Rainey Dawn OK I thought, was hoping, this film was more in the vein of "When A Stranger Calls (1979)" but it's nothing like that. This one is just a boring slasher film - nothing more.The killer is laughable - the way he grunts why lifting weights is just too funny and annoying at the same time. The characters are flat & unappealing. This is one of those films you just want everyone to die very quickly to get the film over with - yes it's that bad.There is plenty of blood, nudity and sexual content so if you are looking for a slasher film that contains those elements then you might like this one. Otherwise pass this film by. 1/10

theoshul This was obviously meant to be a standard late-70s total-waste-of-time movie, an excuse to show topless women squirming and thrashing while being strangled, but Nicholas Worth turns it into a must-see. Actors-in-training and stage-vocalists, especially, can learn from his vocal prowess and from the way he uses his size. He is a huge, hulking basso with the ability to near-totally relax his inhibitions, and he uses his entire range, from resonant, snarling low tones, through a thundering midrange up to a piercing, blubbering whimper at the very top which has to be heard to be believed. He should have been an opera-singer. He could have sung Wagner.The women dress beautifully in late 1970s casual summer-wear, and they get undressed equally beautifully by Worth's character, after (sometimes before) he strangles them to death. (One of them is future PLAYBOY-centerfold Pamela Jean Bryant.) As the other reviewer said, James Westmoreland (Detective McCabe) and Flo Gerrish (Doctor Lindsay Gale) act extremely badly; however, Ben Frank (Detective Hatcher) delivers some very funny lines with excellent cheesy deadpan. Like when McCabe tells him that the strangler has stolen some of the victim's clothes, and he replies: "That's great! Now we got him on petty theft, as well as murder!" Also, Chuck Mitchell, one of the few actors even bulkier than Nicholas Worth, plays a small part as a porno publisher. (If Mitchell looks familiar, it's because he played the Warden in PENITENTIARY and the title character in PORKY'S.) These folks have created a masterpiece in spite of all their best efforts to the contrary.

BA_Harrison Snickering Vietnam vet Kirk Smith (Nicholas Worth) is one hell of a sicko: for a living, he shoots obscene pornographic photos, and in his spare time, he strangles pretty young women BEFORE raping them. LA detectives Lt. Chris McCabe (James Westmoreland) and Sgt. Hatcher (Ben Frank) are hot on the maniac's heels, but can they catch him before he kills his latest target, radio psychologist Dr. Lindsay Gale (Flo Lawrence)?With such a sleazy premise, Don't Answer The Phone looks set to be a classic slice of extremely offensive exploitation, but with director Robert Hammer reluctant to go that extra mile to offend, the film falls short of the high (or should that be low?) standards set by his contemporary William Lustig, whose similarly themed film, Maniac, goes all out to shock the viewer.Worth's character, Kirk Smith, is an undeniably repugnant fellow, and what he gets up to certainly ain't nice, but Hammer's approach to his patently sensationalist material is surprisingly cautious: whilst he doesn't mind showing the audience a little nudity (for example, all of the victims have their tops torn off before being choked to death), he doesn't quite seem to possess the cojonas necessary to present his sex and violence in the no-nonsense manner the genre demands.Instead, his characters simply fill us in on the salacious details through conversation: a psychic gives a graphic account of the murder and rape of one girl, offering lurid tidbits of info about Kirk's modus operandi, and several characters pass comment on the particularly explicit nature of his photography. At the risk of sounding like a dangerous psycho myself, I ask 'Where's the really good stuff?'. A few throttlings and some tits only qualify this as exploitation lite!To be fair, Don't Answer The Phone does manage to deliver a couple of scenes that almost make the grade—Kirk strangles a junkie hooker whilst she is live on air with Dr. Gale, and one topless victim is subjected to scalding by melted candle wax— but with too many other scenes pulling their punches, this film is most likely going to disappoint fans of degenerate cinema.5.5 out of 10, generously rounded up to 6 for IMDb.

Zeegrade You need to go into this movie with the right frame of mind. Mainly it's an exploitation movie about murdering women. Of course it's misogynist! What the hell were you expecting Thelma and Louise? That being said Don't Answer the Phone has everything you would expect of this early eighties sleazy slasher. Bad Acting. James Westmoreland is more wooden than a forest. Bad Dialogue. How about ending a movie with "Adios Creep!". Plenty of topless women. It's got that in spades my friend. What separates this movie from the rest is the totally gonzo performance by Nicholas Worth as Kirk Smith the Hollywood strangler. Whether calling in to the local talk show as the thick accented Ramone or his racist diatribe with his "father" Worth goes above and beyond portraying a deeply disturbed Vietnam vet that has some issues with women. Every scene with him is fun to watch especially at the end when he has his prize, Dr. Gale, tied up and pretends to repent and let her go. I actually believed him for a second. This is truly a once in a lifetime performance that should be viewed by any fan of the exploitation/grindhouse genre of films.