Carol Kane

  • When a Stranger Calls (1979)

    When a Stranger Calls (1979)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, January 2021) I couldn’t help myself from pointing at the screen with a grin and going yeaaah as When a Stranger Calls, twenty minutes in, drops its iconic line: “We’ve traced the call… it’s coming from inside the house.”  That’s pretty much everything anyone remembers about the film, and yet there’s still more than an hour to go. Unsurprisingly, the rest of it doesn’t match the merciless terror of those first twenty minutes, as a gratuitously psychotic murderer kills kids and terrorizes their babysitter. What happens after the iconic line isn’t as well remembered: even the 2006 remake dispensed with it, choosing instead to expand the initial 20 minutes to feature length. But as the story picks up seven years later, our escaped psycho is at it again, going back to terrorize the same babysitter… after some more mayhem along the way. But no one would blame you for stopping watching after the classic opening segment—the rest of When a Stranger Calls is far more routine, although Carol Kane does well as a terrorized grown-up, and Charles Durning is intense as a former policeman who has sworn to stop the psychopath. Otherwise, the film is very much in tone with other late-1970s horror films living in the shadow of New Hollywood—it’s dark, grimy and ugly, filled with period fashion and perhaps a bit more respectable for assuming its nature rather than trying to be an overly glossy take on the material. Perhaps the best thing about When a Stranger Calls for modern audiences is how, after the famous line is uttered and the opening act tumbles to a violent climax, we’re completely in the dark as to what will happen next.

  • Scrooged (1988)

    Scrooged (1988)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (Second or third viewing, On TV, December 2016) There have been countless takes on Dickens’ A Christmas Story, but Scrooged is still my favourite. A blend of cynicism and hard-won sappiness, Scrooged’s darker sense of humour, backed up with Bill Murray’s unique style, makes it a fantastic holiday viewing. Its depiction of an amoral modern age is still very much on target even twenty—no—thirty years later, while its struggle to reconcile itself with a happier view of Christmas seem more deserved than most. (On the other hand, I’m not sure that its lead protagonist will be as open-hearted two days later, but that may be part of the point.) Bill Murray anchors the picture, but there are good supporting performances by Bobcat Goldthwait and a hilarious Carol Kane as a slap-happy Ghost of Christmas Present. I get that the movie divided audiences and reviewers upon release, but you’ll never be able to convince me that it’s not a Christmas classic. If anything, I’ll bet that it plays far better in today’s ironic age than it did upon first release.