When a Stranger Calls (PG-13)
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This is a remake of the 1979 film of the same name. It came out in 2006, but I didn't see it until 2019. I guess critics generally regard it as an unnecessary remake, and inferior to the original (which wasn't super highly regarded, itself). Personally, I like this version more than the original, though it's still not great. I don't think it had any of the same problems that bugged me about the original, although I will say it has problems of its own. For one thing, the whole movie is basically the plot of the first twenty minutes of the original, so there's a lot that is completely left out. I don't necessarily mind that, because I generally think the parts that are left out of this movie are some of the worst parts of the original. But still, it means the plot is stretched very thin. I would say the vast majority of the movie isn't scary at all, but just vaguely boring. But I did find it scarier toward the end, once the stranger finally shows up in person.

Anyway, it begins with a murder we can hear happening in a house that is located right next to a carnival, so none of the people who are nearby can hear the victim's screams, or at least can't distinguish them from the screams of fun and other loud noises of the carnival. The next day, the murder is discovered, and it's pretty gruesome, but we don't actually see what the police on the scene see.

But none of that is important, because the story then moves to a town over 100 miles away. I suppose the killer in the main part of the story must be the same one from the brief opening scenes, but otherwise there's no connection. The movie focuses on a teenager named Jill Johnson (Camilla Belle), who I guess has sort of broken up with her boyfriend, Bobby, because he had kissed Jill's friend, Tiffany (Katie Cassidy, with whom I am quite familiar from Arrow, but I completely failed to recognize her in this; I didn't even think she looked familiar). Jill has another friend named Scarlett (Tessa Thompson). Anyway, there's supposed to be a big bonfire party that Jill wants to go to, but she can't, because her parents have grounded her for a month, for racking up a huge cell phone bill. To pay them back, she'll have to babysit on the night of the bonfire, for Dr. and Mrs. Mandrakis, who live in a fabulous house, which also happens to be quite remote. It's a long drive to get there, and since part of Jill's punishment is not getting to use her own car for the month, her father has to drive her to the job. (One of the best things about the movie is that her dad is played by Clark Gregg, from Agents of SHIELD. There was no chance of my failing to recognize him. It's just a shame his role in the movie was so minor.)

So, um... as in the original, the two kids Jill is babysitting for are asleep in their bedroom by the time she gets to the house, and their parents tell Jill not to wake them up, since they're getting over the flu. But the Mandrakises have a live-in housekeeper named Rosa, who we barely see in the movie. Also they have a guest house where their son, who is away at college, sometimes comes to stay (without prior notice). So it's possible he could show up while Jill is in the main house, even if it isn't especially likely. Just one more detail to make the plot mysterious, I guess. At one point, Tiffany shows up at the house, wanting to make up with Jill after the whole Bobby thing. But she soon leaves. Meanwhile, throughout the evening, Jill receives numerous phone calls, which eventually creep her out enough to call the police, though there's not much they can do, if there haven't been any actual threats. So, most of the movie is just Jill either answering the phone or just wandering around the house. But as I said earlier, the killer does eventually show up, and things get more interesting.

And I guess that's all I want to say about the plot. I certainly don't want to reveal how it ends, or who lives and who dies, or anything. But I found the movie... worth watching once. If I'm being honest, probably the main reason I liked it slightly better than the original is just because it's more modern (and therefore more relatable to me), and because it looks better than the original. You know, more theatrical, or whatever. And, unlike the original, there wasn't really anything in the remake that I felt didn't make sense.