Belated made-for-TV sequel When A Stranger Calls Back starts off in full-on creepy mode, with babysitter Julia (Jill Schoelen) being disturbed by a stranger who knocks on the front door claiming that his car has broken down. In reality, he is a psycho who will not give up until he can get inside the house. After a tense stand-off, Julia doing everything to keep the man at bay, help eventually arrives, but not before the stranger is able to abscond with the children sleeping upstairs.
All of this is well executed by director Fred Walton, with a strong performance from Schoelen, but the real horror is what comes next: five years after the disappearance of the kids, Julia is now an emotionally withdrawn student - sporting a monstrous mullet. The short hairstyle Schoelen wore in the opening scene wasn't particularly flattering, but her mullet is truly terrible, a heinous hairstyle guaranteed to disturb fans of the actress. When the psycho reappears and begins to torment Julia, the harrassed girl shoots herself in the head, but I suspect that looking in the mirror at that abysmal haircut was also a contributing factor.
With Julia in a hospital bed, it is up to counselor Jill Johnson and detective John Clifford (Carol Kane and Charles Durning reprising their roles from the first film) to try and work out who it is that has been menacing the poor girl. At this point things get seriously silly, the nut-job revealed to be William Landis (Gene Lythgow), a ventriloquist who paints his face and body to blend in with his background (original, to say the least!). In a very silly finalé, Landis disguises himself as a brick wall in Jill's apartment, throwing his voice to confuse the woman.
4.5 out of 10, rounded down to 4 for the mullet, and for failing to give us any insight into Landis's motives (we never learn what he did with the kidnapped children).
All of this is well executed by director Fred Walton, with a strong performance from Schoelen, but the real horror is what comes next: five years after the disappearance of the kids, Julia is now an emotionally withdrawn student - sporting a monstrous mullet. The short hairstyle Schoelen wore in the opening scene wasn't particularly flattering, but her mullet is truly terrible, a heinous hairstyle guaranteed to disturb fans of the actress. When the psycho reappears and begins to torment Julia, the harrassed girl shoots herself in the head, but I suspect that looking in the mirror at that abysmal haircut was also a contributing factor.
With Julia in a hospital bed, it is up to counselor Jill Johnson and detective John Clifford (Carol Kane and Charles Durning reprising their roles from the first film) to try and work out who it is that has been menacing the poor girl. At this point things get seriously silly, the nut-job revealed to be William Landis (Gene Lythgow), a ventriloquist who paints his face and body to blend in with his background (original, to say the least!). In a very silly finalé, Landis disguises himself as a brick wall in Jill's apartment, throwing his voice to confuse the woman.
4.5 out of 10, rounded down to 4 for the mullet, and for failing to give us any insight into Landis's motives (we never learn what he did with the kidnapped children).