Analysis of a Thriller: When A Stranger Calls

When A Stranger Calls (2006)


Director - Simon West
Starring Camilla Belle



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUnWLdMV-ws&feature=related
( Sorry about the quality of the video...it's the only one i could find)



The young Jill Johnson is being punished by her parents after going over her allowed cell phone minutes. She is not allowed to drive or use her cell phone. She is hired to baby-sit for a couple. After showing her around, the children's parents leave, and Jill feels she can mind herself, knowing the kids are upstairs recovering from the flu. Now that she's alone she snoops around the house until she hears a loud bang. Throughout the night she is taunted with phone calls with no one on the other side. Near the end of the film she has to escape the caller as he tries to get into the house.


Analysis


Scene 1
While the credits are running there is a conversation over the phone between a man and a girl. As there is no picture so all your concentration is on the dialogue. The words used creates a uncomfortable atmosphere. The phone call then ends as the picture fades in, We are looking up at a bedroom window as if we are spying on "Stacey". This shot then pans down to eye level from left to right to reveal a fair ground . The use of the fair ground contrasts between the previous uncomfortable and suspicious environment as we associate a fair with laughter, fun and safety. We then sharply cut to two children, the camera follows them as they run through the fair, we get a group of jumpy cuts of scenes outside of the fair and on rides, this helps to set the scene and adds to the mystery as the audience expects one of the people we follow to be the victim. We keep getting panning shots of the house and window, we assume Stacey lives there. In these shots the house is in focus as the things around it are slightly blurred. We listen to further phone calls of which Stacey speaks but there is now no answer on the other side.

Scene 2
We get a sudden cut of the fair as it pans up to the Ferris wheel. We get further shots of the houses outside of the fair. There is one house that has been lit up by lights this focuses our attention, the woman is looking for her children which hints that they might be the victims. The camera pans up to a sign saying "Jesus" then cuts to a point of view shot looking at the woman we guess that this point of view shot is through the eyes of the stalker. There are many red herrings during this open scene which causes confusion, the camera shots and movements also help add to the confusion.

Scene 3
Again we listen in on a phone call while the camera is looking at the house, a nursery rhyme melody begins, lulling the audience into a false sense of security it then straight cuts to reveal a wind charm as it rattles in the wind, The camera is fixed on this for 6 seconds when a dark figure runs across the shot causing the tension to build as we can see who it was.

Scene 4
A shot of an oil well begins the last pan to the house as it goes to a low angle shot of the bedroom window this shot is the opposite of the first shot of the house when it panned away from it. A light is switched on at the window showing a silhouette of a man, he jumps down toward the ground causing Stacey to scream, this sound is played over the shots of young children on the rides unaware of what is happening, the quickness of the shots combined with the scream makes it almost unbearable to watch but make you want to keep watching. It all goes quiet as the camera looks up at the red balloon that the boy at the start was carrying float away. The Nursery rhyme begins to play again as if nothing had ever happened.