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The Stepfather
Film
FilmPG-132006
When a Stranger Calls
Directed by Simon West
Far away from the site of a gruesome murder, a teenager named Jill Johnson arrives at a luxurious home for a baby-sitting job. With the children fast asleep, she settles in for what she expects to be an ordinary evening. Soon, the ringing of a phone and the frightening words of a sadistic caller turn Jill's routine experience into a night of terror. From TMDB
167 reactions from 4 sources (Bluesky, Mastodon, TMDB reviews, Lemmy) · newest Nov 1, 2026 · last updated Nov 2, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
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Sentiment labels for these sources are still being hand-checked; no score yet.
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bluesky * | 28 | 11 | 118 |
| Mastodon * | 1 | 0 | 7 |
| TMDB reviews * | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Lemmy * | 0 | 0 | 1 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
What people are saying
A written summary appears once the title has a score.
At a glance
When a Stranger Calls is a 2006 horror mystery film, directed by Simon West, starring Camilla Belle, Tommy Flanagan and Katie Cassidy.
- 144 people have posted about this film on Bluesky, Mastodon, TMDB reviews, Lemmy
- posts span Feb 23, 2023 to Nov 1, 2026
Assembled from TMDB, Wikidata and Steam fields and our own counts, nothing written by a model. Method
RottenBot@rottenbot · automated account
167 public posts have mentioned When a Stranger Calls so far, but it needs 10 opinionated reactions from checked sources before it gets a score. Seen it? Post your take.
The Experts
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The People
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audience score
Reactions
60 of 167 · most liked firstMovie Of The Day... When a Stranger Calls (1979) 📞🎥
neutral · AI labelView post →Movie Of The Day... When a Stranger Calls (1979) 📞
neutral · AI labelView post →I have the weirdest, most specific memory of watching the 2006 horror movie "When a Stranger Calls" in my middle school math class. I can't for the life of me remember WHY my math teacher made us watch it 😭 it wasn't a party or anything and I know several of my classmates hated the experience
neutral · AI labelView post →WHEN A STRANGER CALLS was released #OTD in 1979. The movie that gave every babysitter nightmares is a tense cat and mouse thriller w/ a great cast (Carol Kane, Charles Durning, Colleen Dewhurst, Tony Beckley). Cleverly structured, w/ the third act feeling almost like a sequel. #FilmSky #HorrorSky
neutral · AI labelView post →Slashback Review: DON'T ANSWER THE PHONE (1980) www.hysteria-lives.co.uk/hysterialive... "Crown International Pictures’ promotional push for the film made sure audiences thought they would be getting a thriller along the lines of Walton’s WHEN A STRANGER CALLS - albeit a sexed up one."
neutral · AI labelView post →Final #Shocktober Film: WHEN A STRANGER CALLS #31daysofhorror #filmsky
neutral · AI labelView post →Originally from the movie "When A Stranger Calls".
neutral · AI labelView post →Day 2 of Spooky Movies! Double Feature today: When a Stranger Calls and Carnival of Souls Black Christmas did the "calls from inside the house" bit before WaSC, but this is the movie everyone thinks about. CoS is a very TwilightZone style film that's stuck with me since I saw it as a teenager.
positive · AI labelView post →When A Stranger Calls|1979 www.imdb.com/title/tt0080... 📽️ #NowWatching #filmsky #horror #horrormovies #slashers ·a psychopathic killer terrorizes a babysitter, then returns seven years later to menace her again·
neutral · AI labelView post →Thai film poster for WHEN A STRANGER CALLS (1979 - Dir. Fred Walton) Cast: Carol Kane, Charles Durning
neutral · AI labelView post →10 horror movies to get to know me by 📺 Ghostwatch 👻 Kōrei/Séance 🚗 Joy Ride 🐗 Razorback 👍🏻 The Hitcher 🕯️ Poison for the Fairies ☎️ When a Stranger Calls Back 🩺 Pin 🏳️🌈 Hellbent 🐈⬛ Tales from the Darkside: The Movie
neutral · AI labelView post →Happy 45th to WHEN A STRANGER CALLS (1979), which everybody remembers as the "call is coming from inside the house" movie w/ Carol Kane. And rightly so, but it's also a tense cat & mouse thriller w/ a great cast (Charles Durning, Colleen Dewhurst, Tony Beckley) and an ingenious structure. On Tubi.
neutral · AI labelView post →Now showing at Late To The Party Cinema: WHEN A STRANGER CALLS (1979). This flick wastes absolutely zero time on setup. The first creepy call is in before the five minute mark.
positive · AI labelView post →The self-contained "mini-movie" which opens WHEN A STRANGER CALLS (1979) is an absolute masterclass of escalating tension. Perfection. Too bad the rest of the film feels lackluster in comparison. Shout out to my girl, Carol Kane! #filmsky 📽
neutral · AI labelView post →This week @mbmcandrews.bsky.social and @gaylydreadful.bsky.social chat with writer David Matalon about his latest film Totally Killer before finding out the fantastic story of why When a Stranger Calls terrified him growing up. Link: pod.fo/e/1ff2d7
neutral · AI labelView post →When a Stranger Calls (2006) What idiot put the whole movie on THIS idiot's shoulders? That's her one facial expression for the ENTIRE running time. #Filmsky #horror
negative · AI labelView post →German movie poster for WHEN A STRANGER CALLS (1979 - Dir. Fred Walton) Cast: Carol Kane, Charles Durning
neutral · AI labelView post →The gold standard for creepy phonecalls in a movie, with When A Stranger Calls for a close second. Everything else is a pale comparison. What? I said it! #FrightClub
positive · AI labelView post →The call is coming from inside the house, as Sony's remake of When a Stranger Calls turns 20 years old today! Simon West's redo of the 1979 film stars Camilla Belle, Katie Cassidy, Clark Gregg and a young Tessa Thompson in her first film role. #Filmsky #WhenAStrangerCalls #Horrorsky
neutral · AI labelView post →When a Stranger Calls famously borrowed from this film. #FrightClub
neutral · AI labelView post →Last night's movie was When a Stranger Calls (1979) 🍿☎️
neutral · AI labelView post →#31DayHorrorChallenge Don't Answer The Phone: Black Christmas (1974) Sure it's a Christmas film but as far as 70s slashers go this is just a really gorgeous and creepy film. It's unrelenting in a way Christmas horror isn't. A better "the call is coming from the house" than When A Stranger Calls too
negative · AI labelView post →Remembering powerhouse Emmy/Tony-winning Canadian-American theater, film & TV actress Colleen Dewhurst on her 102nd birthday, acclaimed for roles in THE NUN'S STORY, ANNIE HALL, WHEN A STRANGER CALLS, THE DEAD ZONE, ANNE OF GREEN GABLES, THE EXORCIST III, MURPHY BROWN, ROAD TO AVONLEA, and more.
neutral · AI labelView post →Obscure YT of the day: 1983's college wrestling film HADLEY'S REBELLION beat VISION QUEST by two years! Fred Walton (WHEN A STRANGER CALLS) directs Griffin O'Neal (ESCAPE ARTIST), William Devane (MARATHON MAN), Charles Durning (TOOTSIE), Adam Baldwin (DC CAB)! youtu.be/Rx7GV7x9Pfs?...
neutral · AI labelView post →When a Stranger Calls Back (2025 Movie Thread, #215), #Horror365Challenge (#163) #filmsky #horrorsky
neutral · AI labelView post →When a Stranger Calls (2025 Movie Thread, #158), #Horror365Challenge (#131) #filmsky #horrorsky
neutral · AI labelView post →Stayed up til the wee hours to watch “When a Stranger Calls” (1979) and I NEED more #horrorsky #horror ppl to watch & review. If you love the OG Scream, THIS movie is the Rosetta Stone for home invasion/babysitter tropes! Gonna roll right into the sequel which goes up 3 notches.
positive · AI labelView post →A Scary Movie-style spoof of When a Stranger Calls entitled "When a Stranger LOLs."
neutral · AI labelView post →Horror movie of the day: When a Stranger Calls (1980).
neutral · AI labelView post →#NowWatching rewatching When a Stranger Calls. I love this movie!! 😃👍🏼 #MutantFam #HorrorCommunity #Horror
positive · AI labelView post →Black Christmas (1974) is a groundbreaking masterpiece and a trailblazer for the slasher genre. It's worth noting that it predates iconic films like Halloween and When a Stranger Calls, thus establishing the "blueprint" for the genre. #horror #horrormovies #horrorsky #horrorjunkie #TheLastDriveIn
neutral · AI labelView post →The movie When a Stranger Calls with Anthony Hopkins pretty much sucked but it did have the scariest line in movie history. The calls are coming from inside the house.
negative · AI labelView post →This movie needs to make 11 billion dollars so that studios are BEGGING him to finally make When A Stranger Calls A Dude
neutral · AI labelView post →Today in horror / thriller movie history: on August 12, 1979, When a Stranger Calls debuted in New York City. Here's a drawing of Carol Kane!
neutral · AI labelView post →Just a lovely movie, Bava at some of his best. Love the meta structure (especially the end joke), love The Telephone predicting When a Stranger Calls, love The Wurdulak meeting Hammer at its own game. But A Drop of Water is my favorite, smothering Poe in molding velvet and neon green lightning.
neutral · AI labelView post →Add “For Tax Purposes” to a movie: WHEN A STRANGER CALLS FOR TAX PURPOSES
neutral · AI labelView post →When A Stranger Calls only sustains it for twenty minutes or so. This builds it over the entire film to this last 40 mins to make it almost unbearable. Clark, to his credit, has Saxon’s cop zero in on Peter’s response to being told she’s not having the baby as worth interrogating, NOT HER.
neutral · AI labelView post →When A Stranger Calls...and tells you the first half hour is all of this movie that's worth watching. So much so that THAT'S the only part the remake tackled. #MutantFam #TheLastDriveIn That first half hour though? Hooooooly shit!
neutral · AI labelView post →Day 9 1. When a Stranger Calls (2006) 2. Buried 3. The Call 4. Scream 3 Check out my letterbox for Star-ratings and slap-dash reviews… boxd.it/b3JeX #31DAYHORRORCHALLENGE @nofspodcast.bsky.social #filmsky
neutral · AI labelView post →Watching When A Stranger Calls (1979) and when she drinks the parents' liquor, I thought "I hope they don't have a nanny cam." I had to pause the movie to be impressed with how stupid that thought was. It also makes me yearn for when we didn't constantly worry about being filmed.
neutral · AI labelView post →Honestly, I was caught up watching "When A Stranger Calls" (1979). WHAT A MOVIE.
positive · AI labelView post →When a Stranger Calls (2025 Movie Thread, #531), #Horror365Challenge (#423) #filmsky #horrorsky
neutral · AI labelView post →I couldn't remember the name of the movie When A Stranger Calls so I called it I Can't Believe It's Not Butter I don't know either 🤷
neutral · AI labelView post →Only I would notice this guy in this Jennie Garth TV-movie, WITHOUT CONSENT, is also the stranger in WHEN A STRANGER CALLS BACK. #TVSky
neutral · AI labelView post →Having a horror/thriller movie night tonight. I've wanted to watch this movie for years, and it's on Tubi. It absolutely didn't disappoint. Up next, When a Stranger Calls. 🍿📞🏠 boxd.it/1Unc
neutral · AI labelView post →Closing out my month of new to me horror was When a Stranger Calls. The original one, not the remake. It's an extremely good horror short film that basically tells the familiar urban legend, then a really bad 70s "cop on the edge" film, and then a decent home invasion short film to finish.
neutral · AI labelView post →13 favorite films of 1979? Alien The Brood Fascination The Glove Hardcore Manhattan Microwave Massacre The Muppet Movie Nosferatu the Vampire The Plumber Salem’s Lot Stalker When a Stranger Calls
neutral · AI labelView post →#AugustMovieChallenge #Filmsky #Moviesky 8/30 Somebody talking on a land line phone in a movie 🎥 When a Stranger Calls (1979)
neutral · AI labelView post →Well, that was awesome. So glad I finally got to watch it! I will not be staying on for the second feature, tho. As cool as the house is in the When a Stranger Calls remake, I find the movie itself so insufferable I can't watch it even to mock it. Thanks for this one tho! #FullMoonFrights
positive · AI labelView post →’When A Stranger Calls’ (2006), UMD, £3.50. A 1979 stalker movie remade as a forgettable and old-fashioned 2006 teen movie, directed by Simon West, who did ‘Con Air’ (1997). #physicalmedia #sonypsp #umd #horror #stalker
neutral · AI labelView post →#nowwatching When A Stranger Calls (2006). A remake that sounds good on the surface - taking the first section from the original film and extending it to feature length. Based on the 8% Rotten Tomatoes score, I'm guessing this is better in concept than execution, but let's see! #horrorsky
neutral · AI labelView post →My WHEN A STRANGER CALLS BACK piece from a few years ago was reposted after star Jill Schoelen, who's always been a big supporter of the movie, celebrated its April anniversary. #HorrorSky #FilmSky
neutral · AI labelView post →Fun fact! A lot of people think the iconic movie line "The calls are coming from inside the house" is from Scream or from When a Stranger Calls, but its actual first debut in cinema is from the 1974 original Black Christmas! Which, btw, creepy as FUCK movie. Like, realistically creepy af
neutral · AI labelView post →PS I’m shocked it doesn’t get more credit. It’s the original “the call is coming from inside the house” film but WHEN A STRANGER CALLS (1979) always gets that credit. And it’s clear Carpenter used a ton of the cinematic ideas from this in HALLOWEEN (1978)
neutral · AI labelView post →Black Christmas – Holiday Season Horrors! 50th Anniversary, 4K Restoration screenings the week of December 20! “From ‘When a Stranger Calls’ to ‘Scream,’ every great slasher film owes a debt to Bob Clark’s 1974 groundbreaking cult classic” (The Ringer) mayfairtheatre.ca/movie/black-...
neutral · AI labelView post →063. WHEN A STRANGER CALLS BACK [1993] Dir. Fred Walton Loony sequel to an uneven cult favorite. Fixes the sidelining of Carol Kane's character in the first film, then pushes her as well as the evergreen topic of trauma to the front. A redeeming effort that asks, what if the final girl gave up?
neutral · AI labelView post →"The call is coming from inside the house!" WHEN A STRANGER CALLS (1979) 📽. Infamous opening sequence is one of filmdom's most terrifying. Perfect 20 minutes! Babysitter (Carol Kane) plagued by threatening caller. "Have you checked on the children?" Inspired Drew Barrymore scene in SCREAM. 🎥🎞🎬
neutral · AI labelView post →Starting third (?) annual Halloween Horror Movie binge viewing. Every October, for the last few years, I select a few horror movies to watch that are considered classic/well known (eg When A Stranger Calls, The Haunting, Halloween etc) Tonight I’m trying Alien (1979)👽
neutral · AI labelView post →Watching When A Stranger Calls for the first time and this is not how I expected this movie to go at all
neutral · AI labelView post →#Edwards2026MovieThingChallenge 9/11 - Movie scene that shows someone calling an emergency number When a Stranger Calls (1979)
neutral · AI labelView post →
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