- Complete Monster: The 2006 remake's version of the Stranger is a Serial Killer who stalks, terrifies and eventually murders young women for the joy of it. He prefers to target babysitters, having no compunction about killing the children that they are watching over either. He murders a babysitter and her two charges on the other side of town, and then preys on Jill for the rest of the film, killing her best friend Tiffany and a housekeeper in the process. He is eventually stopped and arrested, but the ordeal proves so traumatic for Jill that she suffers a psychotic break, dreaming that the Stranger is still there to torment her.
- Cry for the Devil: The "Stranger" in the original is given immense depth as a sad, mentally ill man who cannot fight his urges and thus earns a great deal of sympathy.
- Ending Fatigue: Some people forget this film goes beyond thirty minutes for how iconic they are, whereas the film originated as a small short. Afterward, we're subjected to a great deal of backstory on the Stranger, the lead detective stalking him after he's released from a mental health treatment program and him ultimately targeting the grown up babysitter. Many find the other two-thirds of the film to be incredibly dull and drawn out compared to the tense babysitter sequence.
- First Installment Wins: The film's iconic first act (the babysitter alone getting The Calls Are Coming from Inside the House) is far more vividly remembered and positively received than the rest of the film, which is likely why it was made the focus of the remake.
- It Was His Sled: The fact that The Calls Are Coming from Inside the House was originally a shocking twist. The trailer for the remake completely spoils this, as well.
- Moral Event Horizon: The Stranger crosses it by murdering children.
- Nightmare Fuel:
- Even knowing the twist, the babysitter is always subjected to horrible phone calls. Knowing she is alone, helpless, and at the mercy of a murderous psychopath is absolutely horrific. Especially in the original when she is repeatedly asked "have you checked the children?" If she had, she would have been brutally murdered.
- In the original, the children are dead. We only hear about what the Stranger did to them, but he apparently tore them apart with his bare hands.
- Older Than They Think: The "The Calls Are Coming from Inside the House" trope did not originate with this film, but Black Christmas. And it was an urban legend before that, too.
- Paranoia Fuel: These films basically play on the fear of a) being alone in someone else's house, and b) unusual noises inside said house.
- Poor Man's Substitute: It's pretty obvious that television composer Dana Kaproff, in his score for the 1979 film, is trying to emulate Jerry Goldsmith alongside some scoring methods that predate James Horner's early eighties horror film works such as Wolfen, Deadly Blessing, or The Hand.
- Retroactive Recognition: In the remake, you may have noticed several well-known actors before their big break:
- Dianna Agron is an uncredited extra as a cheerleader, a couple of years before playing Quinn Fabray.
- Agent Phil Coulson is Jill's dad.
- Coulson's not the only superhero in the remake, either. Tiffany is Katie Cassidy, aka Black Canary.
- It doesn't end there. Jill's best friend Scarlett is played by future Creed and Thor: Ragnarok star Tessa Thompson in her film debut.
- When he finally appears in the flesh, the Stranger is played by Chibs Telford.
- Signature Line: "We've traced the call, it's coming from inside the house!" Once a shocking twist that's become cinema legend and everyone now knows it.
- Signature Scene: "The Calls Are Coming From Inside The House," full stop. A terrifying sequence as the music reaches a crescendo, we're shown shots of the blackened, ominous house as our heroine's terror hits a peak and she tries desperately to escape as the door upstairs swings open. Named one of the scariest movie moments ever for good reason.
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Ymmv/WhenAStrangerCalls
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