History Film / WhenAStrangerCalls

* DiesWideOpen: [[spoiler: Tiffany and Rosa have their eyes open when Jill finds their bodies.]].

* VaderBreath: Many of the phone calls made by the titular Stranger consist of his creepy, heavy breathing rather than any dialogue.

%%* AbandonedHospital: [[spoiler:In Jill's nightmare.]]
* ActionSurvivor: Jill, particularly during the last half-hour or so of her ordeal come she finds out the Stranger is the the house and she tries to avoid.
* AdaptationDistillation: The premise of Jill in her babysitting job as she is terrorized was just the brief beginning of the 1979 film before switching to a TimeSkip following the Stranger trying to target the babysitter who is now a wife and mother. The remake from beginning to the end made the opening of the original film the main premise overall.
* AdaptationNameChange: In the original film, Dr. Mandrakis's first name is Alexander while in the remake, his first name is Tim.
* AdaptationalJerkass: The Stranger in the original was given moments of pity due to the fact that he was shown to be genuinely mentally ill, and unable to help himself. This Stranger following getting DemotedToExtra unlike in the original receives no such humanizing moments, and is portrayed as more evil than insane.
* AdaptedOut: The original film's second and third acts' TimeSkip that happened after the incident when Jill was terrorized while babysitting is completely removed in the remake.
* AlphaBitch: Tiffany has shades of this, although it's played with. Tiffany outright says that she knows she is kind of a bitch and her friends know it too, and she's an underage drinker who kissed Jill's boyfriend and excepts to be forgiven over it. She does genuinely seem to want to make up with Jill though and claims she only kissed her boyfriend due to being drunk and having liked him since before he started dating Jill, and that she wasn't trying to steal him, just to get one kiss.
* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Jill survives and the Stranger is taken into custody, but Jill has been left severely traumatised by everything she's gone through and is plagued by nightmares of the Stranger.]]
* BreakTheCutie: Jill gets terrorized for hours on end, discovers two corpses - one of which ''[[spoiler:is her best friend]]'' - and nearly gets killed by the Stranger. After he's finally taken into custody, Jill is left severely traumatized and her nightmares force her to relive it.
* BrickJoke: When Jill is being given a tour of the house, Chester the cat is first seen eagerly watching the birds in the aviary. [[spoiler:Come the end of the film, and he finally gets to eat at least one of them.]]
* CatScare: Constantly, mainly during the first half of the film. Theres a cat in the house which keeps surprising Jill.

* ChekhovsGun: [[spoiler:The fire place, the sharp fire poker and the tequila bottle, which get used as weapons.]] Subverted with [[spoiler:the creepy statue on the first floor - the camera focuses on it frequently, but it never gets used.]]
* ChekhovsSkill: [[spoiler:Jill's sprinting abilities are addressed early on and help her to avoid being killed.]]

* DemotedToExtra: The Stranger's own viewpoint and development, which was shown in the original movie, has been omitted in this remake.

* DiesWideOpen: [[spoiler:Rosa and Tiffany have their eyes open when Jill finds their bodies]].

* ICanSeeYou: The Stranger asking "How were the children?" shows Jill is BeingWatched.
* ImprobableInfantSurvival: The kids survive, but it's implied the Stranger intended to kill them after bumping off Jill. A deleted scene subverts this, heavily implying that the murder at the beginning of the movie was not just limited to the babysitter.
* ImpaledPalm: [[spoiler:Jill pins the Stranger's hand to the floor with a sharp fire poker during their final struggle.]]
* KillItWithFire: [[spoiler:Jill utilises a bottle of tequila and the fireplace to overpower the Stranger.]]
%%* MirrorScare: [[spoiler:During Jill's nightmare.]]

* NamedByTheAdaptation: In the original film, the names of Mrs. Mandrakis and her children are unknown, while in the remake Mrs. Mandrakis's first name is revealed to be Kelly and the children, while their names aren’t mentioned in the film, they are mentioned in the credits as Will and Allison.
* NiceGirl: Jill is seen to be a kind, normal teen girl who goes to great lengths to protect the children she’s babysitting, from the stranger.
* NightmareSequence: [[spoiler:After surviving her ordeal, Jill has a nightmare of waking up in an AbandonedHospital, and being attacked by the Stranger.]]

* RaceLift: The Stranger here is not British here unlike the original despite being portrayed by Scottish actor Creator/TommyFlanagan, while American veteran actor Creator/LanceHenriksen is CastAsAMask.
* RuleOfSymbolism: The red popsicle [[spoiler:starts to melt and resembles a bloody mess as Tiffany gets menaced and killed.]]

* SinisterSilhouettes: The Stranger, combined with FaceFramedInShadow, when he's first revealed. Given his SerialKiller status Sinsister is a pretty appropriate word.
* SparedByTheAdaptation: [[spoiler:The kids and the Stranger]] live with Jill saving the former and [[spoiler:the latter only being wounded and arrested]].

%%* VaderBreath: Many of the phone calls made by the titular Stranger consist of his creepy, heavy breathing.

* ZeroPercentApprovalRating: Who else didn't cheer at Duncan being beat up at the bar?

->''"Have you checked the children?"''

-> ''"Have you checked the children?"''

** [[spoiler:"We've traced the call. It's coming from inside the house!"]] Unfortunately, [[TrailersAlwaysSpoil the trailer made this]] [[ItWasHisSled common knowledge]].

-> ''"Have you checked the children?"''

There are two versions: the 1979 original, directed by Fred Walton and starring Creator/CarolKane, Tony Beckley, and Creator/CharlesDurning (which was followed by a 1993 made-for-television sequel, ''When a Stranger Calls Back''), and a 2006 remake, directed by Simon West and starring Creator/CamillaBelle and Creator/LanceHenriksen. The 2006 remake uses handheld phones (both home and cell phones) instead of the technical impossibility of a rotary-dial phone calling itself, and is no less effective for it. Also worth mentioning is that the remake is more of an extended re-imagining of the original's opening sequence, rather than a straight remake.

* AlphaBitch: Tiffany has shades of this, although it's played with. Tiffany outright says the she knows she is kind of a bitch and that her friends know it to, and she's an underage drinker who kissed Jill's boyfriend and excepts to be forgiven over it. She does genuinely seem to wan to make up with Jill though and says she only kissed her boyfriend due to being drunk and having liked him since before he started dating Jill, and that she wasn't trying to steal him, just to get one kiss.

There are two versions: the 1979 original, directed by Fred Walton and starring Creator/CarolKane, Tony Beckley, and Creator/CharlesDurning (which was followed by a 1993 made-for-television sequel, ''When a Stranger Calls Back''), and a 2006 remake, directed by Simon West and starring Camilla Belle and Creator/LanceHenriksen. The 2006 remake uses handheld phones (both home and cell phones) instead of the technical impossibility of a rotary-dial phone calling itself, and is no less effective for it. Also worth mentioning is that the remake is more of an extended re-imagining of the original's opening sequence, rather than a straight remake.

* 0%ApprovalRating: Who else didn't cheer at Duncan being beat up at the bar?

* InfantImmortality: The kids survive, but it's implied the Stranger intended to kill them after bumping off Jill. A deleted scene subverts this, heavily implying that the murder at the beginning of the movie was not just limited to the babysitter.

* NamedByTheAdaptation: In the original film, the first names of the Mandrakis couple and children are unknown, while in the remake the couple’s first names are revealed to be Tim and Kelly and the children, while their names aren’t mentioned in the film, they are mentioned in the credits as Will and Allison.

* AdaptedOut: The original film's second and third acts' TimeSkip that happened after the incident when was terrorized while babysitting is completely removed in the remake.

* AdaptationalDistillation: The premise of Jill in her babysitting job as she is terrorized was just the brief beginning of the 1979 film before switching to a TimeSkip following the Stranger trying to target the babysitter who is now a wife and mother. The remake from beginning to the end made the opening of the original film the main premise overall.
* AdaptationalJerkass: The Stranger in the original was given moments of pity due to the fact that he was shown to be genuinely mentally ill, and unable to help himself. This Stranger receives no such humanizing moments, and is portrayed as more evil than insane.

* NamedByTheAdaptation: In the original film, the first names of the Mandrakis couple are unknown, while in the remake the couple’s first names are revealed to be Tim and Kelly and the children, while their names aren’t mentioned in the film, they are mentioned in the credits as Will and Allison.

* NamedInTheAdaptation: In the original film, the first names of the Mandrakis couple are unknown, while in the remake the couple’s first names are revealed to be Tim and Kelly and the children, while their names aren’t mentioned in the film, they are mentioned in the credits as Will and Allison.

* NiceGirl: Jill is seen to be a kind, normal teen girl who goes to great lengths to protect the children she’s babysitting, from the stranger.

* NiceGirl: Jill is seen to be a kind, normal teen girl who goes to great lengths to defend the children she’s babysitting, from the stranger.

* SpitefulSpit: When another customer at the bar confronts Duncan for pestering Tracy and demands he apologize to her, Duncan spits in his face, prompting the man to [[CurbStompBattle beat the shit out of him]].

* EvilBrit: The Stranger, aka Curt Duncan is a British-accented serial killer.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Tracy Fuller plays a prominent role in the film's second act, becoming Duncan's next stalking victim and agreeing to be TheBait for Clifford to capture him, but disappears from the film completely after Clifford chases Duncan from her apartment.