Search - When a Stranger Calls on DVD

MPAA Rating: R Content Advisory: Violence, Not For Children, Adult Language Movie Release: 1979 DVD Release: 10/09/2001 Format: DVD - Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV,Pan and Scan Audio Tracks: English, French Subtitles: English, French, Spanish SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 1 hrs 37 mins Studio: Columbia TriStar Members Wishing: 2 Genres: Thriller, Slasher Film, Psychological Thriller See Also: When a Stranger Calls

In this thriller, a baby-sitter is terrorized by an anonymous telephone caller who turns out to be a particularly persistent serial killer. When a stranger calls to ask, "Have you checked the children lately?" teenaged sitter Jill Johnson (Carol Kane) is understandably spooked. After a series of increasingly creepy calls culminates in a request for "your blood...all over me," Jill learns from the police operator that the man is calling from inside the house. One narrow escape and two dead children later, the police capture British maniac Curt Duncan (Tony Beckley). Several years later, the killer escapes from a mental institution and plagues Tracy (Colleen Dewhurst), a hard-drinking New Yorker. Foiled by John Clifford (Charles Durning), the same cop who investigated the original case, Duncan sets his sights back on his original victim, Jill Johnson, who, now married and out to dinner with her husband, has left her own young children at home -- with a baby-sitter. When a Stranger Calls helped inspire Drew Barrymore's famous opening scene in Wes Craven's Scream. Kane, Durning, and director Fred Walton would return for 1993's TV-movie sequel, When a Stranger Calls Back. Beckley died a year after the original film's release. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide

Carol Kane - Jill Johnson
Charles Durning - John Clifford
Colleen Dewhurst - Tracy
Tony Beckley - Curt Duncan
Rachel Roberts - Dr. Monk
Rutanya Alda - Mrs. Mandrakis

Fred Walton's cult favorite horror film When a Stranger Calls comes to DVD with a pair of images. The widescreen anamorphic transfer preserves the original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1, and is preferable to the standard full-frame transfer. English and French soundtracks are rendered in Dolby Digital Mono. English, Spanish, and French subtitles are accessible. Supplemental materials include bonus trailers. While fans will be thrilled to finally have the film on DVD, this is a less than spectacular release from Columbia/TriStar. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide