When a Stranger Calls (2006 film)

When a Stranger Calls
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Simon West
Produced by John Davis
Wyck Godfrey
Ken Lemberger
Written by Jake Wade Wall
Based on When a Stranger Calls
by Steve Feke and Fred Walton
Starring
Music by James Dooley
Cinematography Peter Menzies Jr.
Edited by Jeff Betancourt
Production
company
Davis Entertainment
Screen Gems
Distributed by Screen Gems
Release date
  • February 3, 2006 (2006-02-03)
Running time
 87 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $15 million[1]
Box office $66.9 million[2]

When a Stranger Calls is a 2006 American horror film directed by Simon West and written by Jake Wade Wall. The film stars Camilla Belle, Brian Geraghty, Katie Cassidy in her film debut and Clark Gregg. Belle plays a babysitter who starts to receive threatening phone calls from an unidentified stranger, played by both Tommy Flanagan and Lance Henriksen. The film is a remake of Fred Walton's 1979 horror film of the same name which became a cult classic for its legendary opening 20 minutes which this remake extended to a feature-length film.

The film was theatrically released on February 3, 2006, and received generally negative reviews from critics. It grossed over $66.9 million worldwide on a $15 million budget.

Plot

On one side of town, a babysitter receives multiple threatening phone calls from a stranger. Shortly, she and the kids are brutally murdered. The police find that the murderer used his bare hands to tear them to shreds as they bring out a shocking number of body bags. Teenager, Jill Johnson (Camilla Belle), her father Ben (Clark Gregg), has her babysit for a wealthy family to pay off the debt of going over 800 minutes using her cellphone, causing Jill to be grounded for one month. The unfortunate timing causes Jill to miss out on a school bonfire, which her other best friend, Scarlett (Tessa Thompson), is attending. Jill arrives at the location. The parents (Derek de Lint and Kate Jennings Grant), show her around and tell her about their live-in housemaid Rosa Ramirez (Rosine Ace Hatem). Mrs. Mandrakis then gives Jill their numbers, stating that they won't be back until midnight. As the kids (Arthur Young) and (Madeline Carroll) are seen to be upstairs asleep, Jill soon begins to receive creepy anonymous phone calls from a stranger.

Tiffany visits but Jill, fearing in getting into further trouble, asks her to leave. However, a tree branch, knocked down by the storm outside, blocks the road near the gate. When Tiffany gets out to move the broken branch, she is apparently attacked by stranger. The calls continue, each one becoming more alarming, suggesting she is being watched. Jill calls the police, who tell her they can trace the calls if she is able to keep him on the line for one minute. While waiting for the phone to ring, Jill sees a shadow moving in the guesthouse. She goes there to investigate, but finds that the guest house is empty. After seeing a light switch on in the house, Jill quickly makes her way back to the main house. She then starts upstairs toward the maid's room when the phone rings again. The unknown stranger continues to remain quiet on the other end as Jill tries to keep him talking for 60 seconds so the call can be traced by the police.

As Jill opens the door to the maid's room, where she hears the shower running, she asks the stranger on the phone "What do you want?!". He replies "Your blood...all over me". As Jill hangs up instantly, the police call back right away telling her that the calls are coming from inside the house. The phone disconnects as Jill hears another phone ringing in the bathroom. She turns and finds Tiffany dead on the bathroom floor with her cell phone ringing next to her. Jill shrieks with terror to see her dead. As Jill collects the Mandrakis children, she looks up to see the stranger looking down at her from the loft. Jill and the children run into the greenhouse. Jill discovers the housemaid Rosa dead inside the pool as the attacker breaks in. They quickly escape and Jill manages to lock the man inside the greenhouse, but he finds another way out and attacks her.

During the ensuing struggle, Jill manages to burn the man's back with the fireplace and then stab him in the hand with an iron fireplace poker, before rushing out of the house into the arms of an police officer. As the injured stranger is taken by the police, his face is shown by the moonlight staring at her. While recuperating, Jill awakens in the hospital and the phone rings. She lets it ring, worrying that the horrific events will reoccur. She waits for a time and leaves the phone ringing, only to see her reflection in the mirror, revealing the stranger to be behind her. The stranger grabs Jill, who shrieks hysterically, waking her hallucination and finding herself still in the hospital while yelling that "He's in the house!". The film ends with the doctors and her dad desperately trying to stop her frantic panicking, while the screen fades to black.

Cast

Production

Screen Gems first announced production of When a Stranger Calls in August 2004, with Jake Wade Wall penning the script. Screen Gems had plans to release both a remake of the original film and a sequel titled When a Stranger Returns.[3][4]

Casting

Evan Rachel Wood was offered Jill Johnson's role, but turned it down. Camilla Belle was then approached and almost turned the role down due to her personal dislike for horror films but Simon West convinced her that he was going more for a psychological thriller and so she accepted. To prepare for her role Belle had to do two months of weight-training and learning how to run. Belle was injured twice on the set, she struck a wooden bridge cutting and scarring her hand and also slammed her head against a glass window.

Filming

Principal photography began on January 1, 2005 and completed on 28 February 2005 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Bellarmine-Jefferson High School was used to portray the high school seen in the film while Signal Hill was used to portray the carnival shown in the film. Running Springs was used as the filming location for the road sequences. The house that was used in the film is located in Culver Studios - 9336 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City.

Music

Score

When a Stranger Calls: The Complete Original Motion Picture Score
Film score
Released February 10, 2006
Genre Film score
Length 47:53
Label Sony BMG Music Entertainment
Producer James Dooley

When a Stranger Calls: The Complete Original Motion Picture Score, 15-instrumental songs composed by James Dooley, was released on February 10, 2006.

When a Stranger Calls: The Complete Original Motion Picture Score
No.TitleLength
1."Main Title"00:04:51
2."Fateful Drive"00:02:57
3."The House"00:03:43
4."Exploring"00:05:16
5."Have You Checked the Children"00:05:11
6."Tiffany"00:02:55
7."Knock Knock Who There"00:07:18
8."Curtain Call"00:03:14
9."60 Seconds"00:03:39
10."Inside the House"00:04:12
11."Stranger"00:03:48
12."Conflagration"00:04:07
13."Police Station"00:02:44
14."Lunatic Asylum"00:03:58
15."End Credits"00:02:42
Total length:01:00:35

Distribution

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 on May 16, 2006. It does not involve calling her, but instead she directs users 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.

Home media

The movie was released on May 16, 2006 on DVD. Special features include two audio commentaries (one with Camilla Belle and Simon West; the other with Jake Wade Wall), deleted scenes, a 20-minute making-of featurette, and trailers. A Blu-ray version of the film was released for the first time by Mill Creek Entertainment on October 4, 2016 in a triple feature with I Know What You Did Last Summer and Vacancy.

Reception

Box office

The film opened at No. 1 with $21,607,203.[5] As of March 19, 2006, the film grossed a total of $47.9 million in the domestic box office, and $19,106,773 internationally for a total worldwide gross of $66,966,987 million.[6]

Critical reception

On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a rating of 9%, based on 92 reviews. The site's consensus reads "When a Stranger Calls ranks among the more misguided remakes in horror history, offering little more than a rote, largely fright-free update to the original."[7]

Accolades

In 2006, it was nominated to the Golden Trailer Awards in the category "Best Thriller".[8]

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.

See also

References

  1. ↑ When a Stranger Calls (2006)
  2. ↑ When a Stranger Calls (2006)
  3. ↑ LaPorte, Nicole (10 August 2004). "'Stranger' redials". Variety. Retrieved 18 March 2017.
  4. ↑ Balchack, Brian. "Screen Gems plans remakes of When a Stranger Calls and it' sequel When a Stranger Returns". MovieWeb. Retrieved 18 March 2017.
  5. ↑ http://www.boxofficemojo.com/weekend/chart/?yr=2006&wknd=05&p=.htm
  6. ↑ When a Stranger Calls (2006)
  7. ↑ ROTTEN TOMATOES: Movies – Top Movies, Trailers, Tickets & Showtimes
  8. ↑ "Best Thriller (GTA7/2006) | Nominees Categories | Golden Trailer Awards". www.goldentrailer.com. Retrieved 2018-02-02.
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