Yeah, that's news. I guess everyone can agree on that. It is painfully obvious that the introduction was a separate short before it was decided to turn it into a full feature. While the beginning and the end are somewhat tense, I never got behind this supposed classic from the onset. Nothing seemed realistic to me. (spoilers, for details) Like, turning the lights off when you are scared and waiting that long to finally "check the children". Sure, she was not supposed to wake them, but I doubt her screaming on the phone had less potential disturbing their sleep. It seemed artificially drawing tension. Plus, back in the day of no cell phones, when a creep kept calling you, at least you knew he wasn't in front of your doorstep. That said, I found it completely illogical that the guy was calling from inside the kids' bedroom...
Then, the middle part...it doesn't service your scary movie if you show how pathetic the killer is. In fact, I thought there was a twist coming and it was the detective, who did it, having this guy picked as the fall guy he blackmailed or threatened to play the caller. I think I would have liked that more, no matter how contrived it would be. This part was an obvious extension of the short and felt like it each passing minute.
When we go back to Jill, this is probably the most interesting act of the movie. The scenes in the restaurant are effective. Coming full circle is kind of poetic. The ending was predictable, but played out nicely, at least. Out of the "Holy Trinity" of creepy-strangers-calling-movies, the other two being Halloween and Black Christmas, I still prefer the latter (incidentally, the oldest one of them).
Then, the middle part...it doesn't service your scary movie if you show how pathetic the killer is. In fact, I thought there was a twist coming and it was the detective, who did it, having this guy picked as the fall guy he blackmailed or threatened to play the caller. I think I would have liked that more, no matter how contrived it would be. This part was an obvious extension of the short and felt like it each passing minute.
When we go back to Jill, this is probably the most interesting act of the movie. The scenes in the restaurant are effective. Coming full circle is kind of poetic. The ending was predictable, but played out nicely, at least. Out of the "Holy Trinity" of creepy-strangers-calling-movies, the other two being Halloween and Black Christmas, I still prefer the latter (incidentally, the oldest one of them).