For better or worse, Hollywood continues to churn out horror movie remakes. The past few years alone have seen remakes of classics like Nosferatu, Wolf Man, and Suspiria hit theaters to varying levels of success, making them some of the most controversial films. With spooky season upon us, Netflix brought plenty of scares to its streaming library, including a mid-2000s remake of a ‘70s horror classic that, while a critical flop, actually managed to fix the original’s biggest flaw.
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Netflix subscribers can now stream When a Stranger Calls, director Simon West and writer Jake Wade Wall’s 2006 remake of Fred Walton’s 1979 film of the same name. The movie, which joined the streaming platform on October 1st, centers around a teenager named Jill Johnson whose routine babysitter job turns into a nightmare when she begins to receive a series of threatening calls, only to later realize that the calls are coming from inside the house. The movie sees Camilla Belle take over the lead role of the babysitter from Carol Kane in the original, which is available to stream on Shudder this month.
When a Stranger Calls Remake Succeeds Where the Original Faltered
When a Stranger Calls doesn’t land on many lists of best horror remakes ever, and the film holds a dismal 8% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes (it holds a higher audience rating of 43%), but the movie was inventive in how it attempted to course correct the biggest issue with the original: the heightened suspense and abrupt loss of steam of those terrifying initial 20 minutes. The opening of the 1979 movie is a masterclass in suspense that focuses entirely on unsettling phone calls to a babysitter coming from inside the house before the second and third acts lose steam as the film shifts focus to the detective attempting to track down the serial killer before the movie returns to Jill years later. The 2006 remake aims to make an entire feature-length film out of that suspenseful opening sequence, stretching what was just 20 minutes into a full 90 minutes.
In doing so, When a Stranger Calls improves upon the slow, uninteresting, and highly criticized pacing and story of the original and becomes a more streamlined, edge-of-your-seat thriller. Shifting the focus entirely to the cat-and-mouse game between the babysitter and stranger allows the movie to maintain a heightened sense of suspense and psychological terror, all of which is enhanced by the sprawling isolated house, where the sheer vastness makes Jill exposed and vulnerable and where even the audience will wonder what or who is lurking around the corner.
When a Stranger Calls isn’t the best remake out there, and the movie earns a rightful amount of flak for its weakened horror for the sake of a PG-13 rating and a big reveal that falls flat for some following the extended suspense build, but the film succeeds where the original faltered.
Other Horror Movies Now on Netflix
When a Stranger Calls joined Netflix’s streaming library alongside a long list of other great horror films. Netflix subscribers looking for their next terrifying watch can now stream titles like I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, Sinister 2, The Strangers, and Night of the Living Dead. On October 23rd, the streamer will also debut its new Indonesian zombie movie, The Elixir.
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