Zodiac welcomes back David Fincher

Rating: 8/10 (20 April 2007)

The word remake has to be the most popular word in Hollywood right now. So many films are being released recently that are remakes of previous films, especially in the horror/thriller genre. The worst part is that very few of them are any good. In a quick attempt to make a few dollars, movie studios stick to the same formula. The most important part is do not come up with original idea; instead just redo a movie that was already successful in the past. Second add a handful of inexperienced actors and directors. Finally pump a whole bunch of money into advertising and you are guaranteed to make a bad movie and rake in tons of cash in the process. This film is no different.
"When a Stranger Calls" stays close to the same premise from the original 1979 film of the same name. The sad thing is that even the plot from the first film was fairly bland. Jill Johnson (Camilla Belle) is experiencing the usual high school drama and feels like nothing is going right for her. First her boyfriend ended up kissing one of good friends at a party. Then she went over her cell phone service plan by 800 minutes and now she is grounded for a month.
Therefore Jill cannot attend the huge bonfire party that everyone in her high school is going to. Instead she has to baby-sit. When she arrives at the house the kids are already asleep and the parents give her a quick tour of their beautiful house. Once Jill is alone in the house she starts to receive odd phone calls from a person that says nothing.
After the caller continues for some time Jill becomes scared and calls the police. The police call back and tell Jill that the calls have been traced and are coming from within the house.
That is it. That is the whole plot and somehow they manage to drag it out to an already lacking running time of 1 hour and 23 minutes. Not to mention the first and last scene of the film should be removed because they serve absolutely no purpose whatsoever. It seems like the creators just threw the two scenes in the film in order to give it a longer running time.
The infamous scene where Jill finds out the call is coming from inside the house was the driving force of the 1979 version, but the modern version uses the scene as its main advertising focus. This then ruins the only good thrill that the movie could have had because everyone already knows it is going to happen.
"When a Stranger Calls" is filled with plot holes, impossibilities, and inconsistencies that make an already poor film even worse. The movie also takes every opportunity to use a cheap scare when Jill goes multiple times to investigate a noise in the house and is startled by everything possible.
The only praise that can be given to this film is that it does attempt to build up to a strong climax. "When a Stranger Calls" has a very classic thriller feel to it, which can only be praised so much because of the fact is a remake of a classic thriller. Unlike the trend nowadays where films have scares and deaths every few minutes in order to hold the attention of the young teen audience the movies are targeted for.
The next thing to look forward to is when "When a Stranger Calls" comes out on DVD and the movie studios will resort to their second best money making formula. Release an unrated version that is almost exactly the same as the original.