When a Stranger Calls (2006 film)

Plot

On one side of town, a babysitter and the kids she is babysitting are brutally murdered. The police find that the murderer used his bare hands to tear them to shreds. The shot then changes to teenager Jill Johnson (Camilla Belle), who is going through a teenage crisis, having her boyfriend, Bobby (Brian Geraghty) cheat on her with her best friend Tiffany (Katie Cassidy) and going over 800 minutes on her cell phone, for which her dad, Ben (Clark Gregg), has her babysit for a wealthy family to pay out the debt. The unfortunate timing causes Jill to miss out on a school bonfire which her other best friend, Scarlett (Tessa Thompson) is attending. Jill arrives at the elaborate Mandrakis House in Elan Valley, which has a greenhouse built in the center. It houses many birds and has a pool containing several fish. The parents (Derek de Lint and Kate Jennings Grant) show her around and tell her about their live-in housemaid Rosa Ramirez (Rosine Ace Hatem). Mrs. Mandrakis then gives Jill their numbers, stating that they won't be back until midnight. As the kids (Arthur Young and Madeline Carroll) are seen to be upstairs asleep, Jill soon begins to receive anonymous phone calls.

Tiffany visits but Jill, fearing in getting into further trouble, asks her to leave. However, a tree branch, knocked down by the storm outside, block the road near the gate. When Tiffany gets out to move the broken branch, she is apparently attacked by an unknown figure. The calls continue, each one becoming more alarming, suggesting she is being watched. Jill calls the police, who tell her they can trace the calls if she is able to keep him on the line for one minute. While waiting for the phone to ring, Jill sees a shadow moving in the guesthouse. She goes there to investigate, but finds that the guest house is empty. After seeing a light switch on in the house, Jill quickly makes her way back to the main house. She then starts upstairs toward the maid's room when the phone rings again. The unknown stalker continues to remain quiet on the other end as Jill tries to keep him talking for 60 seconds so the call can be traced by the police. As Jill opens the door to the maid's room, where she hears the shower running, she asks the man on the phone "What do you want?!". He replies "Your blood.....all over me" As Jill hangs up instantly, the police call back right away telling her that the calls are coming from inside the house. The phone disconnects as Jill hears another phone ringing in the bathroom. She turns and finds Tiffany dead on the bathroom floor with her cell phone right next to her. Jill shrieks with terror to see her friend dead.

As Jill collects the Mandrakis children, she looks up to see the stranger looking down at her from the loft. Jill and the children run into the greenhouse. Jill discovers the housemaid Rosa dead inside the pool as the attacker breaks in. They quickly escape and Jill manages to lock the man inside the greenhouse, but he finds another way out and attacks her. During the ensuing struggle, Jill manages to burn the man's back with the fireplace and then stab him in the hand with an iron fireplace poker, before rushing out of the house into the arms of a Elan Valley police officer.

As the injured stranger is taken by the police, his face is shown by the moonlight staring at her. While recuperating, Jill awakens in the hospital and the phone rings. She lets it ring, worrying that the horrific events will reoccur. She waits for a time and leaves the phone ringing, the camera pans to her reflection in the mirror, revealing the stranger to be behind her. The man grabs Jill, who shrieks hysterically, waking up from her hallucination and finding herself still in the hospital. The film ends with the doctors and her dad desperately trying to stop her frantic panicking, while the screen fades to black and the movie ends.

Production

Screen Gems first announced production of When a Stranger Calls in August 2004, with Jake Wade Wall penning the script. Screen Gems had plans to release both a remake of the original film and a sequel titled When a Stranger Returns.

Casting

Evan Rachel Wood was offered Jill Johnson's role, but turned it down. Camilla Belle was then approached and almost turned the role down due to her personal dislike for horror films but Simon West convinced her that he was going more for a psychological thriller and so she accepted. To prepare for her role Belle had to do two months of weight-training and learning how to run. Belle was injured twice on the set, she struck a wooden bridge cutting and scarring her hand and also slammed her head against a glass window.

Filming

Principal photography began on January 1, 2005 and completed on 28 February 2005 in Vancouver, Canada. Bellarmine-Jefferson High School was used to portray the high school seen in the film while Signal Hill was used to portray the carnival shown in the film. Running Springs was used as the filming location for the road sequences. The house that was used in the film is located in Culver Studios - 9336 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City.

Score

The album called as When a Stranger Calls: The Complete Original Motion Picture Score was 15-instrumental songs was composed by James Dooley will be omitting commercially released songs that were featured in the film it was released on February 10, 2006.

Distribution

For the release of the film, AOL Instant Messenger ran ads beckoning users to IM Jill020306. When messaged, "Jill" (a Colloquis-style program) made small talk before panicking, as she received calls from a stranger asking her to check the children. She then gives the user her phone number (a toll-free 877 number) and asks them to call her. When users call, they hear an ad for the movie. Also, around the time of the DVD release, a new screen name appeared, Jill051606, to tie in with the DVD release date on May 16, 2006. It does not involve calling her, but instead she directs you to a video security system on the official DVD site where the shadow of the stranger passes by frequently.

MySpace ran an advertisement: the profile for Jill051606, in which users can add the profile as a friend, leave comments, and read Jill's blog.

Home media

The movie was released on May 16, 2006 on DVD. Special features include two audio commentaries (one with Camilla Belle and Simon West; the other with Jake Wade Wall), deleted scenes, a 20-minute making-of featurette, and trailers. A Blu-ray version of the film was released for the first time by Mill Creek Entertainment on October 4, 2016 in a triple feature with I Know What You Did Last Summer and Vacancy.

Box office

The film opened at No. 1 with $21,607,203. As of March 19, 2006, the film grossed a total of $47.9 million in the domestic box office, and $19,106,773 internationally for a total worldwide gross of $66,966,987 million.

Critical reception

On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a rating of 9%, based on 92 reviews. The site's consensus reads "What's fitting punishment for running up the phone bill? Why have that person baby sit; that'll teach them. Or better yet, make that person [sic] through this poorly acted, fright-free remake of the 1979 movie of the same name. Camilla Belle is a looker, but she [sic] got nothing on Carol Kane, the actress who originally played the part, when it comes to range. The final straw is that the payoff's not worth the tedium that comes before. Just hang up on this one."

Accolades

In 2007, it was nominated to the Golden Trailer Awards in the category "Best Horror".

Cancelled sequel

Screen Gems had green-lit a sequel, rumored to be titled When a Stranger Returns, in which Hayden Panettiere was to play the babysitter. Screen Gems has since scrapped the film.