"When a Stranger Calls Back" (WSCB) is the sequel to the 1979 movie titled "When a Stranger Calls" (WSC). WSC was fantastic. It made the words, "Have you checked the children?" some of the eeriest words ever uttered. Fourteen years later another stranger would appear in similar circumstances.
WSCB starts off almost identically to WSC. A young lady by the name of Julia (Jill Schoelen) is babysitting two children when she receives a phone call. Shortly after the empty phone call there is a knock at the door and it's a man wanting to use the phone. He claims that his car is broken down and he wants to call the auto club to get a tow or a jump.
Julia, to her credit, did not open the door for this stranger. She got the info from him and said that she'd call the auto club. When she picked up the phone it was dead. She played it real cool and smart by telling him she did call and that it would be an hour before they could come help him. Now I have to digress a bit.
Not too long ago Mojo (a Youtube channel) had a top ten movie plots that would've been undone by a smartphone. Well, this movie would've been undone by a smartphone. Once Julia noticed the home phone was dead she would've immediately gone to her cell phone. And if the guy kept harassing her, as he did, then she would've used her cell phone to call the police.
Back to the movie review.
Eventually, the stranger at the door kidnapped the kids and Julia got away. Fast forward five years and Julia feels she's being stalked. She noticed small changes within her tidy minimalist apartment. The police wouldn't take her seriously though Jill Johnson (Carol Kane) did.
This was the movie's effort to connect the sequel with the original. They brought back Carol Kane and Charles Durning. Carol Kane played the babysitter in the original who was terrorized by the man that killed the kids she was watching. Charles Durning played the detective in the original.
The sequel, like the original, was full of angst all the way to the final scene where Jill had to contend with the stranger. After he hospitalized Julia he went after Jill. I think that's where it fell apart a little though. They made the stranger, William Landis (Gene Lythgow), almost supernatural with his abilities. How so?
He go into Jill's house, then locked her door from the outside to where Jill couldn't get out, painted himself to perfectly and seamlessly blend in with her walls, and threw his voice all around her like no ventriloquist on this Earth could do. It was all too perfect to create the final showdown in which he'd have the upperhand. You mean to tell me he had time to strip down, paint himself, texturize himself, and position himself in the perfect spot on her wall to where he looked like a brick wall and a drainage pipe???? Even IF he could've painted himself that flawlessly, there's no way he could've locked her door and gotten in the perfect position. Harry Potter couldn't have pulled off such a feat.
That large blunder cost the movie some credibility. I enjoyed it up until that point. I thought it was a more than adequate sequel. It's just too bad that they fell victim to overthinking their climactic scene.
WSCB starts off almost identically to WSC. A young lady by the name of Julia (Jill Schoelen) is babysitting two children when she receives a phone call. Shortly after the empty phone call there is a knock at the door and it's a man wanting to use the phone. He claims that his car is broken down and he wants to call the auto club to get a tow or a jump.
Julia, to her credit, did not open the door for this stranger. She got the info from him and said that she'd call the auto club. When she picked up the phone it was dead. She played it real cool and smart by telling him she did call and that it would be an hour before they could come help him. Now I have to digress a bit.
Not too long ago Mojo (a Youtube channel) had a top ten movie plots that would've been undone by a smartphone. Well, this movie would've been undone by a smartphone. Once Julia noticed the home phone was dead she would've immediately gone to her cell phone. And if the guy kept harassing her, as he did, then she would've used her cell phone to call the police.
Back to the movie review.
Eventually, the stranger at the door kidnapped the kids and Julia got away. Fast forward five years and Julia feels she's being stalked. She noticed small changes within her tidy minimalist apartment. The police wouldn't take her seriously though Jill Johnson (Carol Kane) did.
This was the movie's effort to connect the sequel with the original. They brought back Carol Kane and Charles Durning. Carol Kane played the babysitter in the original who was terrorized by the man that killed the kids she was watching. Charles Durning played the detective in the original.
The sequel, like the original, was full of angst all the way to the final scene where Jill had to contend with the stranger. After he hospitalized Julia he went after Jill. I think that's where it fell apart a little though. They made the stranger, William Landis (Gene Lythgow), almost supernatural with his abilities. How so?
He go into Jill's house, then locked her door from the outside to where Jill couldn't get out, painted himself to perfectly and seamlessly blend in with her walls, and threw his voice all around her like no ventriloquist on this Earth could do. It was all too perfect to create the final showdown in which he'd have the upperhand. You mean to tell me he had time to strip down, paint himself, texturize himself, and position himself in the perfect spot on her wall to where he looked like a brick wall and a drainage pipe???? Even IF he could've painted himself that flawlessly, there's no way he could've locked her door and gotten in the perfect position. Harry Potter couldn't have pulled off such a feat.
That large blunder cost the movie some credibility. I enjoyed it up until that point. I thought it was a more than adequate sequel. It's just too bad that they fell victim to overthinking their climactic scene.