Appel au meurtre

Was this like really way worse than the original? I had this one on video beta so I'll probably never see it again unless it either comes on again or i find a beta that works. Anyway when i saw it I thought it was pretty cool, my friend and i saw it several times over cherry Kool-aid and popcorn. One Sunday afternoon the original came on but darn it I had to go out and missed it. Anyway if it happens to come on cable or tv again watch it, its a way to pass time. And I was scared to make prank calls after this movie.

I hated the original- i thought it was cheesy and corny, and it wasnt scary at all! But this one came out when i was about nine years old, and it scared me half to death. i loved it, and i have been looking for it ever since i saw it, way back then. i always try to tell people about it, but no one i know has ever heard of it. but my sister and i loved it...

Perhaps more than any other coming-of-age angst film, this made-for-TV gem captures the fad-drenched arrogance and superciliousness of teenagers, pinpointing certain dangers that accompany such an attitude. It is the character of Lisa Harris (brilliantly portrayed by Tammy Lauren)that exudes this smart-ass front the best. Kim Fielding (Shawnee Smith) is putty in Lisa's hands as she is led down the road to perdition for the selfish motive of wanting a place for the night to rendezvous with her profligate boyfriend.

This nifty little film has it all, thrills, chills, suspense...you name it. Obviously much of the credit not only belongs to the superb cast, including the two Carradine brothers who play crazed brothers, but to the script by Cynthia Cidre, since both this TV flick and the earlier Joan Crawford "I Saw What You Did" (1965) are based on the same novel by Ursula Curtiss, not to slight the original William Castle production which itself is a fine addition to the horror genre. Yet this TV version goes beyond mere terror to a more thorough psychological analysis of what makes the main players tick. Even the smaller parts are more fleshed out than is usual for a TV show.

The plot is a familiar one by now. Two bored teenage girls, alone except for one's pesky little sister, decide to make prank phone calls. As expected, they accidentally reach a mad man in the midst of a murder. One bad move leads to another until the mad man is hot on the trail of one of the girls. But director Fred Walton, of "When a Stranger Calls" fame, keeps the show moving at a fast pace and though the ending is not that unusual it still comes as a surprise and as presented is extremely effective.

I assumed this was an 80's remake of the modest William Castle sleeper with the same title that came out in 1965, but apparently both movies are just based on one and the same novel by Ursula Curtiss. So, "I Saw What You Did" isn't really a remake, but merely a re-imagining. Or simply another version, if you wish. It's a fun little movie with a very simplistic but effective plot, fresh young actresses' faces and the two coolest Carradine brothers starring as actual brothers. There are some big differences between this version and the aforementioned William Castle film, but the most rudimentary plot concept naturally remained the same. Two teenage girls, whilst babysitting the younger sister of one of them, are bored senseless and decide to entertain themselves by making prank calls to randomly selected names in the phone book. They arrive at the name Adrian Lancer, but he just killed his girlfriend because she didn't want to marry him. When the girls stupidly make up a prank like "I saw what you did and I know who you are", Adrian naturally assumes that somebody witnessed the murder and goes even further out of his mind. Meanwhile the girls stupidly begin to fantasize about Adrian's voice and bizarre music and can't resist driving over to his house to catch a glimpse… "I Saw What You Did" is fun and charming, but also unmemorable, mainly because there's very few action. I personally prefer the Castle version, because there John Ireland depicts the psychopath and there's a terrific sub plot involving the creepy Joan Crawford as his sickly amorous neighbor. In this film, that particular sub plot gets replaced by Adrian Lancer's brother showing up to help keeping his violent tendencies under control. The film is competently directed by Fred Walton. That guy must really like telephone-terror, as he also made the more or less genre classic "When a Stranger Calls". I guess the absolute best thing about watching "I Saw What You Did" now is how it catapults you straight back to the glorious eighties! The girls (Shawnee Smith and Tammy Lauren) are genuine 80's beauties, with typical dress code and hair styles, and back then it was still possible to make a horror movie about ordinary old-fashioned telephones instead of gadgets like mobile phones, Skype, Caller-ID or IPods.

I had seen this 1988 made-for-TV remake of a 1960s feature--the earlier having featured Joan Crawford in one of her last film roles--in my last year of college and had pretty much forgotten it. Last night, however, I happened to catch it on the cable network Sleuth and was surprised at how effective it was. I think the low budget and bare bones script combine to give the film a stark feeling missing in most TV movies of the day. None of the performances is much above average, except for an all too brief turn by a young Jo Anderson as the distressed girlfriend of the male lead, but the ensemble merges its talents well enough to keep us at least interested. All in all, it kind of reminded me of those shoestring budget ABC movie-of-the-week gems from the early 70s where actresses like eventual Emmy winner Kay Lenz got their start. Good diversion from the ordinary, especially if you're not expecting much.