Looks like there’s a remake of When A Stranger Calls coming out.
I was watching TV with my daughter when the commercial for this movie came on. My daughter commented that she thought the movie looked really scary. This was the first time I saw the commercial and I said, “The call is coming from inside the house!” only I was kidding. Imagine my surprise when the guy in the commercial actually said it.
Was the original that much of a hit?
I have always loved this movie, and I think it is one of the best suspense thrillers I have ever seen. Hopefully the remake will be good–but I’m skeptical.
Have they already run out of Japanese horror movies to remake?
It’s a cult classic. Sort of a touchstone for people who liked scary movies in the '70s.
The original was in three acts. I liked the beginning and the end, but I thought the middle dragged a bit.
In response to ‘What do you want?’, I always reply, ‘Your blood… all over me!’
I hope they figure out the calls are coming from inside the house in the first five minutes, because phone technology is a bit more advanced these days than it was 25 years ago.
Gah. That line freaks me out every time.
Not a big fan of the original (ugh, the middle was dreadful), so I hope the remake is better.
BTW, The phone call revelation was stolen from “Black Christmas” (1974), which is a much better movie. And it has John Saxon! 
Wasn’t Donald Pleasance in the first one, playing the detective? (Sure I could look it up but, meh…)
This movie is a sort of “rite of passage” for all of us who were babysitters during the time when this movie came out. Do you dare watch the movie then *actually *babysit later that night…or ever again??
The scars run deep from this one.
Yes, the middle was dreadful. But I liked the first and last thirds. I actually like When A Stranger Calls better than Black Christmas. To me, ‘Have you checked the children?’ is creepier than ‘Don’t eat the baby, Billy!’
But I own both.
Oh, I love Black Christmas. I think my favorite thing about it is the scene where the man at the phone company is manually tracing the call by running around in the big switching warehouse, trying to look for the active line. That’s a crazy bit of dated technology and it tickles me to see how suspenseful that scene is and think about how it’s completely obsolete today. And I’ll watch damn near anything with John Saxon.
And yes, they are remaking Black Christmas as well.
Aiyiyi. :rolleyes:
Hey, I have the original 1979 radio commercial promoting When A Stranger Calls! It’s in a box of old radio tapes in my closet. Haven’t thought of it in years…
Quick, what are the two alternate titles of this movie? Why was the title changed?
I know one alternate title was Silent Night, Evil Night, which went away in the '80s when Silent Night, Deadly Night was released and was really controversial (and AWESOME!). I think it had another, much duller title. Stranger in the House? I read about it awhile back but I think that’s it.
The line “The call is coming from inside the house!” was used in another film? This must be why I was almost certain that When a Stranger Calls had already been remade before.
…you mean, they spoil the “twist” in the trailer for the movie?
I think the point is that most folks these days have heard it in urban legend or ghost story form (see its presence on Snopes, so the advertisers/studio probably figured that, like Biggirl, everyone would figure it out pretty quickly.
Wrong and correct! It was first retitled as “Silent Night, Evil Sight” in order to avoid confusion with the blaxploitation films of the time (heh, Black Christmas!?). In it’s cable run in the 80s, it was renamed “Stranger in the House”.
The film also has a very young Margot Kidder! Again, awesome movie!