Once again raising the question of whether movie reviews are published in some indecipherable alien language in certain areas, the critically declawed Pink Panther emerged as this weekend's box-office champ, earning $27.1 million in its debut. Rounding out the top five: Final Destination 3 (with $20.1 million), Curious George ($15.3 mil), Firewall ($13.8 mil) and When a Stranger Calls ($10 mil).
read more
Question: I just watched Kill Bill: Vol. 1 and the scene with Daryl Hannah as a hit woman disguised as a nurse reminded me of a TV-movie I saw as a kid. It was about a bunch of nurses in a house, and they’re afraid of a serial killer so they’re not going outside. But the twist is that one of the nurses is the killer, and he’s really a man dressed like a woman. I’m stumped and no one knows what I’m talking about, except for one person who said Alfred Hitchcock directed it. Can you help?Answer: Sure. What you saw wasn’t a movie but a 1965 episode of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (1962-1965) — though Alfred Hitchcock himself didn’t direct it — called An Unlocked Window. It was directed by Joseph Newman, based on Ethel Lina White’s 1933 novel Some Must Watch
read more
Question: Got a good one for you: I remember a movie from a while back about a baby-sitter. The phone rings and the caller is in the house; she's also getting calls at, I think, her dorm room or apartment. This movie was so scary but I can't remember what it was!
Answer: I'd say it was probably When a Stranger Calls (1979), with Carol Kane as Jill Johnson, a teenaged baby-sitter who keeps getting calls asking whether she's "checked on the children." The first 20 minutes is a truly scary retelling of the classic campfire story, but it drags seriously in the middle, when the focus shifts to the psycho killer. It picks up again years later when he places a new phone call to Jill, who's having dinner with her husband at a fancy restaurant, to ask if she's checked on her children. But no one even remembers
read more
