Overview: The smartest thing about the remake of 'When a Stranger Calls' is that it strips the original 1979 version to its bare essentials as a primal exercise in stormy-night terror. While taking the original film's suspenseful first act and expanding it into an 87-minute cat-and-mouse game, screenwriter Jake Wade Wall adds a few clever updates involving cellphones and home-security services, as well as the maze-like menace of a lavish modern home that serves as the setting for mayhem when cute teenager Jill (Camilla Belle, in the role originated by Carol Kane) takes on a babysitting job that she may live to regret.

DVD Verdict: In 1979, director Fred Walton (of 'April Fool's Day' fame) directed a low budget thriller starring a young Carol Kane and Charles Durning entitled 'When A Stranger Calls.' The movie was a hit and was followed up with a made for TV sequel in 1993 called 'When A Stranger Calls Back' but the series has laid dormant ever since. Until now, that is, for the new remake (not a sequel as some might have you believe - and this time directed by Simon West of 'Tomb Raider' fame) is a pretty good rendition of the earlier film. This movie, based on a classic urban legend about someone being inside the house making scary phonecalls, finds our heroine Jill has ran up a tremendous amount of money on her cell phone bill. As such, Jill's father tells her she must earn money to pay back for her overused minutes. So, she decides to babysit for a wealthy doctor and his wife. Jill is already in a bad mood after being told that she has lost her car and phone privileges for a month, so she's hoping for a quiet night when she arrives at the house. Everything seems pretty normal at first. The kids are already in bed, having been battling the flu, the fridge is fully stocked, there's a wide-screen tv, and a remote control fireplace. Jill settles in for an uneventful night. However, that soon changes as the phone begins to ring. Jill answers, but no one is on the other end. Believing it was a prank, she disregards it. But soon, it happens again. Then again. Then again. By now, Jill has become very nervous and upset, especially when the caller asks if she has checked on the children. Immediately, she rushes to the bedroom. To her relief, she finds them safe, but by now she's totally freaked out. She decides to call the police, but they tell her that they can't do too much to help her, but they will monitor the phone lines and keep in touch. She's also told to keep the caller on the line for at least 60 seconds so they can trace the origin of the call. Unsurprisingly, the caller calls back, and Jill does her best to keep him on the line. Upon hanging up, the police call back to let her know that the calls are coming from inside the house. Stunned, Jill rushes to collect the children and get them safely out of the house, but they encounter the caller himself. Now begins a chase to survive. Will Jill and the children survive, or will the caller catch them? There are a few blunders made along the way that might leave you scratching your head, however. First off, it's clearly important to the filmmaker's that we know Jill is good at running. We see her doing laps in the gym early on and her coach tells her that she knows she can break the twenty four second mark if she pushes herself. Why then does Jill manage to move so slowly during the finale of the film? The movie does do a fine job of building suspense, however. There are a few cheap scares, like the cat and the ice cube machine in the fridge, but things tense up towards the end as they should and the pay off, while not as strong as it could have been and lacking the punch to the gut ending of the first portion of the original, is still decent enough and a satisfying conclusion to what is a slightly above average thriller meant for a younger audience. With regard the Special Features, the first supplement on this disc comes in the form or a commentary track with director Simon West who is joined by Camilla Belle for the duration of the talk. This commentary is, surprisingly enough, really good. These two are both good natured enough that they're easy to listen to and one gets the sense that they're very comfortable working with one another. A second commentary track is also included, this time with writer Jake Wade Wall, who does a good job of explaining some of the key differences between his take on the story and the original 1979 script from Steve Feke. Once you finish up in commentary land, you check out the deleted scenes that have been included on the DVD if that's your thing – unfortunately there isn't much here. If that weren't enough, Sony has also included a pretty solid making of documentary that runs for roughly eighteen minutes in length. In here we find interviews with the director, with Camilla Belle, the production designer and a couple of the producers as well. This is a Widescreen Presentation (2.40:1) enhanced for 16x9 TVs and comes with the Special Features of:

Deleted Scenes
Director & Cast Commentary
Writer's Commentary
"The Making Of When A Stranger Calls" Featurette
Subtitles in both English and French.

www.SonyPictures.com