Man, some days you just don’t want to get out of bed. You have to force yourself to get motivated into doing something. Sometimes, watching some of these movies can fall under the same circumstances. Today’s movie comes from the Pure Terror box set, so this might be one of those chores to watch. However, the title sounds interesting and it could be a play off of the whole, “He’s calling from inside the house.” urban legend. So let’s just see what we get out of today’s movie, Don’t Answer The Phone.
The plot: A nurse returns home from work and as she is changing out of her uniform, the phone rings and she goes to answer it. As she is talking, a masked man comes up behind her and attacks her as soon as she hangs up the phone, eventually strangling her. The next day, the radio talks about the body of a serial killers 8th victim being found, all with the same signs of being strangled to death and their bodies sexually abused afterwards. After the headline, Dr. Lindsay Gale, a local psychiatrist, comes on the air to do an advise column. During a show, the killer calls the show from just outside the studio, and begins talking with Lindsay in a fake Spanish accent and calling himself Ramon. Meanwhile, the police are at the home of the latest victim and based on some of the things that are done, believe the killer is a Vietnam vet and uses a camera to take pictures of his victims. After the radio show, Lindsay heads to her private practice and begins working with her clients, and the killer heads to her practice and follows one of her patients home, then rapes and kills her that night. Police Lt. Chris McCabe and Sgt. Hatcher are placed in charge of a police task force charged with finding and capturing the serial killer. After the latest victim is discovered, McCabe goes to see Lindsay and shows her photos of the victim, confirming her as one of her patients, and asks her for her files on the patients, and the two argue over how best to approach the killer. Meanwhile, the killer picks up a female hitchhiker, saying that he is a photographer, and takes her back to his apartment/studio. He begins taking pictures of her but when he locks her in restraints as part of his shoot, she asks to be released and he kills her. As the police interview a psychic claiming to know things about the murders, the killer, revealed to be Kirk Smith, heads to a porn shop to sell the tame pictures of the girl, but mistakenly had left one of the pictures he had taken after killing the girl and quickly snatches it back. After getting paid for the pictures, Kirk buys some drugs and hires a prostitute, Denise, and after having sex with her, he has her call in to Lindsay’s radio show. As Denise talks to Lindsay, Kirk strangles her on the air, then attacks the pimp when he checks on the girl, before quickly leaving. Lindsay goes to see McCabe and Hatcher and hands them copies of the phone call, as well as previous calls from Ramon, and McCabe says he will arrange for a patrol car to keep tabs on her house and the radio station. When they find the body of the hooker, the learn that a third person was in the room and figure it was probably the woman’s pimp. They go looking for him and eventually find him selling drugs at a local massage parlor/brothel but when the pimp attempts to shoot them, they are forced to kill him before asking him any questions. That night, McCabe gets a call about a jumper, who happens to be one of Lindsay’s patients and he ends up talking her down. Afterwards, McCabe and Lindsay go out for drinks, where they are unknowingly approached by Kirk briefly before McCabe chases him off, and then back to Lindsay’s place, where they end up having sex. The next day, Kirk heads out to a house of a prospective model and cons his way inside, where he attacks her but the woman’s roommate tries to stop him so he attacks her too. When a neighbor hears the commotion and goes to check on them, Kirk quickly makes his escape, but leaves his portfolio of pictures behind. McCabe and Hatcher take the photos to a local porn store, and the owner recognizes them as Kirk’s work and gives them his address. McCabe and Hatcher head to Kirk’s place and, finding that he isn’t there, begin searching the place. Meanwhile, Lindsay returns to her home and has the police patrol search it to make sure she is alone, before heading inside to change clothes, unaware that Kirk has snuck in when the cops left. Back at Kirk’s place, McCabe and Lindsay are surprised when someone enters the house and it isn’t Kirk and realize they are in the wrong house. When they enter Kirk’s house, they find plenty of evidence to prove that Kirk is the killer, as well as several pictures of Lindsay and McCabe realizes that Kirk is after Lindsay and heads over to her house. Meanwhile, Lindsay feels like something is wrong and tries to call for help but her phone isn’t working and as she turns to leave, Kirk shows up and grabs her. Lindsay tries to talk to Kirk but he ties her up and starts to torture her. McCabe shows up and Kirk leaves to confront him and as the two men struggle, McCabe manages to shoot him in the leg and restrain him. As McCabe goes to check on Lindsay, Kirk manages to snap the chain on the handcuffs and attacks McCabe again. McCabe frees himself and pushes Kirk through Lindsay’s window, then shoots Kirk repeatedly in the back, where his body falls into the garden pond in Lindsay’s back yard.
This was an interesting movie, though definitely a bit odd at times. The acting was ok and while I will say that Nicholas Worth (Kirk) did a good job in his role, the little cut away scenes of him lifting weights and having imaginary conversations with his dead father were a bit odd. The idea for the movie sounded good but the the haphazard way that the story was told in the movie did a poor job of telling the story. It also looked like they tried to infuse some comedy into the movie but it basically seemed very out of place and really disrupted the suspense of the movie. There wasn’t much in the sense of special effects in the movie as it mostly relied on suspense to carry the movie. Like I said, interesting but nothing that I would rush out to watch.
Rating: 2 out of 5
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