The original 1979 film of the same name was notable for three things -- the often eccentrically whacky Carol Kane starred in it as the terrorized babysitter, the cool-sounding, descending chord theme that later became the aural signature of the THX sound system, and what at the time was one heck of a giddy twist near the end.
The remake -- from the director of "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider" and "The General's Daughter" -- only contains one of those elements, but the marketing folks at the studio have already given that away in the commercials for those not familiar with the first telling of this tale.
You may then wonder what's then left and the answer is not much. Apparently not caring that the first "Scream" film mocked the original "Stranger" film (where Drew Barrymore played the babysitter receiving the unnerving phone calls) and others of its ilk, helmer Simon West forges ahead with a very straightforward tale. In short, it's girl gets calls, becomes scared, cautiously investigates weird sounds, gets more calls, investigates more, etc.
Unfortunately, and despite updating the setting to contemporary times with cell phones and the like, neither West nor screenwriter Jake Wade Wall does anything particularly interesting and certainly never frightening with the material. Instead, they simply trot out every horror film cliché known to both filmmakers and viewers alike (there's even a black cat thrown in for "good" measure).
The result is what seems like an eternity (but in reality is less than 90 minutes) of watching Camilla Belle prove she's no Rachel McAdams (star of the thriller "Red Eye") in terms of carrying this sort of genre film.
She never get us to care about her flatly drawn character's well-being, and her dealing with the killer in any sort of audience-pleasing, cathartic fashion is all but absent and anemic at best (which is odd since most every other "by the playbook" convention is present).
And with a killer with zero personality (we only hear Tommy Flanagan's voice before eventually seeing him in the third act where his face is mostly obscured), various supporting characters who don't amount to much, and a slew of plot holes, inconsistencies and overall stupid behavior, the film comes off akin to the phone calls appearing within it.
Meaning it's just a repetitive form of cinematic harassment that tries to scare us. Yet, it does so without the requisite smarts and imagination, meaning it does nothing but fumble every opportunity and bumble its way from start to finish in a decidedly less than engaging fashion. Our advice? Get yourself on the cinematic do not call list, or at minimum, and for goodness' sake, don't answer "When A Stranger Calls." The film rates as a 2 out of 10.
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