History Main / TheCallsAreComingFromInsideTheHouse

%%* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'': "THE MANIAC IS IN THE MAILBOX!"

-->-- '''Sargeant Nash''', ''Film/BlackChristmas1974''

* ''Webcomic/{{xkcd}}'' uses [[http://xkcd.com/742/ a modernized version]]. (See also the AltText.) [[note]]The 192.168/16 block refers to a block of IP addresses that are reserved for private networks that are a common default on home Wi-Fi routers. This means that no computer on the Internet will have an address starting with "192.168." but computers hooked up to the same internal network will see each other as "192.168.xxx.xxx".[[/note]]

* Papa Murphys likewise made [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCqihkIgpLI a TV spot for its Jack-O pizza]] parodying this trope.

* In ''Literature/CadillacBeach'' by Creator/TimDorsey, Serge [[LaserGuidedKarma makes harassing phone calls to the head of a telemarketing firm.]] In the final call, he poses as a cop and claims that the man who's been calling him is a SpreeKiller and that they've traced the calls to somewhere inside the telemarketer's house.

** Happens with TheReveal in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty'', when Raiden finds out that [[spoiler:the Codec calls from his two [[MissionControl mission contacts]] are coming from inside Arsenal Gear, since they're actually both AIs put there to manipulate him. Everything becomes clear when Emma's worm cluster begins infecting the Arsenal mainframe, and his contacts suddenly start blurting out random gobbledegook ([[MemeticMutation "I need scissors! 61!"]])]].

%% Image replaced per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1466733349081585600
%% Please do not change or remove without starting a new thread.

* Papa Murphy's likewise made [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCqihkIgpLI a TV spot for its Jack-O pizza]] parodying this trope.

* In ''Film/EyesOfAStranger'' the serial killer is in the habit of placing [[HarassingPhoneCall harrassing phone calls]] to his victims before he kills them. In one case he is waiting to ambush a victim [[DangerTakesABackseat in her parking garage]] and terrorizes her by calling the elevator she's riding down in.
* ''Film/WhenAStrangerCalls'' is built around this.

* Used in the first ''Film/UrbanLegend'' movie. A character gets a call in his house during a party, checks the ID and proclaims it's this trope. He starts up the stairs when the killer on the phone corrects him with: "Wrong legend. This is the one about the old lady who [[MicrowaveTheDog dries her wet dog in the microwave]]."
* Spoofed in the first ''Film/ScaryMovie''. The killer boasts that he is calling from inside the house, but Cindy can see his feet sticking out from behind the couch.
* Used as {{foreshadowing}} in ''Film/CarryOnSpying''. When the villain threatens [=MI6=] in a phone call, the Chief of Police makes his secretary trace the call, who discovers that the phone number is identical to theirs, making the two men assume that their technology wasn't strong enough for the signal. [[spoiler:It's revealed that the villain's lair is directly underneath [=MI6=] and can be easily accessed through the wardrobe in the Chief's office.]]
%%* Spoofed in ''Film/WetHotAmericanSummer''.
* Downplayed in the Disney Channel Original Movie ''Film/{{Hounded}}''; the calls are coming from the ''pool house'' of the Van Dusens' mansion as they seek out the person responsible for dognapping their prize show dog, Camille. While the police are in the main house, Jay and Mike sneak Camille into the pool house and frame Ronny for her disappearance, planting the voice disguiser they used for further incrimination. The plan works.

* Spoofed in ''Film/ShriekIfYouKnowWhatIDidLastFridayTheThirteenth'' when the killer stumbles into the backyard pool while menacing a girl over the phone.
* Used loosely in the first ''Film/Scream1996''. In the age of cell phones and caller ID, however, the trope was lost in the sequels.
* Near the end of ''Open House'', the killer's call is traced to the very radio station whose show he is phoning in to.

* ''Film/BestSeller''. Cleve talks to his former employer via the school speaker system, just when he's about to call the police. Cleve uses an extension, which also cuts off the call.
* In ''Film/FXMurderByIllusion'', a phone call is traced to the lobby of the same government building where the call is being taken. Turns out that two pay phones have been taped together earpiece-to-mouthpiece so tracing the call wouldn't work.
* Played for laughs in ''Film/{{Hopscotch}}''. CIA PointyHairedBoss Myerson is doing a phone trace to find RogueAgent Miles Kendig, only to be told he's hiding out in Myerson's summer house. When the FBI go to arrest Kendig, he tricks them into shooting up the house.

* Done with a supernatural twist in Peter Crowther's "Ghosts with Teeth." The poltergeists keep calling the protagonist on his own phone line.
* Another supernatural twist, but similar to "Ghosts with Teeth," comes in Creator/StephenKing's "[[Literature/NightmaresAndDreamscapes Sorry, Right Number]]," in which the heroine is disturbed by a mysterious late-night call from a distraught, unknown person. The caller turns out to be [[spoiler: [[MyFutureSelfAndMe herself]], calling from her own phone [[HelpYourselfInTheFuture to warn her past self]] of an upcoming tragedy.]]

* ''Literature/ScaryStoriesToTellInTheDark'' has "The Babysitter", who starts receiving threatening calls from upstairs. [[spoiler: [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome She calls the police, who arrive promptly and catch the creep before he can hurt anyone]]. [[WrongGenreSavvy You expected a scary ending, didn't you?]]]]
* A rare written form occurs in "Literature/FeminineEndings" by Creator/NeilGaiman. What starts off as a saccharine love note written by someone whose first language is not English to the object of his affections gradually grows creepier as the text reveals that he is not just an admirer, but a StalkerWithACrush. The final paragraph reveals [[spoiler:that he is standing in the room with her--immobile and unseen--watching her read the letter]]. [[/folder]]

* Used in the ''Series/OnlyFoolsAndHorses'' episode "Modern Man" where Rodney, annoyed with Del Boy, calls an ad in the local paper to apply for another job, not realising that the ad has been placed by Del who is taking the call in the other room. Although Rodney is ignorant to this Del is fully aware of who he is talking to and milks the situation to optimal comic effect.

--> '''Tom Servo:''' The calls are coming from inside NASA!

---> '''Kevin''': The cat noises are coming from '''''INSIDE THE CAT'''''!!!

---> '''Kevin''': The steam is coming from '''''INSIDE THE KETTLE'''''!!!
---> '''Kevin''': The tea is coming from '''''INSIDE THE TEABAG'''''!!!
---> '''Kevin''': The ennui is coming from '''''INSIDE THE TEENAGE GIRL'''''!!!

* Parodied on ''Series/HowIMetYourMother''. Ted, working out of his home, gets a call from his personal assistant saying he's sick and won't be coming in. Ted accepts it, but then notices on his cell phone's caller ID that the call came from INSIDE HIS HOME. [[spoiler:The assistant is in the next room sleeping with his roommate Robin.]]

* Spoofed during ''Series/TheDailyShow'', when Jon announces his Rally to Restore Sanity only to have it be interrupted by Colbert over the phone. It takes Jon a minute or two to realize that Colbert is, in fact, calling from inside the studio. The punchline? They were talking on an aluminum can walky-talky the entire time.
** Also used after the 2012 election, when pointing out that many of the lines of attack Barack Obama used against Mitt Romney were first used by Romney's Republican rivals during the primaries.
* One of Creator/AlFranken's "Daily Affirmation With Stuart Smalley" segments on ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' tells a scary story in a HalloweenEpisode based on this. The mysterious caller was [[TheUnintelligible completely incomprehensible and mumbling]] and the big, scary reveal comes from the phone operator responding to one of the mysterious calls to warn the girl "The caller is inside the house! It's your father, and he's been ''drinking!''"
** SNL also did a short sketch using only close-ups of the ringing phone handset and the worried face of the woman getting the threatening calls. Eventually the police call to warn her that ''the calls are coming from inside the car!'' and the camera pulls back to show her sitting in a parked car. The operator advises her to get out of the car, so she does so and opens the hood, revealing an attacker, and then a plainclothes police officer climbs out of the trunk and saves her.
* Also PlayedForLaughs in ''Series/DropTheDeadDonkey''. Damien has received death threats from a South American drug cartel after doing a story on them. He gets a phone call from a heavily-accented man claiming to be looking at him through a telescopic sight, but halfway through the call his colleague Dave turns round and we see it's him on the phone.
* Non-threatening game show examples: ''Series/HeSaidSheSaid'' and ''It's Your Bet'' (as well as its original version ''I'll Bet'') used telephones to communicate with the players in some manner.
* Parodied on ''Series/ModernFamily'', Phil sees several creepy things while he is holding an open house on Halloween night and believes it is his wife trying to scare him. When she calls from their home to ask when he'll be home he ominously says "So you're telling me, the call isn't coming from inside the house".
* Spoofed in a monologue from ''Series/TheLateShowWithStephenColbert'' that referenced an incident where UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump accused the media of spreading rumors that he was thinking about firing his chief of staff, Gen. John Kelly, despite a ''Politico'' article claiming otherwise.
-->'''Colbert:''' But here's the thing. Trump was very upset by rumors that he was about to fire Kelly, "...even though there appeared to be no such reporting by the national media." Oh my God, the fake news is coming from inside his head! Get out of there!
* ''Series/{{Friends}}'': In one episode Joey receives a letter from a LoonyFan of his character on ''Series/DaysOfOurLives''. While reading it Monica points out that the letter doesn't have a stamp which means the woman must have come to the building to deliver it in person.
* Parodied in ''{{Series/Psych}}'' . In one episode, Shawn and Gus investigate possible ghosts at the house of Gus’ boss and when a phone call comes from the attic, they quote this classic line directly. It turns out that it was Shawn messing around the whole time.
* In the ''Series/MurdochMysteries'' SlasherMovie pastiche HalloweenEpisode, "I Know What You Did Last Autumn", Constable Crabtree is working alone late at night when he gets a phone call with the CreepyCircusMusic that precedes the MonsterClown SerialKiller. He grabs the phone from another desk and asks the operator where the call she just connected originated from. Inevitably, her reply is "Constable, the call came from inside the station house."

--> '''Campbell''': [[spoiler:Master Miller's body was just discovered at his home. He's been dead for at least three days. I didn't know because my Codec link with Master was cut off. But Mei Ling said his transmission signal was coming from '''''inside the base!''''']]

* ''VideoGame/LaytonBrothersMysteryRoom'' has a threatening fax that was sent from inside the studio.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Judgment}}'', when Yagami is informed that [[spoiler:Shintani]] has suddenly gone missing, he decides to make a call on the hopes for an answer. [[spoiler:Then, he happens to hear a phone-rumbling inside his closet, and a quick opening reveals Shintani's dead corpse.]]

* ''VideoGame/TheCurseOfMonkeyIsland'' lets Guybrush call out this trope by name as one of the ineffective lines to get Rottingham out of the barber chair. The fact that phones [[PurelyAestheticEra probably]] haven't been invented yet might be part of why it is so ineffective.
* Near the end of ''VideoGame/TheSuicideOfRachelFoster'', [[spoiler: it turns out that Irving is calling Nicole from inside the hotel.]]

* ''Webcomic/{{xkcd}}'' uses [[http://xkcd.com/742/ a modernized version.]] (See also the AltText.) [[note]]The 192.168/16 block refers to a block of IP addresses that are reserved for private networks that are a common default on home Wi-Fi routers. This means that no computer on the Internet will have an address starting with "192.168." but computers hooked up to the same internal network will see each other as "192.168.xxx.xxx".[[/note]]

* Variations on this theme are a RunningGag in ''SentFromTheMoon''.
* ''Webcomic/{{Mulberry}}'' had a variation during a story where StrawFeminist Jezebel slandered Jack on her website. Eventually, she starts replying to Jack's text messages ''before'' he sends them, causing Mulberry to exclaim that Jezebel's posts are coming from inside the house.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': At the beginning of the first "[[HalloweenEpisode Treehouse of Horror]]" episode, Lisa is seen wrapping up the original story with Bart in the treehouse with this trope, but Bart is less than impressed.
-->'''Lisa''': We have traced the call. It's coming from the floor below you. Get out of the house! ... But it was too late. End of story.
-->'''Bart''': Yawn. I heard that one when I was in the third grade. It's not scary.

%%* [[WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants "THE MANIAC IS IN THE MAILBOX!"]]

* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Archer}}'', Pam gets kidnapped in place of Cheryl, and the kidnappers, with a voice modulator, contact ISIS to discuss the ransom. Later on, [[spoiler: Cyril kidnaps Cheryl in order to get her to repay her debt to him, and stuffs her in a random room at ISIS. He then contacts Mallory ''from his own office'', again with a voice modulator, demanding the rather specific amount of $32,000. Mallory freaks out that the caller is calling from ISIS.]]

* Comedic effect: The WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes short ''WesternAnimation/DaffyDuck In Hollywood'' has studio head I.M. Stupendous and director Von Hamburger talking on the phone...each phone is connected to a line immediately across Mr. Stupendous' desk.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'' references this in one of the [[CouchGag opening gags.]]

* A variation in ''Film/BlownAway''. MadBomber Ryan Gaerity is on the phone to cop Jimmy Dove, then says he has to hang up now because [[TheVillainKnowsWhereYouLive he's calling from Dove's house and his wife and kids have just come home]].