So the genre remake craze is nothing new at this point, but having two pics with the word Stranger in the title is a little weird. Must be some sort of creatively bereft zeitgeist or something.
Anyway, right on the tracks of the reported re-do of STRANGERS ON A TRAIN, word comes out today that Sony’s Screen Gems division is in negotiations with Simon West (CON AIR) to steer a new version of WHEN A STRANGER CALLS.
You know, “We’ve traced the calls. They’re coming from inside the house!
Despite the well known opening scene however, the original was a fairly detailed character study above all else. More PEEPING TOM than FRIDAY THE 13TH. It fumbles the ball tone-wise a number of times, but ultimately is one of the more interesting genre offerings out there. I’m not sure how the sympathetic killer angle is going to play in today’s environment, but I wish them luck since the core of the story could easily kick much greater ass than the first with a sharp script rewrite.