Excellent, Without a doubt!!

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

Trisha has a night of babysitting ahead of her and she has no idea that what awaits her is sheer terror in the form of a conscienceless psychopath who we see murdering a family at the beginning of the movie(a mother, her daughter and son). This killer is so cold-blooded and remorseless, he ties up his prey with rope, takes phone photos, and makes them wait out their execution. Like Michael Meyers, the killer breathes across the phone when he's across the phone with Trisha, and this is the device he uses to torment her over the period of the night. She believes that the one calling her repeatedly on the cell phone is Matt, her boyfriend. The parents of the child Trisha's babysitting actually know the killer(which means he's a local citizen and we hear his voice which sounds surprisingly friendly)and they make the unfortunate mistake of stopping off to see if he needs assistance. Ring. Ring. Ring. Prepare to hear a hell of a lot of ringing because the phone jingles over and over in this movie, THE ASYLUM's answer to WHEN A STRANGER CALLS which might also bring to mind SCREAM. Matt brings over his pal, Frank, and Frank's girlfriend(some victims to stab and slice)after Trisha specifically ordered him to not allow anyone else to come. The killer continues to threaten Trisha on the phone until she Star 57's his ass(the killer also sends her pictures of victims he butchered). Frank is a rabble rouser, a trouble maker who made a previous baby-sitting job for Trisha a disaster, smashing the parents' china cabinet. His gal, Chrissy, is also a bit of a bad girl and when the two go into the basement, a little surprise will be in store for them, interrupting their make-out session.There's a murder similar to what you might remember from BLACK Christmas(the use of a plastic bag to suffocate a victim while he's being stabbed several times). The killer is savage in how he beats and stabs victims, with blunt force, in furious anger, the sound effects on the soundtrack extra loud to emphasize the brutality of his actions. Regarding the endless phone call harassments, I did keep asking myself why she just didn't silence her phone as to keep it from ringing continuously, but then the movie would lose it's purpose, the heart of the terror of the situation is the killer's menacing voice and what he says to the heroine over the course of the running time. There's a particular scene directly lifted from WHEN A STRANGER CALLS which is more than a bit insulting. There's included the typical staircase scene where the killer falls down the steps and the heroine must cross over him, with the usual hand grabbing ankle. The barbarism towards children is especially disquieting in that the killer was just as violent towards them as other more adult victims. One victim takes a shot to the mouth with a lead pipe which knocks his teeth out! And, the killer plays with Trisha by having her rope-tied while slaughtering a victim(not to mention he rips her shirt, exposing her breasts, humiliating her). With Rebekah Kochan(one of several in THE ASYLUM's HALLOWEEN NIGHT, another slasher which ripped off various classics including HALLOWEEN)as Trisha, Robert Buckley as Matt, Sarah Hall as Chrissy, Derek Osedach as Frank, and Mark Irvingsen as the psycho. This came out the same year as the official remake of WHEN A STRANGER CALLS(starring Camille Bell)which proves once again that those of THE ASYLUM have no shame.

This is one of those movies from the studio known to put out similarly titled and themed DVD's to conveniently coincide with the real studio release movie. In this case we get When a Killer Calls, ripping on the Sony remake of When A Stranger Calls (2006). The movies are about an isolated teen babysitter getting terrorized by a prank caller. While Stranger was rated PG-13, Killer is unrated offering up graphic violence, nudity and language. Killer is obviously low budget, with passable-at-best special effects for the gore, though the acting is surprisingly decent for the most part. The storyline differs just enough from Stranger to keep them from getting sued, but it's your standard cliché slasher fare. I was expecting MUCH worse though.

To sum it up in a nutshell, this film was disappointing and could have been shortened by twenty minutes.The acting was sub-par, the only decent actors of the bunch being Trisha, the killer and Molly. The music was slightly lame but fitting and the special effects were much too overused. The story/scriptwriting was poor, the unnecessary torture/romantic scenes being dragged on for way too long and a disappointing ending.The start of the film was rather slow, the fake-looking gore not much of interest. Trisha arrived at the house, and there was some premise for a good storyline.Trisha started to receive the threatening phone calls, which heightened the suspense. This momentary suspense, the best feature of the movie began to build, but then the friends crashed the place, wrecking all potential suspense/horror in the film.The plot then becomes obtuse from here on. Chemistry sparks between the two couples, and then the killer picks off Frank and the other girl. This scene was dragged on and unnecessary.The killer then makes her way for Trisha and ties her up. There is an overdone torture scene which goes on for at least ten minutes too long. As the gore is done badly this is not entertaining at all, and it bores more than shocks.In summary, the first thirty minutes of this film sound promising but then poorly written dialogue and general lack of plot ruins this film.3/10.

After wading through a morass of God awful horror films of late, this was, by comparison, a pleasant surprise.Granted this is a knock-off (to be kind) of another B movie, I found it didn't have the flaws that run rampant through other entries in this genre.It had a professional look, was decently directed and the acting was better than average for this type of film. Most importantly, the script was at least thought out, and didn't have the gut-wrenching plot holes and improbable logic (or lack there of) I've come to expect.Don't get me wrong, it certainly isn't a horror classic by any means but if you're looking for something in this vein and there's nothing else to rent (as was my case), it won't feel like a waste of time.Back-handed compliments to be sure, but I don't think the remake of When a Stranger Calls will be a whole lot better.