASS.
This article appears in Feb 8-14, 2006.