Don't Answer the Phone! is set in Los Angeles & starts late one night as a nurse (Dale Kalberg) arrives home, there she finds a masked killer named Kirk Smith (Nicholas Worth) & she quickly becomes his fifth victim. Inept cops Lieutenant Chris McCabe (James Westmoreland) & his partner Sgt. Hatcher (Ben Frank) are on the case but going nowhere fast, when Kirk murders a prostitute on-air during psychiatrist Dr. Lindsay Gale's (Flo Gerrish) radio show she teams up with the two cops to track the killer down before he strikes again...
Originally shot under the title 'The Hollywood Strangler' only for the distribution company Crown International to change it to Don't Answer the Phone! for commercial reasons this was co-written, co-produced & directed by Robert Hammer & remains to this day his only theatrical directorial credit which isn't surprising given the quality of this film. The misogynistic script by Hammer & co-producer Michael D. Castle is as threadbare & basic as they come, even for a simplistic Halloween (1978) rip-off to cash in on the late 70's & early 80's slasher film craze Don't Answer the Phone! is seriously lacking in all departments. The slasher film is a limited sub genre as it is & films like Don't Answer the Phone! don't do it any favours, this one tries to be exploitative as it's set in the seedier side of Los Angeles like porn theatres & featuring supporting character's such as drug dealers, pimps & prostitutes while all the killers victims are busty young women. As if the film wasn't unlikable enough there are some truly pathetic attempts at humour & slapstick which just look totally out of place amongst the sleaze. The killer has little motivation, he never really interacts with the rest of the cast until the end, there's virtually zero gore as the director seems more intent of showing naked female breasts & Don't Answer the Phone! is unbearably slow going at 95 minutes in it's uncut state which is the one I'm basing my comments on.
Director Hammer films things in a dull sort of way & the film doesn't have any style although some of the location footage from the seedier parts of Los Angeles which were obviously obtained by just driving down regular streets with a camera pointing out of the passenger window are quite atmospheric. Other than though Don't Answer the Phone! is very short on style or imagination. This isn't scary at all, the killer never stalks his victims & the murder scenes are voyeuristic in tone rather than frightening. This has literally no gore apart from a few bullet wounds, the violence is also tame & disappointed me even in this so-called uncut version. The killer strangles a few women who happen to be in state of undress, that's as graphic as it gets. I suppose the mixing of nudity & violence gives this film a sleazy reputation it doesn't really deserve. Even the nudity when taken on it's own is rather restrained.
Technically the film is OK, it's competent although the music sucks & I always like that 70's & 80's horror film feel which Don't Answer the Phone! has, it's just a pity it doesn't do anything with it. Shot on location in Los Angeles. The acting sucks, no-one is going to win any awards here that's for sure.
Don't Answer the Phone! is maybe the worst of all the horror flicks that start with the word 'Don't' & considering we are talking about films like Don't Go in the Woods (1982), Don't Go in the House (1980), Don't Go Near the Park (1981) & Don't Go to Sleep (1982) that's no small feat. Exploitation fans might like to check it out but as far as everyone else is concerned this is definitely not recommended.
Originally shot under the title 'The Hollywood Strangler' only for the distribution company Crown International to change it to Don't Answer the Phone! for commercial reasons this was co-written, co-produced & directed by Robert Hammer & remains to this day his only theatrical directorial credit which isn't surprising given the quality of this film. The misogynistic script by Hammer & co-producer Michael D. Castle is as threadbare & basic as they come, even for a simplistic Halloween (1978) rip-off to cash in on the late 70's & early 80's slasher film craze Don't Answer the Phone! is seriously lacking in all departments. The slasher film is a limited sub genre as it is & films like Don't Answer the Phone! don't do it any favours, this one tries to be exploitative as it's set in the seedier side of Los Angeles like porn theatres & featuring supporting character's such as drug dealers, pimps & prostitutes while all the killers victims are busty young women. As if the film wasn't unlikable enough there are some truly pathetic attempts at humour & slapstick which just look totally out of place amongst the sleaze. The killer has little motivation, he never really interacts with the rest of the cast until the end, there's virtually zero gore as the director seems more intent of showing naked female breasts & Don't Answer the Phone! is unbearably slow going at 95 minutes in it's uncut state which is the one I'm basing my comments on.
Director Hammer films things in a dull sort of way & the film doesn't have any style although some of the location footage from the seedier parts of Los Angeles which were obviously obtained by just driving down regular streets with a camera pointing out of the passenger window are quite atmospheric. Other than though Don't Answer the Phone! is very short on style or imagination. This isn't scary at all, the killer never stalks his victims & the murder scenes are voyeuristic in tone rather than frightening. This has literally no gore apart from a few bullet wounds, the violence is also tame & disappointed me even in this so-called uncut version. The killer strangles a few women who happen to be in state of undress, that's as graphic as it gets. I suppose the mixing of nudity & violence gives this film a sleazy reputation it doesn't really deserve. Even the nudity when taken on it's own is rather restrained.
Technically the film is OK, it's competent although the music sucks & I always like that 70's & 80's horror film feel which Don't Answer the Phone! has, it's just a pity it doesn't do anything with it. Shot on location in Los Angeles. The acting sucks, no-one is going to win any awards here that's for sure.
Don't Answer the Phone! is maybe the worst of all the horror flicks that start with the word 'Don't' & considering we are talking about films like Don't Go in the Woods (1982), Don't Go in the House (1980), Don't Go Near the Park (1981) & Don't Go to Sleep (1982) that's no small feat. Exploitation fans might like to check it out but as far as everyone else is concerned this is definitely not recommended.