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When a Stranger Calls

2006 · 87 min

A tense, slow-burning night of escalating dread, built on phone calls and shadows in a big empty house.

Directed by
Simon West
Genres
Horror, Mystery
Tagline
Whatever You Do, Don't Answer The Phone.
Overview
Far away from the site of a gruesome murder, a teenager named Jill Johnson arrives at a luxurious home for a baby-sitting job. With the children fast asleep, she settles in for what she expects to be an ordinary evening. Soon, the ringing of a phone and the frightening words of a sadistic caller turn Jill's routine experience into a night of terror.

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Directed by
Simon West
Genres
Horror, Mystery
In your watch list

How it feels

Written by AI. It can be wrong.

Tone
  • tensestrength 3 of 3
  • eeriestrength 2 of 3
  • darkstrength 2 of 3
Pacing
slow-burn, 1 of 4, from slow-burn to relentless
Attention
engaged, 3 of 4, from background-friendly to demanding
Themes
  • isolation
  • fate
  • survival
  • freedom
  • trauma
Places
  • single country house
Era
contemporary
Audience
teen
Form
  • single location
Content intensity
  • Gore mild
  • Language mild
  • Violence strong
  • Sex none
All scales, 0 to 10
Scales, 0 to 10
ScaleValue0 to 10
Action4
Horror7
Humour1
Realism6
Romance1
Tension8
Darkness7
Complexity3
Emotional weight5

In this series

When a Stranger Calls

  1. When a Stranger CallsMovie · 1979
  2. When a Stranger Calls BackMovie · 1993
  3. When a Stranger CallsMovie · 2006 This title

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Cast

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Streaming data from JustWatch.TMDB

Details

Genres
horror, mystery
Directed by
Simon West
Written by
Jake Wade Wall
Starring
Camilla Belle, Tommy Flanagan, Katie Cassidy, Tessa Thompson, Brian Geraghty, Clark Gregg, Derek de Lint, Kate Jennings Grant
Music
Jim Dooley
Cinematography
Peter Menzies Jr.
Runtime
87 min
Country
United States of America
Languages
English

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