Don't Answer the Phone! (1980)

A deeply disturbed Vietnam veteran terrorizes the young women of Los Angeles and taunts a radio psychologist with descriptions of his grisly crimes.

Director:

Robert Hammer

Writers:

Robert Hammer (screenplay), Michael D. Castle (screenplay)

Stars:

James Westmoreland, Ben Frank, Flo Lawrence

1 win.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
James Westmoreland	...	Lt. Chris McCabe
Ben Frank	...	Sgt. Hatcher
Flo Lawrence	...	Dr. Lindsay Gale (as Flo Gerrish)
Nicholas Worth	...	Kirk Smith
Denise Galik	...	Lisa
Stan Haze	...	Adkins
Gary Allen	...	John Feldon
Michael D. Castle	...	Lab Man (as Michael Castle)
Pamela Jean Bryant	...	Sue Ellen (as Pamela Bryant)
Ted Chapman	...	Man in Bar
Chris Wallace	...	Psychic Von Hammensveld
Dale Kalberg	...	Nurse
Deborah Leah Land	...	Police Woman
Tom Lasswell	...	Police Psychiatrist
Mike Levine	...	Gary Markov

Storyline

A deeply disturbed photographer and Vietnam veteran, named Kirk Smith, terrorizes Los Angeles by going around strangling lingerie-clad young women in their homes while taunting Lindsay Gale, a young psychologist, by calling her on a radio call-in show to describe his sexual hang-ups and misogynistic ways, while a local police detective, Lt. McCable, is always two steps behind in trying to catch the psycho.

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Plot Keywords:

bare breasts | radio show | victim | crying | spanish accent | 

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Taglines:

Murder's just a phone call away ...

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Genres:

Horror | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Details

Official Sites:

Crown International Pictures

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

29 February 1980 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Hollywood Strangler

Filming Locations:

Vine Street, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Crown International Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

94 min 85 min (DVD)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Taxi Driver has a disturbed Vietnam veteran Travis Bickle who tries to assassinate the president and goes on a killing spree at the ending. 1980's Don't Answer the Phone has crazed Vietnam Vet Kirk Smith stalking and murdering the women of Los Angeles. Also Christopher Walken's disturbed and suicidal Nick in the Deer Hunter winds up killing himself and endangering the people around him. And Sylvester Stallone's John Rambo in First Blood gets into a conflict with several locals and law enforcement officials; ends up going into crazy Vietnam flashbacks and winds up killing most of the town. All of this can be seen as part of the dangerous Vietnam Veteran Trend. In the 1970s, (and the early 80s); as the Vietnam War ended and the veterans came home and re-entered society, there was a fear that the veterans were disturbed, dangerous; might be a threat to society. This was a reflection of our overall ambivalence about the war in general. One of the outgrowths of these negative attitudes was that Vietnam Veterans were often portrayed in movies as dangerous, and self-destructive psychopaths. Taxi Driver, Don't Answer the Phone; First Blood and Deer Hunter were all part of this trend. This trend flip flopped in the mid to late 1980s where Vietnam Veterans were now being deified in the movies. Where John Rambo was a psychopath in First Blood Part 1; in Rambo: First Blood Part 2 he is enlisted by his sergeant Richard Crenna to go on a mission back to Vietnam to save POWs that are still trapped there. He goes from misunderstood Frankenstein-Psychopath in part 1, to hero in part 2. Arnold Schwartzenegger's Commando was another Vietnam Hero in the eighties; trying to save his daughter Alyssa Millano, who has been kidnapped by terrorists. Good Morning Vietnam has DJ Robin Williams entertaining the heroic soldiers of the Vietnam war; Born On the Fourth of July has Tom Cruise portraying an almost Christ-like paraplegic War Veteran Ron Kovic and his transition from from soldier to protester. And on television in the 1980s we had China Beach; which had Dana Delaney and the other heroic nurses of the Vietnam war dealing with the war and it's traumas. The transition in movies from Psychotic Kirk Smith in 1980s Don's Answer the Phone; to the saintly Ron Kovic in Born on the Fourth of July nine years later is staggering; and suggests the dramatic transitions in society's attitudes towards the war during that period.

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Goofs

The first blonde victim can clearly be seen to breathe after being strangled.

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Quotes

Lisa: Mom, Dad, the drugs are more important than you!

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Alternate Versions

The DVD release from Rhino Video is censored, with all nudity and graphic violence removed. The old VHS release on the Media Video label is the uncut version.

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Connections

Referenced in Video Nasties: Draconian Days (2014)

User Reviews

Worth a Look

Don't Answer the Phone is yet another film from the late 70s and early 80s about a psychotic, demented, socially awkward killer who brutalizes women because of his "problems" - whatever those problems might be. This time around we have a muscular, fat Vietnam vet who was never good enough for his father butcher pretty girls just after they have stripped from their little clothing. Nicolas Worth plays the wheezing, maniacal killer with a bizarre almost interesting quality. He is not a good actor yet is able to hold your attention throughout. I wish I could say something pleasant about the rest of the cast, but none of the rest are very competent. The police detectives who are looking for Worth - one which falls in love with the pretty radio psychiatrist that can shed light on the killer's identity - were particularly bad. The girls are pretty but the misogynistic flair devoted to their deaths is particularly degrading and unpleasant. The film is at least not overtly gory and had me interested until the end. The story was compelling enough and Worth is worth a look if nothing else.