| Overall Grade: |
C+ |
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| Story: |
B+ |
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| Acting: |
C+ |
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| Direction: |
B- |
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| Visuals: |
B+ |
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have you checked the children yet?
by __A_YAHOO_USER__ (movies profile)
Dec 19, 2007
124
of
186 people found this review helpful
When a Stranger Calls stars Camilla Belle as.. wow I can't remember her name.. as a baby sitter who's terrorized by threatening phone calls while she's watching kids who live in an isolated house on the mountains.
Before I start saying anything I have a couple of questions. One, why would the family call a baby-sitter when they have a live-in Nanny? Why? What is the purpose of that? Is Rose not good enough for them? Two. Why at the beginning do we see them driving up a winding road around mountain, and then when we see this house it's located by a lake. Did they not just drive up an insanely large hill? I never knew they had insanely big lakes at the top of insanely big hills. Okay now that that's done.. on with the reveiw.
Let's start with why this movie is good, and there's really only one reason. The movie really puts us into the situation of being alone and isolated and disconnected from the world. The isolation creates this fear and tense atmosphere that stays through the whole film. We are always alone, and we don't know what lurks on the outside or the inside, and this certain element is always there and always beating thoughout the film.
Now why this movie is actually pretty bad. First off the performances. I never really felt like this chick was scared. The first couple of times the calls come she just kind of shaked them off like nothing. And then suddenly shes scared.. But here's the thing. She says things that make her seem scared.. but it never really got through that she was scared. Only maybe once or twice did I feel like young Camilla was scared and that was mostly because she was aided by a loud orchestra of music. Secondly the goddamn phone never stops ringing. No joke. She gets at least 20 calls. And why does she keep picking it up? After the first 10 you think she'd be smart enough to not answer it, but she does. At one point one character even suggests not picking up the phone, and she says "I'm expected a call from somebody" (that "somebody" is her boyfriend who she is fighting with, and eventually he does call but the signal is disconneted, and you'd think that after he called she'd stop picking up the phone, but she doesn't.) And then about half way through the movie she FINALLY decides to use the phone that has caller ID. Thirdly, the movie is way too long. Why is it long? Cause there's way too many phone calls. If you took away all the scenes where shes walking around the house and answering the phone, only to hear dead air on the other end you'd probably be left with a 30 minute movie.
So, When a Stranger Calls is repitive and over-drawn. But it all works. Mainly becuase of the idea I said before. The movie has a consistently creepy and fearful atmostphere throughout the whole film and that's what really gives it steam too it's big finale... JILL JOHNSON!!! thats her name. I couldn't remember it, but I remembered it. Basically this movie is nothing more than a fun and suspenceful night out at the movies. It's tense and some moments you'll be holding your breath. But its one of those movies where its only scary once, becuase you don't know what's going to happen next. The film knows it has all the cards in its hands, and has fun with us and delivers.
So lets sum this all up, again. But shorter. Mediocre acting. Tense atmosphere. Good music. Kind of repitive. Always creepy. Good finale. Lots of fun.
7/10 |
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