At a Toronto Museum subway stop, a phone among a bank of public phones begins to ring. A young college student, Sandra Thorner (Jo-Anne Hannah), answers it. An electrical charge comes through the receiver and kills Sandra, catapulting her through the air. The only witness is a bag lady (Clare Coulter). The police tell Sandra’s parents that she died of a heart attack.
Nat Bridger (Richard Chamberlain) is a college professor. He is scheduled to speak at an ecology symposium in Toronto. Sandra had been one of his students. Sandra’s father, Fil Thorner (Ken Pogue), tells Nat that arrangements have been made regarding Sandra except for two suitcases that the police have. Now that the investigation is over, Fil needs to make arrangements to retrieve the bags from the police. Since he is going to be in Toronto, Nat volunteers to take care of getting them back.
Nat visits the police station and talks to a hardboiled cop named Lt. Meara (Gary Reineke). The two men don’t get along at first, but Nat gets the bags and leaves. Something about the nature of Sandra’s death bothers Nat. He goes to the subway station and sees the bag lady. She tells him that the girl didn’t die of a heart attack. She says that lightning came out of the phone and killed her. Nat notices that the receiver on one of the phones is brand new.
Becoming more intrigued, Nat goes to the home office of the phone company but doesn’t get very far. While there he meets Ridley Taylor (Sara Botsford), an artist who is painting a mural in the lobby. The two strike up a flirtation and end up going to dinner. Nat goes back to the subway stop and damages one of the phones. When the repairman (Thomas Hauff) comes to fix it, Nat asks him about the damage done previously. The repairman tells him that the receiver appeared to have melted. Garnering help from Ridley and then Lt. Meara, Nat launches an investigation that leads to more murders and a disgruntled former phone company employee who is systematically killing anyone he perceives has dissed him.
“Murder by Phone” AKA “Bells” AKA “The Calling” was released in 1982 and was directed by Michael Anderson. It is a Canadian science fiction horror mystery thriller and part of the little-known sub-genre of phone horror. The film is often described as a slasher, but I don’t think that is really qualifies since no sharp weapons are involved, just a phone receiver.
The premise is a little on the silly side. I guess appliances were the big scary thing in the 80’s and 90’s. Movies like “Maximum Overdrive” 1986 and “The Refrigerator” 1991 meant that you couldn’t trust any inanimate object anywhere, even in your own home. Despite the corny plot the movie is serious and plays more like a TV movie of the week than a production such as “Telefon” 1977. Ridiculous, yes, but still fun to watch.
There are two versions of the film. The original was called “Bells”. A shorter version was titled “Murder by Phone” and is more widely known.