Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.5
Audio		3.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.0

When a Stranger Calls Blu-ray Movie Review

Other Adventures in Babysitting

Reviewed by Michael Reuben April 7, 2013

When a Stranger Calls occupies a permanent place of honor in the scary movie hall of fame for its opening twenty minutes, which writer-director Fred Walton originally made as a short film and then expanded into a feature after the success of John Carpenter's Halloween. The simple device of an isolated young woman receiving threatening phone calls from an unidentified voice has such classic appeal that Wes Craven and Kevin Williamson used it to kick off their genre parody Scream nearly twenty years later. The famous question they asked of Drew Barrymore—"Do you like scary movies?"—was the self-referential equivalent of Stranger's original, oft-repeated query: "Have you checked the children?"

Most viewers don't remember much about Stranger beyond those first twenty minutes, because the film takes an extreme turn immediately afterward, focusing on the killer rather than his victims for most of the next hour. It's a risky move on Walton's part, and one that few have attempted since then (including Walton himself in the 1993 made-for-TV sequel, When a Stranger Calls Back). Despite (or maybe because of) a mesmerizing performance by Tony Beckley, who was terminally ill during production and died before Stranger's release, the film's focus wavers, as its former villain's role shifts between predator and prey. At times, Walton seems to go out of his way to encourage sympathy for Beckley's character, despite his gruesome past misdeeds. By the time the story circles around to give him another chance at being evil, you're not even sure whether he's truly returned to his old habits or is just asking for someone to put him out of his misery.

The first act of When a Stranger Calls recounts the ghastly evening spent by Jill Johnson (Carol Kane) babysitting for Dr. and Mrs. Mandrakis (Carmen Argenziano and Rutanya Alda). Their two young children are asleep in an upstairs bedroom when Jill arrives. All Jill has to do is sit downstairs, do homework and talk on the phone with a girlfriend about a boy named Bobby. Soon enough, though, the threatening phone calls begin, asking whether Jill has checked the children, and eventually Jill is frightened enough to contact the police. When they trace the calls, they discover (oh my God!) that the stalker is calling from inside the house! By the time the authorities arrive, led by Det. John Clifford (Charles Durning), an appalling scene of violence awaits them.

The second act jumps forward seven years. Clifford has left the police force to become a private investigator. Dr. Mandrakis hires him to find the culprit from that fateful night, Curt Duncan (Beckley), who has escaped from the mental hospital to which he'd been sentenced for an indefinite term. Duncan has been heavily medicated and received intensive shock therapy. The officious state psychiatrist, Dr. Monk (Rachel Roberts), seems to think he's improved, but neither Clifford nor Mandrakis is satisfied. They want a form of justice that's more in line with the Old Testament. Clifford enlists the aid of his former police colleague, Lt. Charlie Garber (Ron O'Neal). For both of them, the case is also still the stuff of nightmares. Garber provides the old case files, from which Clifford derives a list of likely haunts where he thinks Duncan will turn up.

While Clifford shows Duncan's picture among the city's homeless and vagrants, Duncan appears in a local bar, where he fixates on an older single woman named Tracy (the legendary Colleen Dewhurst, who redefines "tough broad"). Tracy wants no part of him at first, and Duncan's insistence earns him a beating from another regular patron of the bar. But Duncan's perseverance pays off, and he gets himself into Tracy's apartment and makes a date for coffee. She's just lonely enough to play along, at least for a while, without understanding the danger she's in. Fortunately for Tracy, Clifford, who has picked up Duncan's trail, arrives in time to warn her and set a trap. But Duncan gets away.

In the film's whirlwind third act, Duncan chances across information that alerts him to the whereabouts of a survivor from his initial crime. Possibly because this is the closest thing he has to a human connection in the outside world, he seeks out this person for a twisted sort of "reunion". Clifford is close behind.

Despite the reappearance of familiar faces near the end, Stranger never regains its initial momentum, but that doesn't rob it of interest, as long as you know what to expect. Tony Beckley's haunted eyes, Colleen Dewhurst's world-weary demeanor and Charles Durning's credibility as a beat cop permanently altered by an encounter with something far beyond anything he'd ever seen all combine to make the long middle section of Stranger an intriguing dramatic experience. Think of it as a portrait of a psychopath in recovery, but falling off the wagon. Still, that's not what most viewers expect from this kind of a stalker/killer story. Stranger survives on the strength of its opening, but after that it's a curiosity.

When a Stranger Calls Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

When a Stranger Calls was one of the earliest films shot by Don Peterman, who would go on to Oscar nominations for his lensing of Flashdance and Star Trek IV, in addition to memorable work that includes Point Break and Men in Black. Peterman's work on Stranger probably wouldn't make his demo reel, but it's nothing to be ashamed of, given the limited budget.

Mill Creek's 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray of Stranger is the kind of presentation that sometimes prompts younger fans to reach for terms like "DVD upconvert", because the image is soft and fairly grainy. An upconverted DVD would not have nearly this much fine detail (and I've seen my share), and in fact the Blu-ray's image is consistent with a low-budget film production from the late Seventies, especially one often shot in low illumination. (No one complained about "grain" in those days.) I'm not saying that Stranger couldn't look better, because scanning technology is always improving, but what's here looks quite good, with no obvious attempts to filter out the fine detail or reduce the grain, no indication of artificial sharpening, and the drab color scheme that was typical of the era's filmmaking on the cheap. Perhaps the most important quality for Stranger's image is the blacks, which the Blu-ray gets right, because so many key scenes take place at night and rely on shadow and concealment.

Compression artifacts were not an issue, as they sometimes are on the Mill Creek double-feature discs.

When a Stranger Calls Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

When a Stranger Calls's original mono track is presented here as DTS-HD MA 2.0, and it's a simple, effective track with acceptable, but not exceptional, dynamic range. The dialogue is clear, and the score by prolific TV composer Dana Kaproff does the job one expects music to do in a thriller. Otherwise the track is unremarkable.

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

The disc contains no extras. Sony's previous DVD of When a Stranger Calls, released in 2001 and 2009, contained "bonus trailers".

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

I have not seen the 2006 remake of When a Stranger Calls, but from what I've read, it attempted to expand Walton's original opening scenario to movie length, without jumping forward seven years. That sounds like the right idea, but it may be several decades too late. Stranger is inextricably bound up with an era of technology that predates caller ID, cell phones, GPS, web cams and the internet in general. Today's paranoid scenarios are more likely to be about being observed from a great distance than close by. Stranger is a piece of history and best viewed that way. Mill Creek's presentation is more than acceptable and recommended.