When a Stranger Calls 2006 - Camilla Belle

As a followup to my previous post about the original When a Stranger Calls from 1976, I watched the remake. The 2006 version of When a Stranger Calls takes the first 20 minutes of the original and stretches that act into a full feature film. The second two acts are eliminated. This might have been a good idea, but it didn't work well as implemented.

It's hard to review the remake of When a Stranger Calls without comparing it to the original, so I won't even try. Here are some of the differences:

• When a Stranger Calls 2006 tries to create tension, but fails.
• The house where the babysitting goes on is bigger, fancier, and more elaborate than the house in the original When a Stranger Calls.
• The actress who plays the babysitter in the 2006 remake of When a Stranger Calls (Camilla Belle) looks like a movie star, not a babysitter. Carol Kane was convincing as just a babysitter.

The original film was rated R, which made me laugh a little when I saw it, since there was nothing explicit in it. But the remake is only rated PG-13. I grew up when horror movies were always rated R, so making a PG-13 horror film seems a little silly.

The 2006 remake makes a couple of major changes to the plot, which I won't spoil here, but the changes do not improve the experience of watching the movie.

The biggest problem with the new, 2006 version of When a Stranger Calls is that it's just boring. There's no tension and no suspense, because the direction is just artless. Even the phone calls, which were creepy and scary in the original, leave you thinking "so what?" in this version.

I do not recommend seeing When a Stranger Calls 2006, unless you just really have absolutely nothing at all better to do.

Both versions of When a Stranger Calls are available to purchase at my horror bookstore in Wylie, TX, so if you're interested, come on by and pick up a copy.

Tomorror I'll review When a Killer Calls, and I'm looking for a copy of When a Stranger Calls Back, which is a made-for-tv sequel to the original Carol Kane movie. If I can find it, I'll review it here too.