What actually happens
A phone bill that ruins an evening
The film opens with Stacy, a teenage babysitter, who answers a wrong number one night while on a job. More calls follow, with only breathing on the line, and the police eventually arrive to find Stacy and the three kids in her care murdered. The story then moves 125 miles away to Colorado, where Jill Johnson, who is sixteen, takes a babysitting job for the rich Mandrakis family to pay for going over her cell phone minutes. Mrs. Mandrakis gives her a tour and mentions the live-in housemaid, Rosa. Once the parents have gone, Jill starts getting threatening calls from someone who says very little before hanging up. She suspects her friends are pranking her, but they deny it. Her friend Tiffany stops by while the two Mandrakis children sleep upstairs. Jill is afraid of being caught and asks her to leave, and an unseen intruder ambushes Tiffany on the walk to her car.
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Trace the call, find the guest house
The caller rings again and says that he can see Jill. She phones the police, who explain that tracing a call takes the caller staying connected for a minimum of one minute. While she waits for the phone to ring, Jill notices a shadow moving in the guest house. She assumes the Mandrakis' older son is back from college and goes to look, but the guest house is empty. The caller phones again while she is out there, and he sounds sure that he can see her. She keeps him talking so the call can be traced, but he has rung a different line. Through a window she sees that a light has come on inside the main house.
The call from inside the house
This is the scene to be ready for, and it arrives in the middle. Jill figures Rosa must be home, so she searches the house and finds nobody. The phone rings, the caller stays silent, and this time Jill holds him there for a full minute. She hears a shower running in the maid's room, but when she checks, the bathroom is empty. The police ring back with news that the calls originate inside the house, and they tell her to get herself and the children out. Jill then runs, and on the way she comes across Tiffany's body lying on the bathroom floor.
A greenhouse with a lock on the wrong side
After finding Tiffany, Jill goes looking for the two Mandrakis children and finds them hiding in their playroom. Jill spots the intruder up in the loft. She and the children make for the greenhouse, and there she comes across Rosa, who is dead and underwater. The intruder follows and starts searching the greenhouse for them. Jill shuts him in, and he breaks out and goes after her. That is where the chase ends and the fight starts.
The ending, explained
In the struggle, Jill lights the fireplace so it burns the intruder's back, then drives a poker through his hand into the wood floor. She runs outside and finds that the police have arrived, and they arrest him. Days later, Jill is recovering in a hospital when a balloon pops. She finds the nurses' station and hallways empty and the room phone ringing. As she answers, the intruder appears behind her in the mirror and grabs her. That turns out to be a hallucination, and she wakes up screaming while her doctors and her father hold her. Jill survives. Stacy, her three charges, Tiffany and Rosa do not.
The post-credits ruling
Nobody has confirmed whether there is a scene after the credits.
✓ Spoiled safelyDog status: fine, no dog dies.
Questions people ask at 1am
Is When a Stranger Calls scary?
Somewhat. When a Stranger Calls is a 4 out of 10, with suspense built on phone calls and jump scares. The dread is low and fades soon after.
How does When a Stranger Calls end?
Jill burns the intruder's back with a fireplace and pins his hand to the floor, and the police arrest him. A hospital scare near the end turns out to be a hallucination.
Does the dog die in When a Stranger Calls?
No dog dies in When a Stranger Calls. A bird is eaten by a cat, and that is the only animal death.
Is there a post-credits scene in When a Stranger Calls?
Nobody has confirmed whether When a Stranger Calls has a scene during or after the credits.
Where are the calls coming from in When a Stranger Calls?
In When a Stranger Calls, the police tell Jill the calls are coming from inside the Mandrakis house. She runs out with the children and finds Tiffany's body on the way.
