Rating: 2.5/5
Oh My Horror 2025 | 22/52 | Home Sweet Horror
1971 As evening shifts to dusk, Jill Johnson walks to Dr. and Mrs. Mandrakis’s home, where she will babysit for them. Jill’s job should be easy-going because the kids are sick and asleep. Like any teen in the 70s, she jumps on the phone with her friend Nancy, who wants to fuck Jill’s crush, Bobby, but decides to be a friend about it and abstain. So, Jill tells Nancy to tell Bobby to call Jill. While she waits, Jill does her homework.
The phone rings. No one on the other end. Jill hangs up. The phone rings again. “Have you checked the children?” says a man’s voice on the other end. It hangs up. This routine continues with a call every 15 minutes. Finally, Jill calls the police, who tell her it’s probably just some weirdo—the police get similar reports every night. Still, they say they can trace the call if she can keep the caller on the line for a minute. When he calls again, she asks if he wants to scare her. He tells her that he wants her blood all over him. The police call her back.
The call is coming from inside the house. Jill sees a shadow upstairs as a door opens, and she runs. Cut to Lt. John Clifford arriving on the scene and meeting with Lt. Charlie Garber. The children are dead and have been for several hours. They’ve caught the killer—an English merchant seaman named Curt Duncan—and sent him to a psychiatric facility.
1978 Dr. Mandrakis calls on private detective John Clifford. Curt Duncan has escaped, and the police aren’t making it a priority. So, Mandrakis wants Clifford to find him. Clifford, who investigated the murders seven years ago, is more than willing to take the job.
The film’s first 20-odd minutes are the real crown jewel. After Carol Kane’s Scream treatment (minus the murder), we don’t see her for most of the movie. But those 20 minutes, where each call gets louder than the one before, are expertly tense. If you’re worried about this being a ripoff of Black Christmas, don’t worry—the babysitter and the man upstairs is an older urban legend, with Foster’s Release being the first movie to utilize it and establish the tropes that later films would use.
It’s okay once the movie moves beyond this, but the script is significantly weaker. It’s a relatively interesting concept — we know who the killer is, and we, the audience, know what he’s getting up to while the investigation continues.
I appreciate that we watch Duncan try to pick up a woman and have absolutely no luck — a lazier movie would’ve had someone find his vague British accent charming. Instead, the movie works for its moments, even if it isn’t interesting.
I also appreciate that the film is a slow-burning investigation. It doesn’t cover a lot of ground. Duncan isn’t a serial killer. The movie, despite appearances, is not a slasher. It’s a tone that films like The Silence of the Lambs hit a better balance with.
The score is pretty decent! Nothing outstanding, but it kicks off with what sounds like the Dolby Digital legato, which is kind of cool.
I always get Charles Durning and Brian Doyle-Murray mixed up, even though they don’t look much alike.