When a Stranger Calls, is a 1979 horror/thriller film starred by Carol Kane and Charles Durning, directed by Fred Walton. The film derives its storyline from the classic urban legend of "The Babysitter and the Man Upstairs". The original music score is composed by Dana Kaproff.
The film was voted no. 28 in Bravo's 100 Scariest Movie Moments, while the theme of a murderer calling his prey from inside their own homes has also been used by many other horror films, including Scream. While this particular story was entirely fictitous, there was a real-life incident, dramatized on TLC, whereby a man broke into somebody's home and repeatedly called their babysitter, before tying a sock to the mouth of her young charge, a little boy. Unlike the film, the police reacted immediately and the intruder was caught.
It is followed by the 1993 made-for-television sequel When a Stranger Calls Back.
During its release, and in spite of its $800,000+ budget, the movie went on to gross $21 million at the box office; although there seems to be a consensus on the genuinely disturbing quality of the film's bookend scenes (very especially the first 22–23 minutes, which made up for the bulk of the urban legend on which it was based), most, if not all, of the negative criticism pivoted on the rest of the movie's purported failure to live up to its memorable beginning.
Nevertheless, the movie's first 22 minutes are largely responsible for the film's current cult following and have been consistently included as one of the scariest moments in contemporary horror filmmaking.
Watch the thrilling and most exciting part of the video.
