Film

The Killer Is on the Phone

A 1972 Italian thriller about a woman terrorized by her husband's killer—except she's forgotten the entire crime. Telly Savalas prowls through a tense, paranoid game where the hunter doesn't realize his prey has no memory of what he's hiding. Moody, deliberately paced, built on a clever premise that never quite becomes the film it wants to be.

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you love slow-burn suspense where a stalker closes in on a frightened woman through ordinary rooms and telephone calls, and you don't mind a plot that bends toward the lurid.

Skip it if the pacing is unhurried and the reasoning behind the chase can feel thin, so if you want tight, airtight plotting, look for it somewhere else.

What it asks of you: At ninety-six minutes it runs lean, but its tension builds slowly through long stretches of quiet, unsettling close-ups broken by sudden jolts.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Don't Look Now1973

Roeg's masterpiece of paranoia and grief in Venice. A couple fractured by loss sees omens everywhere. The tension coils tighter with each scene, and the ending rewires everything you've seen.

But Deliberately cryptic and slow. If you need everything spelled out, or you're impatient with ambiguity, this will feel like watching someone else's nightmare.

Don't Look Now poster

Suspiria1977

Argento's hypnotic nightmare about a dancer entering a mysterious academy. Vivid, surreal, genuinely unsettling. The score alone will stay in your head for days.

But It prioritizes mood and image over logic or explanation. The plot barely holds together, and that's intentional—which some find frustrating rather than artistic.

Suspiria poster

The Long Good Friday1980

Bob Hoskins at his volcanic best as a London crime boss watching his empire collapse in real time. Grimy, violent, funny, and genuinely tense. Every scene crackles with threat.

But Extremely British, set in the IRA underworld of 1980. If the setting feels remote or the violence too direct, it won't connect.

The Long Good Friday poster

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The Killer Is on the Phone

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Phantom of the Paradise1974

Both explore the asymmetry of knowledge: a killer stalking someone who can't remember, a phantom bound to his creation. One has amnesia; the other has obsession. Both are games played in the dark.

De Palma's operatic fever dream: a composer's obsession, a murdered past, a rock nightmare. It sounds like a horror film but plays like a musical. Wildly inventive, darkly funny, utterly singular.

But Genre-defying can mean it doesn't satisfy as thriller or musical. The tone is arch and campy; if you want grounded stakes, you won't find them.

Phantom of the Paradise poster
More like this (7)

Klute1971

Jane Fonda as a call girl drawn into a murder investigation. Paranoid 70s craft: the stalking feels real, the relationship messy. Pakula understands that safety is an illusion.

But Slow and character-focused. The plot sprawls without conventional payoffs. If you want a tidy mystery, this isn't it.

Klute poster

Zombie Flesh Eaters1979

Fulci's Italian shocker: atmospheric, gruesome, and utterly committed to its own logic. The shark-versus-zombie scene alone is worth the price of entry. Pure cinema.

But Extremely gory and nihilistic. Dialogue is clunky, the plot paper-thin. This is visceral and crude; it makes no apology for either.

Zombie Flesh Eaters poster

Deep Red1975

Argento's giallo masterpiece. A pianist witnesses a murder and becomes the killer's target. Surreal, violent, gorgeously shot. The mystery genuinely matters.

But Brutal and misogynistic by modern standards. The dubbing is jarring. It's also nearly two and a half hours of mounting dread that requires patience.

Deep Red poster

The Killing of a Chinese Bookie1976

Cassavetes' rough, intimate crime film. A strip-club owner drawn into debt and murder. Raw performances, real consequence, no sentimentality. Genuinely lived-in.

But Deliberately unglamorous and unfocused. Dialogue overlaps. If you want polish or clear plotting, this will feel shapeless and slow.

The Killing of a Chinese Bookie poster

Possession1981

Zulawski's baroque breakdown. A marriage implodes into violence, occultism, and madness. Visually audacious and genuinely unsettling. It refuses to look or feel like anything else.

But Deliberately fractured and excessive. The climax is surreal body horror. Some find it brilliant; others find it incoherent.

Possession poster

The Watcher

A taut Eurospy paranoia piece. Lean plotting, genuine menace, the kind of tight 90-minute film that modern thrillers forget how to make.

But Obscure and dated. By today's standards, it feels skeletal. There's not much meat on these bones.

The Vanishing1988

Identical premise flipped: here, the obsessive *victim's* survivor pursues his stalker, reversing all power dynamics. Both are games of who knows what. Both suggest knowledge itself becomes a curse.

A Dutch masterpiece about obsession from the opposite angle: a man becomes consumed tracking the man who took his girlfriend. Quiet, methodical, morally queasy. The ending is one of cinema's cruelest.

But Deliberately slow-burn psychological torture. The payoff is ambiguous and bleak. Some people find it profound; others find it punishing.

The Vanishing poster

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