When a Stranger Calls(2006)

PG-13
Rated PG-13 for intense terror, violence and some language
1h 27m
- Horror
- Thriller

Release Date: Feb 3, 2006

8%
44%
B-
5.1

During a babysitting gig, a high-school student is harassed by an increasingly threatening prank caller.

Release Details

Original Release | Feb 3, 2006 | Wide

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Box Office Results

2026-10-09T13:46:57.755Z

Results

Opening Weekend US & Canada:
$21,607,203
Total US & Canada:
$47,860,214
Total International
$19,201,909
Total Worldwide:
$67,062,123

Current Showtimes

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Director & Top Cast

Simon West
Director

Camilla Belle
Jill Johnson

Tommy Flanagan
Stranger

Katie Cassidy
Tiffany

Tessa Thompson
Scarlet

Technical Specifications

Sound Mix: SDDS,Dolby Digital,DTS

Aspect Ratio: 2.35 : 1

Other Details

Country of Origin: United States

Language: English

Summaries

Plot Summary

To pay off going over her cellphone minutes, Jill Johnson (Camilla Belle) has agreed to babysit for a wealthy family. When she arrives at the house, the parents (Derek de Lint and Kate Jennings Grant) show her around and tell her about their live-in housemaid, Rosa. Mrs. Mandrakis states that they won't be back until midnight.While the two children are asleep upstairs, Jill soon begins to receive anonymous phone calls from a stranger who, most of the time, doesn't say anything and then hangs up. She initially believes it is her friends playing a prank but when she calls them, they deny it. Jill's friend Tiffany (Katie Cassidy) stops by but Jill, in fear of getting into further trouble, asks her to leave. Outside while getting back in her car, Tiffany is ambushed (off-screen).Meanwhile, other strange events begin to occur, such as the house alarm going off for no reason and knocking at the door with no one there. The caller rings and asks Jill, "Have you checked the children?". After she does, he calls again and asks, "How were the children?", indicating he can see her. Alarmed, she calls the police, who tell her they can trace the calls if she is able to keep him on the line for sixty seconds. While waiting for the phone to ring, Jill sees a shadow moving in the guesthouse. Believing it is the Mandrakis' son back from college, she goes to investigate but finds the guesthouse empty.Back at the main house, Jill searches for Rosa but finds only her belongings. The phone rings once again and the caller remains quiet on the other end as Jill manages to keep him on the line for a minute so the call can be traced. Jill then hears the shower running in the maid's room but, upon checking, the bathroom is empty. The police then tell her the calls are coming from inside the house. Horrified, Jill finds Tiffany dead on the bathroom floor and flees.Jill goes to the children who are already hiding in their playroom. She looks up and sees the intruder in the loft. They all escape into the greenhouse and hide. Jill discovers Rosa's dead body under the water. The stranger enters and searches the greenhouse. Jill manages to lock him inside but he breaks out and attacks her. During the altercation, Jill manages to stab the assailant's hand into the hardwood floor with a fireplace poker, before rushing out of the house into the arms of a police officer.Days later, Jill awakens to a phone ringing. She gets out of bed and, while looking at her reflection in the mirror, the attacker appears behind her and grabs her. She begins to shriek hysterically, waking from her hallucination as the doctors and her dad desperately trying to stop her frantic panicking. The screen fades to black as the movie ends.

Storyline

Jill Johnson, a young teenager, is asked to babysit for a rich family in a massive 3-story house. The kids are sleeping, giving her no company until she gets a mysterious unknown call. When she finds out that the caller is in the house, she fights for freedom. Can she escape and save the kids in time? — DanikaDrd When high-school freshman Jill Johnson goes over her cell-phone bill by 800 minutes her parents make her pay it off by babysitting. She's driven to the Mandrakis' house, a rich family with 2 kids who are already asleep. but when the parents leave, Jill starts getting weird calls. Sometimes the caller doesn't say anything, but when the ominous voice asks "Have you checked the children?" she checks on them and returns only to have the caller phone again, knowing she had gone upstairs. Jill freaks out and phones the police. They say they will trace the call if she can keep him on the line for more than a minute. But what the police tell her when she succeeds will turn a routine babysitting gig into a teen's worst nightmare in which she must fight for her--and the kids'--survival. — Jessica Garland

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