When a Stranger Calls

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Poster for the 1979 original.

When a Stranger Calls is a horror movie that uses The Calls Are Coming From Inside the House as a plot. It plays with the Urban Legend of "The Babysitter and the Man Upstairs".

There are two versions: the 1979 original, starring Carol Kane, and a 2006 remake, with Camilla Belle. The 2006 remake uses cell phones instead of the technical impossibility of a rotary-dial phone calling itself, and is no less effective for it.

Both movies follow Jill Johnson, who, after being grounded by her parents, is working as a babysitter for the children of a wealthy doctor and his wife. Not long into her job, however, she is plagued by persistent, creepy phone calls from someone who is watching her every move...

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Tropes used in When a Stranger Calls include:

• Ax Crazy: The Stranger.
• Bittersweet Ending: Jill survives, but is plagued by nightmares of the Stranger.
• The Calls Are Coming From Inside the House (Trope Namer)
• Catapult Nightmare: It happens to Jill.
• Cat Scare: Constantly.
• Cry for the Devil: The original. Most people forget that the movie continued beyond the 22 minute mark, and was just gushing with this.
• Dies Wide Open: Rosa the maid.
• Evil Phone
• The Faceless: When the Stranger is finally revealed, his face is partially hidden by shadows right up until he is being driven away in the police car.
• For the Evulz: There's really no purpose to the stranger's phone calls, except to freak out Jill. And the audience.
• Gory Discretion Shot: The opening scene.
• Hey, It's That Voice!: The voice of the Stranger is provided by none other than Lance Henriksen.
• Infant Immortality: The kids survive in the remake, but it is entirely possible that the Stranger intended to kill them after bumping off Jill.
• It Got Worse: Jill finds the phone calls annoying and mildly unsettling at first, but when they keep coming...
• Kill It with Fire
• Spared by the Adaptation: The kids and the would-be killer in the remake.
• Trailers Always Spoil
• Vader Breath: Many of the phone calls made by the titular Stranger consist of his creepy, heavy breathing.