When I reviewed the films Funny Games, I watched the original film, then watched the remake. I could have done the same with today's review, When A Stranger Calls (2006), but I didn't really think it through. In truth, it might be better this way. By not having watched the original film, even though I have always wanted to, I can't compare the two films together at all. My judgement of the original film will have no bearing on the remake now. I remember this film being on the movie channels at one point, but I never got around to watching it. I guess I wasn't all that excited by this remake, mostly since I never watched the original, or its sequel. I went with the movie poster for my pic here, instead of the DVD front. I like the movie poster much better.The plot is very simple. When A Stranger Calls opens in some town, somewhere in the United States. While we are actually never shown much of anything during the opening scene, we get the idea that a babysitter, and the kids, were killed. Now we switch to a town many miles away, where Jill (Camilla Belle) is at her high school, doing teenager type things. Mainly she is fighting with her boyfriend, because she busted him kissing her so called best friend. Jill is in deep shit with her parents though. She has been talking none stop with her boyfriend, prior to the fight, on her cell phone. Which has caused her to go over her free minutes, by a ton. So her dad is going to make her babysit in order to make some money to pay them back. He drives her to the Mandrakis's house, which turns out to be a big, and very fancy, house. Everything starts out well enough, the kids are already asleep, until the phone calls start. Nothing much is said by the person calling, but it is enough to scare Jill. Once the calls get more threatening though, what is a babysitter with a couple of kids supposed to do?
From what I understand, the original When A Stranger Calls is split into two sections. The area described above is the first section of the film, while the second section takes place years later. The most famous part of the original film though is from the first section. So it sounds like the people behind this film decided to take that and expand on it. Not a bad idea in theory, but who really wants to watch someone babysit some kids? The slow pace of this film didn't bother me all that much, but it did a lot of other people. I think the biggest mistake they made, the people behind the film that is, is having the kids be asleep before Jill got there. That leaves Jill with very little to do. Jill explores the house, trying on some of the jewelry of the owner, and things like that. Eventually she settles down and goes over her studies while answering the phone. Her former best friend shows up, and Jill can't figure out how she got around the alarm. They talk for a little while before Jill makes her leave. So there isn't a whole lot going on for a good while.
The main problem I had with this film was with the plot holes. The Mandrakis are obviously rich people. I'm sure they can do better than finding a babysitter to watch their kids for them. Even if they don't have a nanny, they do have a maid. I guess it isn't in her contract to watch the kids, but I would think that she probably has before. She lives there, on the third floor, so I'm sure she knows the kids well enough. The house itself appears to be by itself. No close neighbors near by, so how did the killer just happen to pick this house, on this night, when Jill gets stuck babysitting? How does the killer manage to get around the alarm so much? The writers are really stretching things here, almost too much. Despite these things, and the slow pace, I felt that the last half hour of the film made up for things, and then some. Once the action gets going, it doesn't stop.
When A Stranger Calls is a PG13 outing, so there is really only one effect to be found. A poker through the hand is the only effect to report here. Not a big deal really. The acting is something I thought could have been better. I didn't see it as bad really, just kind of bland. Camilla Belle does an alright job with the role. I was actually more impressed with her, and her character, once the action got going. David Denman has a small roll as one of the police officers. He talks to Jill, and also shows up at the end. Why do I bring him up? When I finally saw his face at the end of the film, I knew I had seen him somewhere before. When I started this review, I looked him up on IMDb to see where it was I knew him from. If you have ever watched the film Out Cold, then you may remember the guy that ends up admitting he is gay. That would be David Denman. It would bug me way too much if I didn't go look. You can also find Tiffany Madison, Tommy Flanagan, and Clark Gregg.
When we first met Jill, I had to wonder about her. I can understand exploring the house, and maybe getting a little nosy when it comes to the jewelry. Breaking away from that train of thought for a second, I can understand why this was targeted at teens this time around. What teen aged girl hasn't babysat at least once in her life? I know I have done my share of it, so it was easy to identify with Jill. While I would never put the jewelry on, in fear of losing it, I might take a look at what was there. I was worried about Jill when she started putting on all kinds of jewelry, and then started to raid the closet. What worried me the most is when the alarm went off. Jill punches the code in to turn it off, but doesn't bother to check anything to see what made the alarm go off. Then she reassures everyone that ends up calling that everything is fine. One other thing that really bothered me, even though the kids were asleep, she never once went to go check on them. That is until the caller asked if maybe she should go check on them. Call me over protective, but I would go peek in on the kids I would babysit for, even if they were sleeping. I wouldn't do it a lot, but I would now and then, just to make sure one didn't get up and make a run for it I guess. What did impress me about Jill though, is when push came to shove, she kept her head about her the best she could. She would even put herself in danger in order to give the kids a chance to get away.
When A Stranger Calls isn't a great film. As far as remakes go though, I can't place it in the worst list. They did try and take a situation and stretch it a little too far. I think it would have been best if they had introduced the kids when Jill got there. Give Jill some time to get to know the kids, along with us, and then put them to bed. From there she could explore the house and so on. It would have killed some time, and maybe not come across as so boring to most people. I can understand why the first hour, or close to it anyway, will come across as boring. If you think babysitting is boring, try watching someone babysitting. All in all though, I ended up liking When A Stranger Calls, mostly because of the last half hour. If you can handle the slow pace, give this one a watch.
3 out of 5 At least she didn't try on the clothes in the closet
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