Monica Keena stars as Nicole Freeman, a young grad student who has recently broken up with her live in boyfriend, and has been avoiding her prying mother’s phone calls. She reluctantly calls her mother late one night and the two get into a blazing row before Nicole hangs up. Feeling lonely and hoping to resolve things, she quickly dials back but misdials and gets a young woman’s answer phone. Nicole receives a phone call a short time later from a mysterious man enquiring as to why she called his number earlier. Nicole explains it was a misdial but the man soon tells her that she interrupted him, as it later transpires that he was killing the woman on the answer phone message. Nicole freaks out and hangs up.
The next day a detective arrives to question Nicole about the caller and it becomes evident that he is making his way cross country to Nicole’s apartment in Boston, killing a young woman in each state he passes along the way. The police inform Nicole that she is his intended final target.
This film was announced last year and then not much else was heard apart from some minute festival buzz. Next thing I know it’s almost August and the film has been out on DVD in the UK for three months already. Released the same week that When a Stranger Calls hit the big screen here in the UK, the film will most likely only be watched by fans of that particular movie in search of a similar thing, which is a shame as it is pretty good.
Monica Keena is cool and is supported by good actors you may not have seen before, and this cool little indie thriller has a great soundtrack too, as well as nice aesthetics and the odd moment of suspense to boot. The ending ruins the film however, not because it isn’t good but because it’s a little too radical to fit with the preceding ninety minutes, and its been done to death.
OVERALL SUMMARY
Long Distance was most likely thrust on some poor writer who was forced to make ‘When a Stranger Calls’ but different, and this is what he opted to do. It’s not a bad little time waster, but it’s not as exciting or as frightening as its better known counterpart.
