Don't Answer the Phone
| Don't Answer the Phone | |
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Official poster
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| Directed by | Robert Hammer |
| Produced by | Michael D. Castle Robert Hammer |
| Written by | Michael D. Castle Robert Hammer |
| Starring | James Westmoreland Denise Galik Nicholas Worth |
| Music by | Byron Allred |
| Cinematography | James L. Carter |
| Edited by | Joe Fineman |
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Production
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Scorpion
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| Distributed by | Crown International Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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94 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Don't Answer the Phone! is a 1980 horror thriller film directed by Robert Hammer, written by Hammer and Michael D. Castle.
Former Vietnam vet, amateur bodybuilder, and talented porno-photographer Kirk Smith is a crazed killer who stalks the streets of Los Angeles, picking up young women, strangling them in lurid fashion, and sexually abusing their dead bodies. Between murders, he carries out twisted religious ceremonies, has imaginary conversations with his dead father, and weeps like a baby. He repeatedly contacts Dr. Lindsay Gale, a psychologist with a radio show as well as a private therapy practice. He calls her show, speaking with an assumed Spanish accent and complaining of chronic headaches and blackouts. He follows one of Dr. Gale's female patients home from her therapy session, and tortures her (the patient) to death. He also murders a prostitute while on the phone to Dr. Gale's show, forcing Dr. Gale to listen to the victim's cries.
Two goofy detectives named Hatcher and McCabe are charged with the task of tracking him down. When McCabe first questions Dr. Gale, his manner is brusque and unsympathetic. She develops a strong dislike for him. However, he later prevents one of her patients from committing suicide, after which Dr. Gale becomes fond of McCabe and they have a brief love affair.
Hatcher and McCabe visit a whore-and-drug-house in search of a witness who has seen the strangler leaving the scene of one of his murders, but the witness (who is a pimp and a drug dealer) attacks them and they shoot him to death without being able to question him.
Kirk Smith is interrupted at the scene of his next murder by the victim's landlady, and he leaves a portfolio of photographs behind as he flees the scene. Hatcher and McCabe show the photographs to the local pornography dealer (played by Chuck Mitchell, who would later star in Porky's); he identifies them as the work of Kirk Smith, who has provided him with high-quality pornographic pictures in the past. When the detectives search Smith's apartment, they find his pictures of Dr. Gale and realize that he has selected her to be his next victim. During this time, Smith invades Dr. Gale's home, ties her up, and terrorizes her for hours, ranting about his childhood, grabbing her breast and shouting "Shut up or I'll tear your tit off!"
McCabe goes to Dr. Gale's home just in time to rescue her. At the end of a protracted struggle, McCabe shoots Smith many times, including several times in the back. The film ends with a shot of Smith's bullet-ridden body floating in Dr. Gale's garden pool, while McCabe snarls: "Adios, creep!"
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