When a Stranger Calls is a remake of Fred Walton and Steve Feke’s short film The Sitter, with the first 23 minutes — the best part of the movie — being, well, The Sitter. That short played before Looking for Mr. Goodbar, and then this was the full-length result. 

Jill Johnson (Carol Kane) is watching the children of Dr. Mandrakis (Carmen Argenziano). A phone call comes in, and a voice — we later learn it’s Curt Duncan (Tony Beckley) — keeps asking if she’s checked on the children. Spoiler: The kids are dead. 

Seven years later, he’s escaped from prison, and the cop who caught him, John Clifford (Charles Durning), has been hired to catch him before he kills again. He remembers Jill, and he’s also getting close to a woman who actually treats him well, Tracy (Colleen Dewhurst). Sure, the calls coming from inside the house had already been done in Black Christmas, but this does have some moments of fright. 

When Sneak Previews did their Women In Danger episode, this movie was shown, along with Friday the 13th, Halloween, I Spit on Your Grave, Silent Scream and Don’t Answer the Phone. Even with some of those films, Roger Ebert still singled this out as sleazy.

Walton would go on to direct April Fool’s Day, The Rosary Murders, the remake of I Saw What You Did and the TV movie, When a Stranger Calls Back.