I'm still reluctant to answer the phone after 90-minutes of this chiller-thriller. Pity sweet teen baby-sitter Carol Kane, alone in a big house with two toddler kids asleep upstairs. Then the phone rings. It's a voice from the grave: 'Check the kids', it says. She shrugs it off, but the calls continue with the same creepy sound and ominous message before going to dead air. Now alarmed she calls the cops, only to find out the calls are coming from inside the house. Oh my gosh, who could it be? Suddenly I'm under the couch - especially when the kids are found bloody murdered. All in all, for this fan of the genre, it's one of the most chilling and compelling openings in horror movies that I've seen.
Following the first part, events shift after seven movie years to rotund ex-cop Clifford (Durning), now on the trail of escaped lunatic Duncan (Beckley) who he believes is the kids killer. But is he. After all, things remain too murky to tell. Fleeing from the relentless ex-cop, the suspect's trail is up trashy alleys and down grungy streets along LA's skid row. The mood itself remains bleakly uncertain. For example, we see the supposed loony Duncan act sensitively toward over-age bar-fly Tracy (Dewhurst, in a superbly cryptic performance). Still, Duncan does seem a bit unstable, (made more realistic by actor Beckley's declining health shortly before unfortunately passing away). All in all, this mid-section sustains the suspense in moody and compelling fashion, heightened by the slow tracking shots up and down the dismal hallways and alley-ways of the pursuit.
The ending too, doesn't disappoint as Kane reappears, now seven years older and married, ominously with two kids of her own. So hold on, for one of the best sustained suspense thrillers of that time or any time. Anyway, the wife's happy now that I'm bold enough to answer the phone. At least, I am for now.
Following the first part, events shift after seven movie years to rotund ex-cop Clifford (Durning), now on the trail of escaped lunatic Duncan (Beckley) who he believes is the kids killer. But is he. After all, things remain too murky to tell. Fleeing from the relentless ex-cop, the suspect's trail is up trashy alleys and down grungy streets along LA's skid row. The mood itself remains bleakly uncertain. For example, we see the supposed loony Duncan act sensitively toward over-age bar-fly Tracy (Dewhurst, in a superbly cryptic performance). Still, Duncan does seem a bit unstable, (made more realistic by actor Beckley's declining health shortly before unfortunately passing away). All in all, this mid-section sustains the suspense in moody and compelling fashion, heightened by the slow tracking shots up and down the dismal hallways and alley-ways of the pursuit.
The ending too, doesn't disappoint as Kane reappears, now seven years older and married, ominously with two kids of her own. So hold on, for one of the best sustained suspense thrillers of that time or any time. Anyway, the wife's happy now that I'm bold enough to answer the phone. At least, I am for now.