I remember being scared to death when this film first aired on TV in 1971. Of course, I was all of nine years old at the time. When Michael Calls was recently shown on Fox Movies, and I had a chance to relive my memories of terror. Surprisingly, the film holds up remarkably well, even with the tacked on and predictable happy ending that ties up all the loose ends. I even had to turn a light on while I watched!
30 Reviews
Creepy
tamstrat17 May 2005
As several others here have stated, I too watched this movie when it originally aired on TV back in 1972 when I was 11 years old and it was very scary then and is pretty creepy today, now that I am in my 40's. Helen (Elizabeth Ashley) lives alone with her young daughter and she starts receiving creepy, threatening phone calls from "Michael", her nephew who supposedly died in a blizzard after running away from home 15 years earlier. The acting is good, especially a young Michael Douglas, but there were several things left unanswered, why did Michael run away, why after all these years do the phone calls start up, etc? But overall the movie is a good little flick to watch with the lights off. Enjoy!!!
Not-bad TV-made guessing game with a teleplay from future filmmaker James Bridges...
moonspinner5512 July 2010
ABC Movie of the Week involves Elizabeth Ashley as a divorced single parent who mysteriously begins receiving a series of spooky phone calls from a child who says he's her nephew, a boy who allegedly died in a snowstorm years prior; ex-husband Ben Gazzara and brother Michael Douglas (who heads up a home for emotionally disturbed youngsters) investigate on their own after a bee-keeper and a sheriff both turn up dead. Spotty teleplay from James Bridges, adapting a novel by John Farris, inexplicably drops a thread about a young burglar caught red-handed, and also a farmhouse which the killer sets on fire. However, the phone calls here are certainly creepy (even better than the ones from Doris Day's "Midnight Lace") and the performances by Ashley and Gazzara are solid. Bridges and Michael Douglas later reunited on "The China Syndrome".
Creepy 1970's Made for T.V. Movie
babeth_jr22 September 2010
"When Michael Calls" was made in 1972 and stars Elizabeth Ashely as Helen Connelly, a woman going through a divorce from her high powered attorney husband (Ben Gazzara) and has moved to a small New England town with her young daughter Peggy (Karen Pearson). Her nephew Craig (portrayed by a young Michael Douglas)is a psychiatrist at the Greenleaf School for Boys, an institution in the same town for troubled young men.
Things begin to get scary when Helen starts receiving eerie calls from a young boy who claims to be Michael, her nephew (and Craig's brother) who died 15 years earlier after he ran away from home in a snowstorm. You have to remember this movie was made long before there were cell phones or caller id, and the calls are genuinely creepy.
My only complaint about this movie is that I wish that the makers of this film would have spent more time answering some basic questions such as why would the calls start suddenly after 15 years? Who is the voice of the young boy on the other end of the line? These questions are never explained and I think it would have been nice to have the answers to these basic questions. There are a couple of not real scary murders until the killer is revealed at the end. Despite some minor flaws, I love this movie and remember watching it when I was a kid when it came out in 1972. I recently got to see it again when it aired on the Fox Movie Channel. It was also fun to see Michael Douglas in the picture as he is very young and basically at the beginning of his long and storied career. Fans of 1970's Movie of the Week will definitely have to see this one!
Things begin to get scary when Helen starts receiving eerie calls from a young boy who claims to be Michael, her nephew (and Craig's brother) who died 15 years earlier after he ran away from home in a snowstorm. You have to remember this movie was made long before there were cell phones or caller id, and the calls are genuinely creepy.
My only complaint about this movie is that I wish that the makers of this film would have spent more time answering some basic questions such as why would the calls start suddenly after 15 years? Who is the voice of the young boy on the other end of the line? These questions are never explained and I think it would have been nice to have the answers to these basic questions. There are a couple of not real scary murders until the killer is revealed at the end. Despite some minor flaws, I love this movie and remember watching it when I was a kid when it came out in 1972. I recently got to see it again when it aired on the Fox Movie Channel. It was also fun to see Michael Douglas in the picture as he is very young and basically at the beginning of his long and storied career. Fans of 1970's Movie of the Week will definitely have to see this one!
Creepy thriller with a good cast
coltras3516 July 2022
Helen (Elizabeth Ashley) is a single mom with her hands full raising a precocious little girl, but things are complicated further when she starts receiving disturbing phone calls. It's the voice of a young boy named Michael who refers to her as Auntie My Helen - which is a problem seeing as Helen's nephew Michael died fifteen years ago.
An effective thriller that plays on supernatural elements, but is it really supernatural or is someone playing games? The phone calls are quite creepy, the atmosphere and the location help evoke the chills. Things get heady when murders occur after Michael calls with a warning - it can get tedious towards the 40 minute mark, but the plot entices you to hang on. The murders are lightweight, but it's a thriller focusing on chills than shock.
An effective thriller that plays on supernatural elements, but is it really supernatural or is someone playing games? The phone calls are quite creepy, the atmosphere and the location help evoke the chills. Things get heady when murders occur after Michael calls with a warning - it can get tedious towards the 40 minute mark, but the plot entices you to hang on. The murders are lightweight, but it's a thriller focusing on chills than shock.
Formulaic Thriller About Psychotic Killer.
rmax30482318 July 2010
Warning: Spoilers
Michael is -- or was -- the brother of Elizabeth Ashley and Michael Douglas. Thirteen years earlier, he ran away into a Vermont blizzard at twelve and his body was found months later and identified because of his coat. Ashley is now the mother of a young girl and is estranged from her husband, Ben Gazzara, a "high-powered lawyer." Gazarra comes to visit his wife and child and he seems like a nice, loving guy. Michael Douglas has become a bland psychologist who works with exceptional children at the nearby Greenleaf School.
That's the set up. Then suddenly Ashley and the rest begin receiving phone calls from what sounds like the voice of a terrified young boy who claims to be Michael. The calls say things like, "Help me!" and "I'm dead, aren't I?" So where are the calls coming from? Are we into the supernatural? Or is there something more mundane going on? Everyone is puzzled. The local doc is puzzled too, but he's murdered -- stung to death by his own bees. (His death has absolutely nada to do with the plot.) A sheriff is murdered too. And, well, there's a reason for the sheriff's death, though it too has nothing to do with the plot. The sheriff must be murdered so that his dead body can plop unexpectedly into the middle of a Halloween display and cause the audience to erupt in shrieks.
After half an hour or so, I was fairly convinced of two things: (1) Ashley and Gazarra would get back together again at the end, and (2) Michael Douglas was the murderer. I figured Douglas was the killer not because he acted strange in any way, and not because he had a motive, but because of The Law of Excess Characters. He had too prominent a part and too little to do.
After the New England setting was established I was hoping the film would convey a strong sense of place. Not picture-postcard pretty, of course. We don't necessarily want maples aflame because this is early winter, after all, and anyway autumn foliage in Vermont would be trite. Not to worry. The dismal chill of Toronto defeated any effort in that regard. The whole movie in fact seemed to be made for TV. I swear, there are even mini-climaxes before what appear to be breaks for commercials.
Ashley is attractive, sexy, and competent. She has the eyes of a calf and her long nose slopes down and out in a fascinating French curve. Gazarra is competent too, and a bit more light hearted than his usual persona. Michael Douglas is here in an early role. He's vaguely handsome. How does he do at this stage of his career? Not too bad, actually. He plays the character as wispy and at times almost feminine, but that's what the role calls for. Only once, at the climax, does he flood out in a spasm of excruciating insight. His old man handled that kind of scene even better -- in "The Juggler" and "Champion."
That's the set up. Then suddenly Ashley and the rest begin receiving phone calls from what sounds like the voice of a terrified young boy who claims to be Michael. The calls say things like, "Help me!" and "I'm dead, aren't I?" So where are the calls coming from? Are we into the supernatural? Or is there something more mundane going on? Everyone is puzzled. The local doc is puzzled too, but he's murdered -- stung to death by his own bees. (His death has absolutely nada to do with the plot.) A sheriff is murdered too. And, well, there's a reason for the sheriff's death, though it too has nothing to do with the plot. The sheriff must be murdered so that his dead body can plop unexpectedly into the middle of a Halloween display and cause the audience to erupt in shrieks.
After half an hour or so, I was fairly convinced of two things: (1) Ashley and Gazarra would get back together again at the end, and (2) Michael Douglas was the murderer. I figured Douglas was the killer not because he acted strange in any way, and not because he had a motive, but because of The Law of Excess Characters. He had too prominent a part and too little to do.
After the New England setting was established I was hoping the film would convey a strong sense of place. Not picture-postcard pretty, of course. We don't necessarily want maples aflame because this is early winter, after all, and anyway autumn foliage in Vermont would be trite. Not to worry. The dismal chill of Toronto defeated any effort in that regard. The whole movie in fact seemed to be made for TV. I swear, there are even mini-climaxes before what appear to be breaks for commercials.
Ashley is attractive, sexy, and competent. She has the eyes of a calf and her long nose slopes down and out in a fascinating French curve. Gazarra is competent too, and a bit more light hearted than his usual persona. Michael Douglas is here in an early role. He's vaguely handsome. How does he do at this stage of his career? Not too bad, actually. He plays the character as wispy and at times almost feminine, but that's what the role calls for. Only once, at the climax, does he flood out in a spasm of excruciating insight. His old man handled that kind of scene even better -- in "The Juggler" and "Champion."
Message from Michael
sol121818 September 2010
Warning: Spoilers
***SPOILERS*** As if from the grave Helen Connelly, Elizabeth Ashley,gets these weird calls from what seems like her long dead nephew Michael who perished in a snowstorm some 12 years ago.What really shocked Helen was that the caller addressed her as "Auntie my Helen"! A phrase that only Michael called her when he was alive!
Pretty good made for TV psychological thriller with a 27 year old Michael Douglas as both Michael's brother Craig as well as the administrated of the local Greenleaf School for Boys and its in house psychiatrist. It's Craig who was left all alone when his mother was institutionalized for mental illness and his brother Michael got himself lost in the woods, where he was found badly decomposed four months later! Thats when Michael flipped out when both his and Craig's mom killed herself a week after she was locked up into an asylum!
***SPOILERS****It was up to Craig to find out who was making those strange phone calls to his Aunt Helen in that if it indeed was his dead brother "Michael", who may in fact have survived, he'll have a lot to answer to him for! Besides making life a living hell for Helen "Michael" also went to work in offing those responsible for his mother's both incarceration and later suicide. It's in fact Helen's estranged husband Doremus, Ben Gazzara, who finally figured out who was both behind the eerie phone calls and murders of both Dr.Brittin and Sheriff Washbank, Larry Reynolds & Al Waxman, the two most responsible for Michael and Craig's moms being committed and later suicide. It was only by Doremus surviving being burned alive by "Michael" in a deserted barn that "Michael" directed, by phone, him to that the cat was let out of the bag in what was Michaels true identity! By then his crazy phone call act was about to be exposed! That's if "Michael" didn't get another chance to off Doremus before he got word to the police as well as his wife Helen in just who this "Michael" really is!
Pretty good made for TV psychological thriller with a 27 year old Michael Douglas as both Michael's brother Craig as well as the administrated of the local Greenleaf School for Boys and its in house psychiatrist. It's Craig who was left all alone when his mother was institutionalized for mental illness and his brother Michael got himself lost in the woods, where he was found badly decomposed four months later! Thats when Michael flipped out when both his and Craig's mom killed herself a week after she was locked up into an asylum!
***SPOILERS****It was up to Craig to find out who was making those strange phone calls to his Aunt Helen in that if it indeed was his dead brother "Michael", who may in fact have survived, he'll have a lot to answer to him for! Besides making life a living hell for Helen "Michael" also went to work in offing those responsible for his mother's both incarceration and later suicide. It's in fact Helen's estranged husband Doremus, Ben Gazzara, who finally figured out who was both behind the eerie phone calls and murders of both Dr.Brittin and Sheriff Washbank, Larry Reynolds & Al Waxman, the two most responsible for Michael and Craig's moms being committed and later suicide. It was only by Doremus surviving being burned alive by "Michael" in a deserted barn that "Michael" directed, by phone, him to that the cat was let out of the bag in what was Michaels true identity! By then his crazy phone call act was about to be exposed! That's if "Michael" didn't get another chance to off Doremus before he got word to the police as well as his wife Helen in just who this "Michael" really is!
Bad TV-Movie
Karadago29 August 2007
Warning: Spoilers
I am a big fan of The ABC Movies of the Week genre. I am only 27, meaning I wasn't even born until after the series ended, but I am trying to collect as many of them on DVD as possible. I have about a dozen or so. I had read such wonderful things about this film, both on here and elsewhere, that I was really excited to see it. I just received my DVD in the mail today and watched it anxiously. I'll admit that the first one or two phone calls did give me the creeps - that boy's voice would give anyone the creeps! But it began to ware off fast and the entire divorce subplot was stupid. I also figured out that Michael Douglas was the antagonist about a half an hour before the movie ended. As soon as that story was told about how Elizabeth Ashley's character had locked up his mother, I knew something was fishy. Plus, didn't anyone ever think to ask him why he happened to suddenly appear that night when the fire occurred in the barn? I'll admit that I thought he was coaching a boy at the school to make the phone calls. I didn't guess the mute boy part or the pre-recorded tapes (did they ever say whose voice that actually was? I doubt Douglas could ever get his voice that high?).
I am only giving this movie a four out of ten because I actually liked most of the acting in it. Ashley especially is great.
It's a shame, because this movie has such a great premise, but oh well, thats what happens sometimes when one gets his or her hopes up for a movie too much.
I am only giving this movie a four out of ten because I actually liked most of the acting in it. Ashley especially is great.
It's a shame, because this movie has such a great premise, but oh well, thats what happens sometimes when one gets his or her hopes up for a movie too much.
Still works
preppy-329 October 2003
Elizabeth Ashley is receiving phone calls from her nephew Michael--he's crying, screaming and asking for help. The problem is Michael died 15 years ago.
This film scared me silly back in 1972 when it aired on ABC. Seeing it again, years later, it STILL works.
The movie is a little slow and predictable, the deaths are very tame, it's never explained why it takes Michael 15 years to call and there's a tacked-on happy ending, but this IS a TV movie so you have to give it room. Elizabeth Ashley is excellent, Ben Gazzara is OK and it's fun to see Michael Douglas so young. And those telephone calls still scare the living daylights out of me. I actually had to turn a light on during one of them!
A creepy little TV movie. Worth seeing.
This film scared me silly back in 1972 when it aired on ABC. Seeing it again, years later, it STILL works.
The movie is a little slow and predictable, the deaths are very tame, it's never explained why it takes Michael 15 years to call and there's a tacked-on happy ending, but this IS a TV movie so you have to give it room. Elizabeth Ashley is excellent, Ben Gazzara is OK and it's fun to see Michael Douglas so young. And those telephone calls still scare the living daylights out of me. I actually had to turn a light on during one of them!
A creepy little TV movie. Worth seeing.
Not bad for a T V movie.
mm-3916 April 2021
Warning: Spoilers
Not bad for a T V movie. What works here is: When Michael Calls the script ages well with out the usual old movie plot holes. Is Mike alive? Who is calling? There is many characters as suspects for the call make the films interesting. The family pass, a divorced fathers and a psych ward add the back ground for a good story. The story unfolds slowly with deaths and scares for the conclusion. What does not work. The usual plot twist ending. The bumbling police department. The usual all points tie in for the movie ending make When Michael Calls a bit lame. Well directed, directed with a young Michael Douglas When Michael Calls ages well for a T V movie in spite the usual lameness. 6 stars.
I just call ... to say ... I haunt you!
Coventry10 April 2024
Early 70s TV-thriller stars a young (or younger, at least) Michael Douglas, but he's not the titular Michael who makes sinister prank calls. Douglas stars as Craig, the brother of Michael who - suddenly and out of the blue - calls up his auntie Helen in panic to say that he's lost and can't find his way home. That doesn't sound too abnormal, except for the little fact that Michael is presumed dead for 15 years already! Michael ran off after his mother was put in a mental institute (where she quickly committed suicide) and custody of her two sons was given to auntie Helen. He got lost in a blizzard and never returned, but now Michael apparently found a phone in the afterlife. The already fragile Helen is terrified, obviously, but luckily her ex-husband Doremus (what kind of name is that?) and Craig approach the mystery rather rationally and investigate further.
Solid, captivating premise based on a novel by John Farris ("The Fury", "Dear Dead Delilah") and perfectly fit for a TV-thriller, and this in spite of the reasonably predictable outcome, the overuse of clichés, and the lack of genuine surprises. The first half hour is strong and contains two noteworthy death sequences, one involving bees and another - quite shocking - one during a school play.
I will always watch whatever early 70s made-for-television thriller that I can. They usually depart from intriguing and original ideas, and somehow always maintain a bleak and sinister atmosphere throughout. Moreover, they're always short and often available for free on YouTube! Apart from Michael Douglas, "When Michael Calls" also stars Ben Gazzara, whom I personally consider a strong and undeservedly underrated actor.
Solid, captivating premise based on a novel by John Farris ("The Fury", "Dear Dead Delilah") and perfectly fit for a TV-thriller, and this in spite of the reasonably predictable outcome, the overuse of clichés, and the lack of genuine surprises. The first half hour is strong and contains two noteworthy death sequences, one involving bees and another - quite shocking - one during a school play.
I will always watch whatever early 70s made-for-television thriller that I can. They usually depart from intriguing and original ideas, and somehow always maintain a bleak and sinister atmosphere throughout. Moreover, they're always short and often available for free on YouTube! Apart from Michael Douglas, "When Michael Calls" also stars Ben Gazzara, whom I personally consider a strong and undeservedly underrated actor.
Creepy thriller from 1970s TV
adriangr18 October 2019
"When Michael Calls" is an ABC Movie of the Week from 1972 that belongs to that special group of made-for-TV chillers that everyone who saw still remembers as terrifying the life out of them. I'm pleased to report it still works even today.
A young divorced mother named Helen suddenly starts receiving prank phone calls that claim to be from her nephew Michael, crying and asking for help. Trouble is that Michael has been dead for years. As the calls continue, people around Helen start to get murdered.
Although the movie as a whole is fairly low key, the first 30 minutes or so are really effective. The calls from "Michael" are genuinely creepy, and on first viewing, there really does seem to be no rational explanation for them. This sets up a great sense of unease for the characters and viewer alike. Elizabeth Ashley does a great job in the lead role as Helen, in fact all of the acting is good, including her young daughter. Gradually the mystery is explained, but you won't hear a spoiler from me, so I recommend seeking out a copy of this. The opening premise is so good and so spooky, that it will certainly make you curious to watch it to the end.
A young divorced mother named Helen suddenly starts receiving prank phone calls that claim to be from her nephew Michael, crying and asking for help. Trouble is that Michael has been dead for years. As the calls continue, people around Helen start to get murdered.
Although the movie as a whole is fairly low key, the first 30 minutes or so are really effective. The calls from "Michael" are genuinely creepy, and on first viewing, there really does seem to be no rational explanation for them. This sets up a great sense of unease for the characters and viewer alike. Elizabeth Ashley does a great job in the lead role as Helen, in fact all of the acting is good, including her young daughter. Gradually the mystery is explained, but you won't hear a spoiler from me, so I recommend seeking out a copy of this. The opening premise is so good and so spooky, that it will certainly make you curious to watch it to the end.
the lovely glamor of M. Douglas
Cristi_Ciopron2 February 2016
Warning: Spoilers
'Shattered Silence', a suspense movie with Gazzara and M. Douglas, gives a strong sense of the unconscious' power over our consciousness, over what we acknowledge and what we deny, also like the everyday struggle between acknowledgment and denial.
I liked the girl, and the carved pumpkin, and believe we deserved to see those pumpkins at the harvest festival; I also enjoyed the '70s casualness, if one likes thinking in terms of decades, and perhaps most of all I enjoyed M. Douglas' glamor, his father had been, 25 yrs earlier, also into torn youth, yet the two have very different styles, with the son able to delve into neurosis and hysterical behavior.
M. Douglas gives a good role, and he upstages Gazzara; 'Shattered Silence' is an enjoyable '70s horror for the TV. The movie is a scary whodunit, and atmospheric, with the masks and the suggestions of impersonation, even visual gags (the fatso copper: a pumpkin; the shattered pumpkins, as these were only the '70s, when pumpkins were still shattered, not smashed); there are a few nice views of the setting, the mentioned pumpkins, and the daughter is very funny. Less good seems the quirk of the hypnosis and remote control, a plunge into '30 silliness that makes the denouement look explained away. Both murders, with the bee venom that prompts the swarming, and at the harvest festival, are unlikely, laborious and too staged. After a couple of such nerdy murders, the psychotic arrives at his aunt's home with a bat .
After having exported so many players and people in the showbiz, Canada rented these two actors, and a likable TV movie has been made. M. Douglas improves very much upon the script, and looks almost too urbane for the modest setting; on the other hand, Gazzara is too convincing as a ne'er do well cur (or marten ).
In the early '90s, I remember being very keen on M. Douglas, '90-'93.
I liked the girl, and the carved pumpkin, and believe we deserved to see those pumpkins at the harvest festival; I also enjoyed the '70s casualness, if one likes thinking in terms of decades, and perhaps most of all I enjoyed M. Douglas' glamor, his father had been, 25 yrs earlier, also into torn youth, yet the two have very different styles, with the son able to delve into neurosis and hysterical behavior.
M. Douglas gives a good role, and he upstages Gazzara; 'Shattered Silence' is an enjoyable '70s horror for the TV. The movie is a scary whodunit, and atmospheric, with the masks and the suggestions of impersonation, even visual gags (the fatso copper: a pumpkin; the shattered pumpkins, as these were only the '70s, when pumpkins were still shattered, not smashed); there are a few nice views of the setting, the mentioned pumpkins, and the daughter is very funny. Less good seems the quirk of the hypnosis and remote control, a plunge into '30 silliness that makes the denouement look explained away. Both murders, with the bee venom that prompts the swarming, and at the harvest festival, are unlikely, laborious and too staged. After a couple of such nerdy murders, the psychotic arrives at his aunt's home with a bat .
After having exported so many players and people in the showbiz, Canada rented these two actors, and a likable TV movie has been made. M. Douglas improves very much upon the script, and looks almost too urbane for the modest setting; on the other hand, Gazzara is too convincing as a ne'er do well cur (or marten ).
In the early '90s, I remember being very keen on M. Douglas, '90-'93.
Don't answer the phone!
brefane12 July 2010
This made for TV film is based on a novel by John Farris and it's a dreary and uneventful domestic drama, not a thriller, and though only 73 minutes long, it feels endless. The film has no atmosphere or style, and Phillip Leacock's low key direction brings the movie to a halt. The title refers to phone calls from Michael a supposedly dead boy who ought to stay that way. His phone calls are more bothersome than creepy, and the characters' react with so little concern that there is absolutely no sense of urgency or suspense, and the characters are the dullest group of would be suspects ever assembled, and the actors seemed to have phoned in their performances. My advice, If Michael calls, hang up! If you like films featuring menacing phone calls, try Talk Radio, Who Killed Teddy Bear?, Black Christmas, or When a Stranger Calls instead. Even Sorry, Wrong Nuumber or I Saw What You Did! have more substance. Besides being awful, When Michael Calls is outdated. Thank God for caller ID!
"Oh, He's Been Deader Than A Door Nail For Fifteen Years!"...
azathothpwiggins7 August 2018
Doremus and Helen Connelly (Ben Gazzara and Elizabeth Ashley) have been divorced for some time, and Doremus takes it upon himself to simply show up at Helen's home. He says he's come to see their daughter, which is a violation of their divorce agreement.
Soon after her ex-husband's arrival, Helen begins receiving phone calls from someone claiming to be the title character. Helen doesn't believe it, since her nephew Michael died fifteen years prior. Of course, the calls continue, becoming more urgent, eerie, and unhinged. Has Michael somehow returned from the grave, or is Helen losing her mind? Helen grows suspicious, and there are plenty of potential suspects for her to choose from.
Then, Michael begins forecasting death and doom, and everything changes.
WHEN MICHAEL CALLS is another made-for-TV horror movie from the early 1970's. This was a time when such quality films as this were being made for network television. All these years later, it's still effective, though I do admit to finding Michael's whiny voice a bit annoying!
Co-stars Michael Douglas as Craig, and Marian Waldman as Elsa Britton...
Soon after her ex-husband's arrival, Helen begins receiving phone calls from someone claiming to be the title character. Helen doesn't believe it, since her nephew Michael died fifteen years prior. Of course, the calls continue, becoming more urgent, eerie, and unhinged. Has Michael somehow returned from the grave, or is Helen losing her mind? Helen grows suspicious, and there are plenty of potential suspects for her to choose from.
Then, Michael begins forecasting death and doom, and everything changes.
WHEN MICHAEL CALLS is another made-for-TV horror movie from the early 1970's. This was a time when such quality films as this were being made for network television. All these years later, it's still effective, though I do admit to finding Michael's whiny voice a bit annoying!
Co-stars Michael Douglas as Craig, and Marian Waldman as Elsa Britton...
Michael
BandSAboutMovies5 May 2023
Warning: Spoilers
Helen Connelly (Elizabeth Ashley) is going through a change in life, finally leaving her husband Doremus (Ben Gazarra). But maybe she misses him. And maybe she's losing her mind, as she keeps getting phone calls from her fifteen years dead nephew Michael. And maybe it's the supernatural because with each call, someone dies.
Before it's all over, Michael's brother Craig (Michael Douglas), a psychiatrist at a school for disturbed children, reveals that yes, that's Michael's voice; then no small manner of deaths happen, like a police officer's body falling out of a tree in front of kids and someone murdered by bees.
When the movie moves from its ghost story origins in the latter half, it loses a bit. But it's a fun TV movie that doesn't ask much of you and delivers some small screen chills (and kills).
Based on the book by John Farris (who wrote the screenplays for The Fury and Dear Dead Delilah), this is directed by Philip Leacock (Baffled, Dying Room Only, ten episodes of Gunsmoke) and written by James Bridges (he directed and wrote The Paper Chase and The China Syndrome).
For some reason, in the VHS era, this was re-released as Shattered Silence.
Before it's all over, Michael's brother Craig (Michael Douglas), a psychiatrist at a school for disturbed children, reveals that yes, that's Michael's voice; then no small manner of deaths happen, like a police officer's body falling out of a tree in front of kids and someone murdered by bees.
When the movie moves from its ghost story origins in the latter half, it loses a bit. But it's a fun TV movie that doesn't ask much of you and delivers some small screen chills (and kills).
Based on the book by John Farris (who wrote the screenplays for The Fury and Dear Dead Delilah), this is directed by Philip Leacock (Baffled, Dying Room Only, ten episodes of Gunsmoke) and written by James Bridges (he directed and wrote The Paper Chase and The China Syndrome).
For some reason, in the VHS era, this was re-released as Shattered Silence.
Creepy and exciting.
planktonrules16 October 2016
Michael has apparently been dead for 15 years. So how could he possibly start phoning his sister, Helen (Elizabeth Ashley), after all this time? Plus, the voice sounds just like the young Michael--not some adult. It's weird and hard to explain. What's weirder and harder to explain is that after these calls, folks start to die--with each call, a new dead person! On hand to help her are her ex-husband (Ben Gazzara) and other brother (Michael Douglas).
In many ways, this is like the "Twilight Zone" episode "Night Call" and this show surely must have influenced the writer of this film. However, fortunately, it is different enough and enjoyable on its own. A silly and fun little horror film--just the sort of thing at which the "ABC Movie of the Week" excelled at making. Well worth seeing.
In many ways, this is like the "Twilight Zone" episode "Night Call" and this show surely must have influenced the writer of this film. However, fortunately, it is different enough and enjoyable on its own. A silly and fun little horror film--just the sort of thing at which the "ABC Movie of the Week" excelled at making. Well worth seeing.
Great atmosphere tv film from the seventies
hubcap4522 October 2002
Good film!
Movie Nuttball8 September 2004
When Michael Calls or Shattered Silence is a fine film especially for a TV film. Michael Douglas, Ben Gazzara, and Elizabeth Ashley are in this movie. All three veteran actors all performed well. I was amazed by Gazzara and his character interaction with his daughter. The music was good and fits the film good. The movie has good direction by Philip Leacock. There are some cool scenes in the picture. The movie is unusual and will have you guessing through out so if you like thrilling mystery movies and like to see Michael Douglas, Ben Gazzara, and Elizabeth Ashley in a film then see if you can catch this movie on television, rent, or even buy it because its a good movie.
A Good Thriller - Bizarre
Rainey-Dawn21 May 2016
Warning: Spoilers
'Shattered Silence' AKA 'When Michael Calls' (1972) Craig (M. Douglas) has lost his brother Michael 15 years prior to the beginning of the story. Michael begins to call Helen (E. Ashley) on the phone, seemingly in distress every call. Doremus (B. Gazzara) is Helen's ex-husband or soon to be ex - but he is there to help Helen through this terrible nightmare and to solve the mystery of Michael.
Micheal calls Helen "Auntie" which is odd. Craig and Michael are brothers and if Michael is Helen's nephew then Craig would be Helen's other nephew. *In reality Helen and Craig are just close to one another, friends - according to the Wiki article.* Why we are lead to believe that Helen and Michael are related/family and not Craig is strange in itself. Most every source says Michael is Helen's nephew or A woman (Helen) receives phone calls from a relative. - when he is not.
A good thriller - bizarre. Worth watching if you get a chance to see it. Those phone calls from Micheal will have you shivering. :)
8.5/10
Micheal calls Helen "Auntie" which is odd. Craig and Michael are brothers and if Michael is Helen's nephew then Craig would be Helen's other nephew. *In reality Helen and Craig are just close to one another, friends - according to the Wiki article.* Why we are lead to believe that Helen and Michael are related/family and not Craig is strange in itself. Most every source says Michael is Helen's nephew or A woman (Helen) receives phone calls from a relative. - when he is not.
A good thriller - bizarre. Worth watching if you get a chance to see it. Those phone calls from Micheal will have you shivering. :)
8.5/10
Better than you might expect
Bec_son9919 January 2018
Also know as "Shattered Silence"
Sirsharp12 August 2003
Warning: Spoilers
***CONTAINS SPOILERS***
Ben Gazzara, Michael Douglas in the same movie. What more do you need to know!?
This is a movie about Helen (Elizabeth Ashley), a single mother going through a difficult divorce. She lives on a small new england farm with her daughter and grandparent. Her generally peaceful life becomes filled with terror, when some one claiming to be her dead son Michael who had run away fifteen years ago and was believed to be killed in a blizzard.
This movie starts out a little slow, until the phone calls start. It then builds into a frantic conclusion with Michael Douglas giving an all-star performance as a psychiatrist who should be a patient.
I give this movie a 6.5 out of 10. Yes I have seen better, but for goodness sake I have seen a lot worse.
Ben Gazzara, Michael Douglas in the same movie. What more do you need to know!?
This is a movie about Helen (Elizabeth Ashley), a single mother going through a difficult divorce. She lives on a small new england farm with her daughter and grandparent. Her generally peaceful life becomes filled with terror, when some one claiming to be her dead son Michael who had run away fifteen years ago and was believed to be killed in a blizzard.
This movie starts out a little slow, until the phone calls start. It then builds into a frantic conclusion with Michael Douglas giving an all-star performance as a psychiatrist who should be a patient.
I give this movie a 6.5 out of 10. Yes I have seen better, but for goodness sake I have seen a lot worse.
Creepy early seventies horror at it's best
mtckoch28 March 2014
Warning: Spoilers
This film is the type that truly scares you, because of the unknown factor. Who's the mysterious caller? Is it a prank, a ghost, or something even darker? Of course, having pillars of the community die in ugly ways adds tension. Plus the child's voice is chillingly desperate and surreal, like an angry ghost out for revenge. While there may be darker or more violent movies, few rival this in atmosphere and emotional claustrophobia. Who can our main character trust? Who wants her to suffer? The answer will shock you. Also watch for a excellent performance from a young Michael Douglas. A word to the wise: Watch this with friends, it's too creepy for solo viewing.
Don't ignore the dead, or you'll join them.
mark.waltz7 July 2023
Warning: Spoilers
Probably one of the great TV thrillers of the 70's, and one I'd surprisingly never heard of. A family is besieged by what they believe to be a prank call from someone claiming to be the dead nephew who ran away years before and died due to the elements, and after a few calls, family members begin to die as well. Ben Gazzara is the uncle investigating the calls after coming back to see ex Elizabeth Ashley, plus a young Michael Douglas as the deceased older brother. Young cousins who never knew the deceased are a pawn in Gazzara and Ashley's divorce. Ashley is driven slowly nutty by these calls which adds intensity to the suspicions that Gazzara is up to something sinister. What a way to spend a ghostly Halloween!
As the drama unfolds, details of the past slowly come out, between what caused Ashley to take in her nephews and her unhappy marriage to Gazzara. Douglas doesn't seem much younger than Ashley, but that's a minor flawed detail. Things get more complicated when Gazzara catches a thief inside the house, and the film goes through a point where the viewer wonders how far a complex plot can go before it becomes convoluted. But that works in the film's favor, well developed and intriguing, with Ashley holding back until crucial later scenes and Gazzara dominating the film until necessary twists change that which makes this overall a very intriguing psychological mystery.
As the drama unfolds, details of the past slowly come out, between what caused Ashley to take in her nephews and her unhappy marriage to Gazzara. Douglas doesn't seem much younger than Ashley, but that's a minor flawed detail. Things get more complicated when Gazzara catches a thief inside the house, and the film goes through a point where the viewer wonders how far a complex plot can go before it becomes convoluted. But that works in the film's favor, well developed and intriguing, with Ashley holding back until crucial later scenes and Gazzara dominating the film until necessary twists change that which makes this overall a very intriguing psychological mystery.
Cast Makes It Worth Watching
Michael_Elliott9 October 2010
When Michael Calls (1972)
** 1/2 (out of 4)
Mildly effective made-for-TV flick about a woman (Elizabeth Ashley) who begins receiving phone calls from her nephew Michael but the only problem is that he died fifteen years earlier. Soon her ex-husband (Ben Gazzara) and other nephew (Michael Douglas) begin to investigate is Michael could actually be alive or if someone else is just trying to do her harm. These TV flicks from the 70s always have that certain atmosphere that can only be found in movies like this, BAD RONALD and DON'T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK. This here certainly isn't as good as those two examples but we still get that eerie atmosphere and that alone makes this worth sitting through even if in the end this isn't a classic. I think the best thing going for the film are the performances by the three leads. Gazzara plays a lawyer who doesn't mind throwing his weight around to get what he wants and I thought he was pretty good in the role. That tough rawness he brings to all his roles is always fun to watch and he certainly helps keep this thing moving along. Ashley is also very good in the film, although it's hard to believe her as the aunt to Douglas especially when in real life she was only five years older than him. With that said, she certainly displayed a certain vulnerability that made the movie a bit more effective. Douglas is billed as a "Special Guest Star" but he actually has a pretty big role here and appears throughout the movie. The screenplay tries very hard to be like something you'd expect to see from Hitchcock as it tries to keep the suspense up by having you constantly guessing what's going on. I think it's pretty simple to figure out what's up after about the forty-minute mark but I'm sure some might be kept in the dark up until the ending. While I didn't fall for all the twists and turns this still turned out to be fairly fun thanks in large part to the cast and whoever it was that voiced the kid on the phone. Another good thing about these films from the 70s that dealt with phones is that they were always able to find someone creepy for the voice work.
** 1/2 (out of 4)
Mildly effective made-for-TV flick about a woman (Elizabeth Ashley) who begins receiving phone calls from her nephew Michael but the only problem is that he died fifteen years earlier. Soon her ex-husband (Ben Gazzara) and other nephew (Michael Douglas) begin to investigate is Michael could actually be alive or if someone else is just trying to do her harm. These TV flicks from the 70s always have that certain atmosphere that can only be found in movies like this, BAD RONALD and DON'T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK. This here certainly isn't as good as those two examples but we still get that eerie atmosphere and that alone makes this worth sitting through even if in the end this isn't a classic. I think the best thing going for the film are the performances by the three leads. Gazzara plays a lawyer who doesn't mind throwing his weight around to get what he wants and I thought he was pretty good in the role. That tough rawness he brings to all his roles is always fun to watch and he certainly helps keep this thing moving along. Ashley is also very good in the film, although it's hard to believe her as the aunt to Douglas especially when in real life she was only five years older than him. With that said, she certainly displayed a certain vulnerability that made the movie a bit more effective. Douglas is billed as a "Special Guest Star" but he actually has a pretty big role here and appears throughout the movie. The screenplay tries very hard to be like something you'd expect to see from Hitchcock as it tries to keep the suspense up by having you constantly guessing what's going on. I think it's pretty simple to figure out what's up after about the forty-minute mark but I'm sure some might be kept in the dark up until the ending. While I didn't fall for all the twists and turns this still turned out to be fairly fun thanks in large part to the cast and whoever it was that voiced the kid on the phone. Another good thing about these films from the 70s that dealt with phones is that they were always able to find someone creepy for the voice work.
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