When a Stranger Calls
Screen Gems | Release Date: February 3, 2006 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
27
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 20 Critic Reviews
Positive:
0
Mixed:
9
Negative:
11
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
50
The Hollywood ReporterFrank Scheck
Designed to capitalize on the title and premise of the original but offers little to those who fondly remember it. Read full review
50
VarietyJoe Leydon
A modestly clever concept gets indifferent execution in When a Stranger Calls, another bigger-yet-blander remake of an allegedly "classic" '70s shocker. Read full review
50
New York Daily NewsElizabeth Weitzman
After an hour of red herrings, in which Jill investigates creepy corridors or opens rattling closet doors with no results, the only real danger is that we'll become bored to death. For real thrills, rent the original, turn down the lights and scare yourself silly. Read full review
50
PremiereChanning Joseph
Ironically, for all of Stranger's faults, director Simon West has probably made a perfect date movie: just suspenseful enough to keep you arm-in-arm with your beau or belle; but silly enough that you'll both laugh about it afterwards. Read full review
50
The New York TimesAnita Gates
Jake Wade Wall's screenplay does deserve a word of praise. It has managed to incorporate the advent of cellphones, the *69 command and caller ID, which could have easily made the entire story impossible. Read full review
50
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
The movie ends with a bizarre and unsatisfying denouement. The epilogue, which is designed either to set up a sequel or lampoon "Halloween 2," plays like a sour last note. I suppose someone thought it was clever, but it doesn't work. Read full review
40
Village VoiceMatt Singer
This version is a thin, protracted study in shifting Hollywood strategies. The original, while dramatically spotty, was an almost experimental concoction of horror and thriller. The 2006 model, in contrast, is straight-up formula. Read full review
40
Washington PostAnn Hornaday
When a Stranger Calls never manages to convey the primal, almost atavistic terror that has earned John Carpenter's movies and the "Scream" franchise their places in the teen horror canon. The most lasting psychological effect of this pulp non-classic will most likely be limited to a deep pathological fear of Architectural Digest. Read full review
40
EmpireKim Newman
Loud, noisy, flashy but too rarely chilling. Read full review
38
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
Rather than remake the entire original movie, Simon West and screenwriter Jake Wade Wall have taken only that now-classic first act and padded it out into a dull, filler-filled feature that's remarkably void of any new ideas. Read full review
30
L.A. WeeklyTim Grierson
Amounts to an assault of jarring music cues and peek-a-boo scares that starts off mechanical and ends up utterly desperate. Read full review
30
Los Angeles TimesJan Stuart
Droopy remake. Read full review
30
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
This remake takes an alternate tack from the original feature, expanding the story of "The Sitter" to a full 83 minutes, but the result is dull and painfully generic. Read full review
25
New York PostLou Lumenick
Ineptly directed by Simon West, the scare-free When a Stranger Calls is the worst of the seminal horror movies from the late '70s and early '80s that have been getting the remake treatment lately. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChroniclePeter Hartlaub
Even the element of surprise isn't enough to save this film, which has too many slow parts and features an ending that's extremely tepid by 21st century horror movie standards. Read full review
25
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
The original should have been a short film; the new version shouldn't exist at all. Read full review
25
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
When a Stranger Calls is ba-a-a-a-c-k, in frightless form, updated for the age of anytime minutes and caller ID. Read full review
12
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
Even by the lowest standards, this is a frightless, cynically made movie. Read full review
10
Film ThreatPete Vonder Haar
It's an inferior remake (of a movie that wasn't that great to begin with), it's poorly acted, and it's yet another in an unending string of PG-13 "horror" movies that do nothing to build even the most rudimentary sense of real dread. Read full review
0
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
Long distance information? Get me Hollywood, USA: I’ve got a rusty ice pick to bury in the gullet of whoever greenlighted this pointless exercise in masturbatory tedium. Read full review
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