Rating summary

Movie		1.5
Video		3.5
Audio		2.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		2.0

When a Stranger Calls Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman March 12, 2019

This 2006 'remake' of the classic film of the same name is currently available in the 'Queens of Scream' triple feature, which is a rebrand of the same collection previously released by Mill Creek in 2016 under the title 'Horror Triple Feature' or '3 Triple Feature' depending on how literal one wants to be in the wording. The film was not previously released individually by any studio. Though the film shares precious disc real estate with two other pictures, the video quality is, at least, acceptable. Audio is a relative weakness and no extras are included. See below for brief film and A/V reviews.

Jill Johnson (Camilla Belle) is skipping out on her high school's popular bonfire to take a babysitting job for the wealthy Mandrakis family (Derek de Lint and Kate Jennings Grant). She's amazed at the house's amenities but because they're so complicated and she doesn't want to wake the children, who are fast asleep upstairs recovering from illness, she's left twiddling her thumbs and, gasp, maybe even forced to do some schoolwork or read a book. Things take a turn for the interesting, then the bizarre, and then the terrifying when Jill begins receiving anonymous phone calls. Her caller says little to her, and the "threatening" calls begin to increase in frequency and intensity. Jill calls the police, who are sympathetic but really unable to do anything, and she ultimately finds herself fending off an invisible boogeyman, a voice on the phone, that Jill hopes is not closer than she believes he or she to be.

There’s slow-burn and there’s just plain slow. When a Stranger Calls obviously aspires to the former but winds up in a quagmire defined by the latter. The film boasts a quality atmosphere -- the home is just big enough to be slightly labyrinthine, it is technological enough to add a few twists to the dynamic, it is alien enough to the protagonist to keep her on her toes, and there are two innocent sleeping children blissfully unaware upstairs -- but it’s all for naught under the burden of a pace that’s the cinema equivalent of a snail at a NASCAR event (discounting Turbo, of course). The film slogs through grossly repetitive scenes featuring Jill on the phone with the stranger, or on the phone with the police, or making her way through there house just to make sure everything is OK. Which, of course, it is not. Not with her, and not with the movie. All of this is to be expected when a filmmaker stretches the 20-minute opening sequence from the original film, on which this film is based, into a nearly 90-minute endeavor. In short the movie seemed doomed from the start. Director Simon West does what he can with the premise, but it's just not enough, or perhaps he does too much by dragging it out to tiresome result.

The movie does have a few intangibles working in its favor beyond the the atmosphere and despite the pace. Editor Jeff Betancourt and Director Simon West, the latter of whom has helmed much more favorably enjoyable and well paced pictures like Con Air and The Expendables 2 (granted two very different styles of movies), at least recognize that the film is overlong as it is and keep the runtime down to a neat, but still way overlong, 87 minutes (and subtract only three minutes for credits). Those are still way too many minutes, obviously. Camilla Belle seems legitimately concerned with doing what she can to carry the film, playing the part somewhere between terrified and capable of defending herself, the house, and its precious inhabitants, but there reaches a point when it appears even she grows bored carrying on through variously repetitive scenes that serve no purpose but to add numbers to the listed runtime.

When a Stranger Calls Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

This is a more than adequate transfer. Though as it is reviewed here it shares a disc with two other films, the picture is generally stable and agreeably filmic at its baseline, with light grain retention, solid though not spectacular detailing, and a grounded color palette limited by the home's modern stylings and the movie's generally dark and bleak visual tone. There are certainly some limitations in terms of visible compression artifacts, but such are not a serious detriment to the overall picture quality. Find at the 1:02:35 mark some of the worst macroblocking examples as they appear along a dark stairwell inside the house. But other maladies are kept in check and the image is really quite impressive given the constraints and the extremely low price for point of entry; Mill Creek is all but giving this bundle away.

When a Stranger Calls Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

When a Stranger Calls' Dolby Digital 5.1 lossless soundtrack suffers from the same problem encountered in its on-disc companion I Know What You Did Last Summer, namely ample front width and surround support hindered by very low volume and constrained dynamics. At reference level, the track sounds puny, never wanting for more raw front side and surround based effects -- including plenty of discrete effects and total stage envelopment effects -- but expect to find both that low volume and a lack of detail and depth in accompaniment. Ringing phones, blaring home security alarms, stormy weather outside, misting water in the home's interior garden/arboretum area are all present but struggle to deliver a healthy, precise listen. Dialogue clarity is decent and center-focused but again absent volume and lifelike detail. It's a shame because the track is active enough and a better sound presentation might have alleviated (however so slightly) the ridiculously poor pacing, but alas it's another nail in the coffin for a Blu-ray that would be amongst the least the format has ever seen were it not pulled up from the depths by that low, low price point.

When a Stranger Calls Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

No supplemental content is included.

When a Stranger Calls Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

S-L-O-W. This take on A Stranger Calls might have worked had it simply been a double of the previous film's opening runtime, perhaps even triple, but a quadrupling of the runtime? With a horrifically dull finale the only payoff? Pass. The film is competently put together otherwise, but it's impossible to recommend at this length. Video is actually decent, audio could use some work, and no extras are included. Normally a skip, but considering the movie essentially costs less than $2 in the Queens of Scream triple pack, those looking for something to fill their movie watching schedules may as well pick it up.