Don't Answer the Phone!

I finally had a chance to watch Don't Answer the Phone! uncut as it was shown on IFC in it's complete form. Everything known in the slasher genre is represented here. I think the best movies in the slasher genre occur in the early 80's before everything become slick and pretty. I think the true slasher movies should bring about discomfort and unpleasantness.

We're talking about a depraved wacko, wearing a silk stalking, in a monstrous form, bulky and massive, giggling as he strangles helpless females much smaller than he, his gargantuan hands trapping their throats as if these poor women were caught in a vice. Nicholas Worth has this great physical presence which cuts the perfect profile of a serial killer you don't want awaiting you when you arrive home, undressing after a hard day's(night's)work. If a slasher movie, in my honest opinion, is to truly work, it must leave the viewer very uneasy because we are dealing with disturbing subject matter, brought to life as a reminder of mankind's ability to wreak evil upon innocents.

A radio therapist/psychologist captures this maniac's interest and he prepares to include her in his list of victims. Worth's sicko, Kirk Smith is actually a talented photographer who uses his skills in this profession to move into unknowing future victim's(models)homes, when he isn't selecting other women who grab his interest.



The attacks are plenty distasteful even if there's no serious bloodletting to be seen..the mere sight of struggling petite women, their clothes torn away, unable to escape Kirk's clutches, is enough to make one squirm.

Interesting enough, the detectives, Chris McCabe and Sgt. Hatcher(James Westmoreland & Ben Frank)aren't exactly the most likable heroes, as they are tired, stressed, and under serious pressure to find this psycho leaving dead bodies of girls, destroyed sexually in a heinous fashion after being strangled. They stumble onto leads and evidence, not slick detective work, eventually breaking the case wide open. Flo Lawrence is Dr. Lindsay Gale, the one for which Kirk would call her show under the disguised voice of Ramone.

Director Robert Hammer often shows Kirk alone, talking aloud to himself as if addressing others, often sobbing, always expressing the inner torment of someone grappling with madness. He uses drugs, I figure as a method of release, when he's not using his hands, or a stocking with a coin included for extra agony, to strangle women, from his inner demons. Worth's formidable size is especially disconerting, particularly in one scene where he lifts this poor girl off her feet, despite her every attempt to free herself, upon a couch, wrapping his hands over her throat, squeezing the life out of her like a python ensnaring a tree monkey. He's so powerful that he is able to snap handcuffs after being subdued with a gunshot to the groin. Worth is certain to be remembered by slasher fans after they watch Don't Answer the Phone! The Hollywood streets of this film are deglamorized and we visit many suburban neighborhoods, and this shows us that no place is safe from Kirk Smith.