MovieChat Forums > When a Stranger Calls (1979) Discussion > Scream stole the beginning!

Scream stole the beginning!

posted 8 years ago by Steamboy
12 replies | jump to latest

*SPOILERS*
*SPOILERS*

I just watched When a Stranger Calls tonight and I could not believe how similar the beginning was to Scream. The baby sitter, the persistent phone calls, the playful-in-a-scary-sort-of-way dialogues and the final line that reveals the killer is nearby... closer... seeing her... in the house!

Scream is lighter and funnier, there's less tension, but Kevin Williamson definitely stole the idea from that film. Has it ever been acknowledged? It has to be! It's so blatant! I can't be the only one who noticed it. Scream is one of my favorite horror movies and I still love it, but its perfection just took a hit.

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[–] Billy_Daveys_Second_Daughter 8 years ago

It is strange how this film is never referenced openly by any of the characters at any point. True, nobody knows the exact events of the first scene with Drew Barrymore apart from the killers, but it would've been nice to see them mention it to Sid in the final act or something (even in passing). They surely must have been influenced by it (and by extension, Wes Craven too).

Violence is Italian art and Italian art is beautiful.

[–] blairbitchproject 8 years ago

Scream's opening is actually a direct homage to this movie...

[–] Steamboy 8 years ago

I've never heard them (Wes Craven or Kevin Williamson) mentioned it. They mentioned Halloween and Prom Night but I don't remember they ever spoke about this one. Of course I can't remember all their interviews so I may be wrong.

But you will often find Scream mentioned in reviews of When a Stranger Calls, not the opposite. So is it really Craven and Williamson who said it was a homage or is it the reviewers who kindly assume it is?

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[–] Kimrubymoon 8 years ago

Yes it did steal it.....and very poorly.

[–] TheGuyWithTheFeet 7 years ago

The entire opening of the film was about nods to horror movies. They didn't steal it. They were paying homage.

[–] simest 8 years ago

Both THE NIGHT GOD SCREAMED and BLACK CHRISTMAS did the threatening calls/killer lurking in the house routine years before WHEN A STRANGER CALLS.

In fact, THE NIGHT GOD SCREAMED even featured a masked, cloaked assailant brandishing a knife and chasing a victim in the garden very much as we saw in SCREAM.

The main difference is it wasn't at the opening........but that wouldn't stop it from being an inspiration.

And Darkness and Decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all.

[–] pop-actor 8 years ago

Wasn't this film supposed to have been the sequel of Black Christmas?

I Love Debi Sue Voorhees
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[–] simest 8 years ago

No.

And neither was Carpenter's HALLOWEEN as frequently claimed.

And Darkness and Decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all.

[–] SandyR (7347) 2 years ago

I love Debi Sue Vorhees as well.

[–] Aidan (18) 3 years ago

If you think Scream "stole" anything from any movie in the genre, then you completely missed the whole point of Scream. If you're younger (ie not born when Scream came out or didn't watch it until many years later) then that's understandable.

[–] DoctorThirteen (10226) 4 months ago

Old post, but exactly.

[–] MCguy (941) 4 months ago

The opening was an urban legend for about ten years before the WASC was made