When a Stranger Calls

When a Stranger Calls (2006)

  • 9% of critics liked it
    (90 reviews)

  • 55% of users liked it
    (457,494 ratings)

A teenage girl becomes a demented serial killer's prey in this big-budget remake of the 1979 thriller that became a TV late-show favorite. When a Stranger Calls takes its title and basic premise from the original, which -- for its first 15 minutes or so -- featured Carol Kane as a frazzled… More

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PG-13,
Directed By
Written By
Jake Wade Wall
Genres
Mystery & Suspense, Horror
In Theaters
Feb 3, 2006 Wide
Screen Gems

Critic Reviews

  • Nigel Floyd, Time Out

    If you've seen either Black Christmas or Halloween, there's nothing new here: the hyped-up score keeps telling us we ought to be scared, but the suspense feels mechanical and fake.

  • Anita Gates, New York Times

    The film is not quite suspense-free, but almost. When finding a dead body underwater isn't scary, something is very wrong.

  • Matt Singer, Village Voice

    This version is a thin, protracted study in shifting Hollywood strategies.

  • James Berardinelli, ReelViews

    A production that never comes close to realizing its potential to tweak the viewer's primal fears.

  • Geoff Pevere, Toronto Star

    If there's a single dead-wrong instinct in this movie that isn't pursued with the blind determination of an amorous terrier during high-scent season, darned if I can remember it.

Read all 13 critic reviews

See more critic ratings and reviews on Rotten Tomatoes

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Featured Audience Ratings

  • Eric S


    No plot, no scares. You might as well just fast-forward to the last ten minutes; everything before is utterly pointless. Not saying that the ending is anything special. None of the tension in this film is real. It's just fake scare after fake scare, and it gets old real fast.

  • Jeff "


    When a Stranger Calls is one of the worst remakes that I have seen. The film has some very bad acting, a bad story and bad directing. As a horror film, When a Stranger Calls fails to deliver effective jolts. The scares are cheap and expected. I thought that this film was awful and I… More

  • Cassie H


    Great horror flick that makes you scared to ever answer a phone ever again. I was terrified after the movie when my dad called the house to scare us. If you want to be completely freaked out then watch this movie.

  • Bethany M


    Creepy! Had me on the edge of my seat and I was genuinely frightened.

  • Coxxie M


    i wish Roger Ebert would call Camilla Belle and tell her where she can put her two thumbs.

Read all 20 featured audience ratings

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Cast

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