When Michael Calls (1972)

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Doremus and Helen Connelly (Ben Gazzara and Elizabeth Ashley) have been divorced for some time, and Doremus takes it upon himself to simply show up at Helen's home. He says he's come to see their daughter, Peggy, which is a violation of their divorce agreement. Soon after his arrival, Helen begins receiving phone calls from someone claiming to be the title character. Helen doesn't believe it, since her nephew Michael died fifteen years prior. Of course, the calls continue, becoming more urgent, eerie, and unhinged. Has Michael somehow returned from the grave, or is Helen losing her mind? Or, is something else going on? Helen is suspicious, and there are plenty of potential suspects for her to choose from. A school of red herrings, so to speak! Then, Michael begins forecasting death and doom, and everything changes. WHEN MICHAEL CALLS is another made-for-TV horror movie from the early 1970's. This was a time when such quality films as this were being made for network television. All these years later, it's still effective, though I do admit to finding Michael's whiny voice a bit annoying! Co-stars Michael Douglas as Craig, and Marian Waldman (BLACK CHRISTMAS, DERANGED) as Elsa Britton...

This made for TV film is based on a novel by John Farris and it's a dreary and uneventful domestic drama, not a thriller, and though only 73 minutes long, it feels endless. The film has no atmosphere or style, and Phillip Leacock's low key direction brings the movie to a halt. The title refers to phone calls from Michael a supposedly dead boy who ought to stay that way. His phone calls are more bothersome than creepy, and the characters' react with so little concern that there is absolutely no sense of urgency or suspense, and the characters are the dullest group of would be suspects ever assembled, and the actors seemed to have phoned in their performances. My advice, If Michael calls, hang up! If you like films featuring menacing phone calls, try Talk Radio, Who Killed Teddy Bear?, Black Christmas, or When a Stranger Calls instead. Even Sorry, Wrong Nuumber or I Saw What You Did! have more substance. Besides being awful, When Michael Calls is outdated. Thank God for caller ID!

I am a big fan of The ABC Movies of the Week genre. I am only 27, meaning I wasn't even born until after the series ended, but I am trying to collect as many of them on DVD as possible. I have about a dozen or so. I had read such wonderful things about this film, both on here and elsewhere, that I was really excited to see it. I just received my DVD in the mail today and watched it anxiously. I'll admit that the first one or two phone calls did give me the creeps - that boy's voice would give anyone the creeps! But it began to ware off fast and the entire divorce subplot was stupid. I also figured out that Michael Douglas was the antagonist about a half an hour before the movie ended. As soon as that story was told about how Elizabeth Ashley's character had locked up his mother, I knew something was fishy. Plus, didn't anyone ever think to ask him why he happened to suddenly appear that night when the fire occurred in the barn? I'll admit that I thought he was coaching a boy at the school to make the phone calls. I didn't guess the mute boy part or the pre-recorded tapes (did they ever say whose voice that actually was? I doubt Douglas could ever get his voice that high?).I am only giving this movie a four out of ten because I actually liked most of the acting in it. Ashley especially is great.It's a shame, because this movie has such a great premise, but oh well, thats what happens sometimes when one gets his or her hopes up for a movie too much.

I remember being scared to death when this film first aired on TV in 1971. Of course, I was all of nine years old at the time. When Michael Calls was recently shown on Fox Movies, and I had a chance to relive my memories of terror. Surprisingly, the film holds up remarkably well, even with the tacked on and predictable happy ending that ties up all the loose ends. I even had to turn a light on while I watched!