When a Killer Calls

"When a Killer Calls" is an unusually nasty slasher flick, with some very unpleasant and unsettling sequences. The decision was clearly made to try and cash in on the remake of "When a Stranger Calls" by pretty much putting in -- almost word for word -- the phone call sequences from that movie. They seem very forced.

Additionally, the filmmaker commits the cardinal (but all too common) sin of having the heroine's friends being repulsive jerks. So for the beginning of the film, we really like and are rooting for the babysitter (a nice believable job by Rebekah Kochan), but then she's joined by standard slasher-flick teenage friends and the mood is ruined.

The flick sort of works, but it probably a lot more unpleasant than you'll be expected, so be fore-warned.

This movie had horrible lighting and terrible camera movements. This movie is a jumpy horror flick with no meaning at all. The slashes are totally fake looking. It looks like some 17 year-old idiot wrote this movie and a 10 year old kid shot it. With the worst acting you can ever find. People are tired of knives. At least move on to guns or fire. It has almost exact lines from "When A Stranger Calls". With gruesome killings, only crazy people would enjoy this movie. It is obvious the writer doesn't have kids or even care for them. I mean at show some mercy. Just to sum it up, this movie is a "B" movie and it sucked. Just for your own sake, don't even think about wasting your time watching this crappy movie.

When a Killer Calls (2006)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

The Asylum's mockbuster of WHEN A STRANGER CALLS (the remake) has Trisha (Rebekah Kochan) going to babysit when she starts tor receive harassing phone calls. Pretty soon she starts to think it's her boyfriend but when he shows up at the house she knows it must be someone else and soon they're all under attack. WHEN A KILLER CALLS is a film that you'd think would be horrible but I have to give director Peter Mervis credit for actually delivering a pretty strong film and one that certainly isn't going to be for the weak. I say it's a film that's not for the weak because it has quite a bit of guts to go as far as it actually does. There's certainly lines that you don't cross in movies and especially in American movies but this film here pushes those lines to the side within the first five minutes of the picture. Normally killing a child or children is a major no no and when a film does it you know it means business. The body count here is extremely high, which is something that was missing from the remake. I think fans of gore should be entertained by this thing because it's quite savage in regards to the violence and there's a lot of the run stuff going around. I even thought Mervis built up some nice tension early on in the film, which must be a first for The Asylum. With all of that said, there are still some problems in the film including a pretty boring second act. Once all the teens get to the house things really slow down quite a bit and the 91-minute running time could have probably benefited from some of this stuff being cut out. Another problem is that some of the performances really weren't all that believable but Kochan is decent in the lead and Mark Irvingsen is good as the killer. WHEN A KILLER CALLS really shorts itself because many people are going to pass it up because of it being a rip of another movie but that would be a shame. While this falls well short of the 1979 film, this is much better than the remake and I'd say better than several genre pictures out there.

After wading through a morass of God awful horror films of late, this was, by comparison, a pleasant surprise.

Granted this is a knock-off (to be kind) of another B movie, I found it didn't have the flaws that run rampant through other entries in this genre.

It had a professional look, was decently directed and the acting was better than average for this type of film. Most importantly, the script was at least thought out, and didn't have the gut-wrenching plot holes and improbable logic (or lack there of) I've come to expect.

Don't get me wrong, it certainly isn't a horror classic by any means but if you're looking for something in this vein and there's nothing else to rent (as was my case), it won't feel like a waste of time.

Back-handed compliments to be sure, but I don't think the remake of When a Stranger Calls will be a whole lot better.

An extremely amateurish rip off of When A Stranger Calls but unlike the well filmed, atmospheric remake of the 1970's chiller this one has balls. Right from the beginning of the film it has the feeling of unease and dread with brutal and effective yet generic kills that were disturbing and gutsy. This movie has a very visibly low budget and less than impressive acting that were the movie's downfall but the body count was decent and the killer was sadistic and stopped at nothing to bring fear to this poor babysitter and the stalk sequences though handled in a silly amateurish way did bring some suspense and creepyness to the film enough to make you look over your shoulder especially if you watch it alone in your home. The acting was beyond atrocious thanks to a horrible script and unoriginal story but towards the end it seems like everyone tried their best to step up their game which led to an effective, harrowing finale which might make you think twice about babysitting. Overall it's obviously a ripoff, unoriginal, flimsy but its brutality, creepyness and ballsy nature will creep under your skin, sure it wasn't amazing but as a generic rip off of stalk and slash it isn't half bad. Rent it. Have zero expectations, leave your brains at the door, grab some popcorn and enjoy. 6 out of 10