WHEN A STRANGER CALLS (1979) - on TCM Underground last night. I saw it new in the theater and thought it was DUMB then. I looked at it last night to see if it is as implausible, boring, and irritating as I had remembered. Yup. It is. Horse hockey!
I seen it in '79 as well. I haven't rewatched it since, so...
I had not seen it since that night over 40 years ago either. The movie was a big hit. I've always remembered it because it is actually sh!t.
Manipulative sh!t. :lookingup:
Is that the one with the baby sitter and the phone calls coming from inside the house?
Quote from: Alex on January 30, 2021, 11:46:39 AM
Is that the one with the baby sitter and the phone calls coming from inside the house?
That's it. I saw it in a theater in Liberty, NY.
That movie creeped the heck out of me as a teenager! it may seem goofy now, but I was kinda freaked out by it!
https://youtu.be/PVAx84hpo-c (https://youtu.be/PVAx84hpo-c)
http://youtu.be/PVAx84hpo-c (http://youtu.be/PVAx84hpo-c)
CHARLES DURNING is the SCARE at the door!!! Scream!
Within 5 minutes of murder discovery: "He's English and only been in the country a week..." They carry out what are presumably child corpses in garbage bags in their arms... 7 years later... rotund CHARLES DURNING running after escaped English child murderer... CHARLES runs 'round! And I mean ROUND. Poison dart flinging at English murderer! Why not? Uhm, 'cause you gotta gun and intend to kill anyway and conveniently must...
Did you check the children?
Truth to tell- I was 17 when I seen this with my brother Glenn in the Catskills. Scared the s**t out of us. Glenn was 15. Again- it was in Liberty NY, and we had potato knishes from the Jewish diner across the street.
Cool opening...
Thing is, it was originally a cool short film that somebody decided to turn into an unwatchable movie...
Sorta like getting stuck on a road trip with a group of metal heads who who quit playing all their favorite songs after the intro..............
I actually liked this one, saw it ages ago on one of the HBO's (I think, maybe it was Showtime). I see that it's free on Kanopy and Plex, I think I will catch it again this week.
I guess one can argue that the middle part drags, but one can't deny the great performance of Tony Beckley as the killer. Add the always reliable Colleen Dewhurst to the mix and you got something good.
"Did you check the children" is part of horror pop culture and will never go away. I just hope the dreadful remake would disappear. Now THAT is a bad movie :bluesad: