When a Stranger Calls (2006 film)

When a Stranger Calls is a 2006 American psychological horror film directed by Simon West and written by Jake Wade Wall. The film stars Camilla Belle, Brian Geraghty, Katie Cassidy and Clark Gregg. Belle plays a babysitter who starts to receive threatening phone calls from an unidentified stranger, played by both Tommy Flanagan and Lance Henriksen. It is a remake of Fred Walton's 1979 film of the same name, which became a cult classic for its opening 23 minutes, which this remake extends to a feature-length film.

The film was theatrically released on February 3, 2006. It was panned by critics but was a moderate box office success, grossing $67.1 million worldwide on a $15 million budget.

Plot
A local sheriff enters a home where multiple homicides occurred; an intruder killed three children and their babysitter using his bare hands.

Meanwhile, in Colorado, 125 miles away from the crime scene, 16-year-old Jill Johnson is babysitting for the wealthy Mandrakis family, as a consequence of exceeding her cell phone minutes. Mrs. Mandrakis shows her around and mentions their live-in housemaid, Rosa.

After the parents leave, Jill receives threatening phone calls from someone who mostly says nothing and then hangs up. She initially believes it is her friends playing a prank, but when she contacts them, they deny it. While the Mandrakis' two children are asleep upstairs, Jill's friend Tiffany visits. Fearing this may get her in trouble, Jill asks Tiffany to leave. Tiffany is ambushed by an unseen intruder while walking to her car.

The unknown person calls Jill, indicating he can see her. Alarmed, Jill calls the police, who say the call can be traced by keeping the caller on the line for at least sixty seconds. While waiting for the phone to ring, Jill sees a shadow moving in the guest house. Believing it is the Mandrakis' older son back from college, she investigates, but finds the guest house empty. While there, the unknown caller calls, convincing Jill he is watching her. She keeps him on the phone to trace the call, only to realize he has called a different line. Looking out the window, Jill sees a light has been turned on inside the Mandrakis' house.

Believing the maid, Rosa, is home, Jill searches for her, but finds no one. The phone rings again, and the caller remains quiet; Jill keeps him on the line for a minute so the call can be traced. Jill hears the shower running in the maid's room, but upon checking, the bathroom is empty. The police call her back saying the calls are coming from inside the house and she and the children need to get out. Horrified, Jill finds Tiffany's body on the bathroom floor and flees.

Jill finds the children hiding in their playroom. She sees the intruder in the loft. They escape into the greenhouse where Jill discovers Rosa's body under the water. The assailant enters and searches the greenhouse. Jill locks him inside, but he breaks out and attacks her. During the altercation, Jill turns on the fireplace to scorch the assailant's back then stabs his hand into the hardwood floor with a fireplace poker, then rushes out and to find a police officer. The assailant is arrested.

Days later while recovering in the hospital, Jill awakens to a phone ringing. Getting out of bed and while looking at her reflection in the mirror, the assailant appears behind and grabs her. She shrieks hysterically, waking from her hallucination as the doctors and her father try to stop her frantic panicking.

Cast

 * Camilla Belle as Jill Johnson
 * Tommy Flanagan as The Stranger
 * Lance Henriksen as voice of The Stranger
 * Katie Cassidy as Tiffany Madison
 * Tessa Thompson as Scarlett
 * Brian Geraghty as Bobby
 * Clark Gregg as Ben Johnson
 * Derek de Lint as Dr. Mandrakis
 * Kate Jennings Grant as Kelly Mandrakis
 * David Denman as Officer Burroughs
 * Arthur Young as Will Mandrakis
 * Madeline Carroll as Allison Mandrakis
 * Steve Eastin as Detective Harv Hines
 * John Bobek as Officer Lewis
 * Brad Surosky as "Boom-Boom"
 * Karina Logue as Track Coach
 * Rosine Ace Hatem as Rosa Ramirez
 * Escher Holloway as Cody
 * Owen Smith as Police Officer
 * Jessica Faye Helmer as Additional Police Officer
 * Lillie West as Stacy (voice)
 * Dianna Agron as Cheerleader

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 the role of Jill, but turned it down. Camilla Belle was then approached and almost turned the role down due to her personal dislike for horror films but West, the director, convinced her that he was going more for a psychological thriller so she accepted. To prepare for the 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 occurred from January 1 to February 28, 2005, in California. 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 at Culver Studios in Culver City, California.

Score
When a Stranger Calls: The Complete Original Motion Picture Score, 15-instrumental songs composed by James Dooley, 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 users to a video security system on the official DVD site where the shadow of the stranger passes by frequently.

As a marketing promotion for the film, a MySpace profile was created for Jill051606 featuring photos from the film. Users could add the profile as a friend, leave comments, and read Jill's blog.

Home media
The film was released on DVD and UMD on May 16, 2006. 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 (1997) and Vacancy (2007). This disc contains none of the extras found on the DVD. This initial release was discontinued, and a new version was released by Mill Creek titled "Queens of Scream - Triple Feature" on February 5, 2019. The new release is virtually identical, with the only differences being a new cover on the case and the inclusion of a DVD copy alongside the Blu-ray.

Box office
The film opened at number one with $21.6 million. It then made $9.1 million in its second weekend and $5 million in its third. The film went on to gross a total of $47.9 million domestically, and $19.2 million internationally for a total worldwide gross of $67.1 million.

Critical reception
When A Stranger Calls was critically panned. On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 9% based on 93 reviews and an average rating of 3.5/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "When a Stranger Calls ranks among the more misguided remakes in horror history, offering little more than a rote, largely fright-free update to the original." On Metacritic, it has a weighted average score of 27 out of 100, based on 20 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B−" on an A+ to F scale.

Accolades
In 2006, When a Stranger Calls was nominated to the Golden Trailer Awards in the category "Best Thriller".

Possible sequel
Screen Gems was initially planning to make a sequel rumored to be titled When a Stranger Returns with Hayden Panettiere set to star as the babysitter, in light of the film's box office success. This sequel never materialized.

Writer Jake Wade Wall discussed the possibility of a sequel in September 2020. His treatment would have the film be a remake of the second half of the original film, where Jill Johnson is older now and has a family and the killer has escaped the asylum, citing the success of Halloween (2018) as an inspiration.