2. The Stranger (Tommy Flanagan) - When A Stranger Calls
Probably gunning for Halloweens sophisticated suspense, the makers of this needless reboot turn the killer into a barely seen psycho whos a dab hand at finding hiding places and enjoys taunting people more than killing them. Its also one of those movies where the cops say, Theres nothing we can do despite the mounting death toll and the screaming damsel in distress backs herself into a corner, shouting, What do you want? Merry tales of psychotic child-killers dont lend themselves to PG-13, so the filmmakers do away with all the nastiness from Fred Waltons 1979 original as well as 86 of its 97 minutes, which leaves the opening sequence of a babysitter being informed by police that the malicious calls shes been receiving have been coming from.inside the house! Anyway, the filmmakers attempts to stretch an eleven-minute sequence to feature length means that WASC often feels like a one-act play, with a single character on a single set reacting to shadows, strange noises, the sudden arrival of a stranger etc. This is apt because were watching a two-act movie, whose makers forgot to give it a rousing finale. The scene is set, the tension is ratcheted up by false scares, then ten minutes before the credits roll, the killer puts in an appearance, gets captured by police and thats all she wrote.
Ian Watson is the author of 'Midnight Movie Madness', a 600+ page guide to "bad" movies from 'Reefer Madness' to 'Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead.'
