When a Stranger Calls

Year: 2006

Actors: Tommy Flanagan, Katie Cassidy, David Denman, Camilla Belle

Duration: 87 min

To pay off going over her cellphone minutes, Jill Johnson (Camilla Belle) has agreed to babysit for a wealthy family. When she arrives at the house, the parents (Derek de Lint and Kate Jennings Grant) show her around and tell her about their live-in housemaid, Rosa. Mrs. Mandrakis states that they won't be back until midnight.While the two children are asleep upstairs, Jill soon begins to receive anonymous phone calls from a stranger who, most of the time, doesn't say anything and then hangs up. She initially believes it is her friends playing a prank but when she calls them, they deny it. Jill's friend Tiffany (Katie Cassidy) stops by but Jill, in fear of getting into further trouble, asks her to leave. Outside while getting back in her car, Tiffany is ambushed (off-screen).Meanwhile, other strange events begin to occur, such as the house alarm going off for no reason and knocking at the door with no one there. The caller rings and asks Jill, "Have you checked the children?". After she does, he calls again and asks, "How were the children?", indicating he can see her. Alarmed, she calls the police, who tell her they can trace the calls if she is able to keep him on the line for sixty seconds. While waiting for the phone to ring, Jill sees a shadow moving in the guesthouse. Believing it is the Mandrakis' son back from college, she goes to investigate but finds the guesthouse empty.Back at the main house, Jill searches for Rosa but finds only her belongings. The phone rings once again and the caller remains quiet on the other end as Jill manages to keep him on the line for a minute so the call can be traced. Jill then hears the shower running in the maid's room but, upon checking, the bathroom is empty. The police then tell her the calls are coming from inside the house. Horrified, Jill finds Tiffany dead on the bathroom floor and flees.Jill goes to the children who are already hiding in their playroom. She looks up and sees the intruder in the loft. They all escape into the greenhouse and hide. Jill discovers Rosa's dead body under the water. The stranger enters and searches the greenhouse. Jill manages to lock him inside but he breaks out and attacks her. During the altercation, Jill manages to stab the assailant's hand into the hardwood floor with a fireplace poker, before rushing out of the house into the arms of a police officer.Days later, Jill awakens to a phone ringing. She gets out of bed and, while looking at her reflection in the mirror, the attacker appears behind her and grabs her. She begins to shriek hysterically, waking from her hallucination as the doctors and her dad desperately trying to stop her frantic panicking. The screen fades to black as the movie ends.

Genre: Action   Horror   Thriller