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{{trope}}
[[File:bewarepenguins.jpg|frame|[[Catch Phrase|Doo-by dooby doo]]...]]
{{quote|"''Jess, the caller is in the house. [[Trope Namer|The calls are coming from the house!]]''"|'''Sargeant Nash''', ''[[Black Christmas]]''}}
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Classic [[Urban Legends|urban legend]] horror scenario: Someone, usually a young woman who is home alone, often a baby sitter, gets a [[Harassing Phone Call|creepy phone call]]. The police trace it but learn that the calls are coming from inside the house.
This is a partly [[Discredited Trope]], because the whole urban legend relies on a myth about old analog land lines: the idea that you could, by tapping the receiver button carefully, manage to dial the telephone number of the building/home you were occupying at the time. Before cell phones, it was generally not possible to call someone from the same house you were in (at least without
The sense of dread that a phone call is coming from the very building you are occupying may be lost on people who are used to being able to call anyone from anywhere at any time. However, learning that instead of being safe in your home, you're actually locked in the building with the psycho who's been making [[Harassing Phone Call|threatening calls]], can still be pretty scary,
This trope is probably old enough to predate the adoption of 911 services, especially as the original version of the legend usually highlights that the victim has to "call the operator".
For the more modern variant, see [[I Can See You]]. See also [[Short Distance Phone Call]].
{{examples}}
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== [[Film]] ==
* Played for laughs in the second Beatles movie, ''[[Help!]]'' John uses this to prank the other Beatles with an alarm clock.
* The plot of the movie ''[[When a Stranger Calls]]''.
* Subverted in ''[[Lost Highway]]'': "I'm there right now. Call me."
* ''[[Black Christmas]]'' was the first known film to use this line.
* Used in the first ''[[Urban Legend (
* Spoofed in the first ''[[Scary Movie]]''.
* Spoofed in ''[[Wet Hot American Summer]]''.
* In the 2011 remake of ''[[The Mechanic]]'', the hitman uses this to get the mark out of the building, by making him think the call is coming from a room
* Spoofed in ''[[Shriek If You Know What I Did Last Friday the Thirteenth]]'' when the killer stumbles into the backyard pool while menacing a girl over the phone.
* Used loosely in the first ''[[Scream (
* Near the end of ''Open House'', the killer's call is traced to the very radio station whose show he is phonning into.
== [[Live-Action TV]] ==
* Used in the ''[[Only Fools and Horses]]'' episode 'Modern Man' where Rodney, annoyed with Del Boy, calls an ad in the local paper to apply for another job, not realising that the ad has been placed by Del who is taking the call in the other room. Although Rodney is ignorant to this Del is fully aware of who he is talking to and milks the situation to optimal comic effect.
* Spoofed on ''[[30
* ''[[CSI]]'' did this once.
* ''[[Criminal Minds]]'': in the episode "Somebody's Watching." Justified because the caller was using a cell phone.
* Frequently spoofed on ''[[Mystery Science Theater 3000]]'', usually when a character in the movie being skewered is holding a phone and looking worried about what they are hearing. For example, in the movie ''[[The Giant Spider Invasion]]'', when a NASA scientist is answering a phone call about giant alien spiders invading northern Wisconsin:
{{quote|
** Kevin Murphy continues this joke on [[
{{quote|
* Spoofed on ''[[The State]]'', with the call {{spoiler|"coming from inside your pants. YOU'VE GOT TO GET OUT OF YOUR PANTS!!!"}}.
* Parodied on ''[[How I Met Your Mother]]''. Ted, working out of his home, gets a call from his personal assistant saying he's sick and won't be coming in. Ted accepts it, but then notices on his cell phone's caller ID that the call came from
* Played straight in the ''[[Twilight Zone]]'' episode "The Living Doll", when a man receives a phone call from his daughter's evil doll, who threatens to kill him.
* Spoofed during ''[[The Daily Show]]'', when Jon announces his Rally to Restore Sanity only to have it be interrupted by Colbert over the phone. It takes Jon a minute or two to realize that Colbert is, in fact, calling from inside the studio. The punchline? They were talking on an [[Tin Can Telephone|aluminum can walky-talky]] the entire time.
* One of [[Al Franken]]'s "Daily Affirmation With Stuart Smalley" segments on ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' tell a scary story in a [[Halloween Episode]] based on this. The mysterious caller was [[The Unintelligible|completely incomprehensible and mumbling]] and the big, scary reveal comes from the phone operator responding to one of the mysterious calls to warn the girl, "The caller is inside the house! It's your father, and he's been ''drinking!''"
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== [[Video Games]] ==
* In ''[[Mass Effect]] 2'', the Normandy gets upgraded with the IFF of a Reaper to be able to pass through a Mass Relay that destroys every ship that attempts to pass through it. EDI notices a hidden transponder signal in the
== [[Web Comics]] ==
* ''[[
* ''[[Chopping Block
* Variations on this theme are a [[Running Gag]] in ''[[Sent From The Moon]]''.
* ''[[
== [[Web Original]] ==
* Spoofed in a mock [[Creepypasta]] where a babysitter calls the parents to ask if she can browse [[4 Chan|/b/]] on their computer. They say yes, and she asks if she can look at the original content. The parents respond witH "GET OUT OF THE HOUSE...''/B/ HAS NO ORIGINAL CONTENT!"''
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* ''[[The Simpsons]]'': At the beginning of the first "[[Halloween Episode|Treehouse of Horror]]" episode, Lisa is seen wrapping up the original story with Bart in the treehouse, but Bart is less than impressed.
* Spoofed by Brak on ''Cartoon Planet''. The operator had made a mistake.
* [[
* The episode "Octi-gone" of ''[[The Powerpuff Girls]]'' included this trope, but any horror was pretty much passed over for a gasping gag; plus, occurrences like villains breaking into your house and pretending to hold a stuffed octopus hostage are pretty normal in Townsville.
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[[Category:Horror Tropes]]
[[Category:The Calls Are Coming From Inside the House]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Calls Are Coming From Inside the House, The}}
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