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When a Stranger Calls
When a Stranger Calls
6.0
/10
404 Ratings

WHEN A STRANGER CALLS

Directed by Fred Walton
United States, 1979
Horror, Thriller, Drama

Synopsis

A student babysitter has her evening disturbed when the phone rings. On the other end of the line an anonymous caller asks, ‘have you checked the children lately?’ So begins a series of increasingly terrifying and threatening calls that lead to a shocking revelation.

Synopsis

A student babysitter has her evening disturbed when the phone rings. On the other end of the line an anonymous caller asks, ‘have you checked the children lately?’ So begins a series of increasingly terrifying and threatening calls that lead to a shocking revelation.

Our take

Inspiring the prologue to Wes Craven’s Scream, the opening set piece of this late-’70s chiller is a babysitter-in-peril classic. Moving between horror and grimy L.A. noir as the protagonist baton is passed back and forth, this proto-slasher twists its knife into deep-seated middle-class anxieties.