Post by Kaz ~:~ on Dec 4, 2016 18:29:02 GMT -6
Directed by: Bob Clark
---------------------
Plot Summary:
A disoriented person climbs up into the attic of a sorority house while the occupants hold a Christmas party. At the party,
Jess Bradford (Olivia Hussey) receives an obscene phone call from "The Moaner", a man who has been calling the house. Jess allows her sorority sisters Barb Coard (Margot Kidder), Phyllis "Phyl" Carlson (Andrea Martin), Clare Harrison (Lynne Griffin), and several other girls to listen in on the call. Barb provokes the caller, who responds by telling the girls that he is going to kill them before hanging up the phone; Barb and Clare argue over the potential threat posed by the caller. Upstairs, Clare begins to pack and while she investigates a noise, she is suffocated with plastic wrapping by the unseen person before placing her body in a rocking chair inside the attic.
The next day, Clare's father arrives to bring her home for the holidays. The Housemother Mrs. Mac (Marian Waldman) and the other girls are taken off guard, believing that Clare left the night before. Meanwhile, Jess meets with her boyfriend Peter Smythe (Keir Dullea), a neurotic aspiring pianist, to inform him that she is pregnant and wants to have an abortion; Peter becomes agitated and urges her to reconsider, but she refuses. Elsewhere, Mr. Harrison, Barb, and Phyl go to the police to report Clare's disappearance while Jess informs Clare's boyfriend Chris (Art Hindle) about the situation. After discussing the case with Lt. Kenneth Fuller (John Saxon), the group learns that a local mother Mrs. Quaife (Martha Gibson) has reported her daughter Janice missing as well.
That evening, Mr. Harrison, Chris, and the sorority sisters join a search party for Janice and Clare. Back at the house, Mrs. Mac is murdered by the unseen assailant with a hook dragging her into the attic. Upon returning home after the search party finds Janice's dead body, Jess receives another obscene call and reports it to the police. She is startled by Peter, who sneaked into the house to confront Jess about her planned abortion; the two argue and he leaves upset. Lt. Fuller then arrives and arranges for the sorority house's phone to be bugged in order to trace the origin of the obscene phone calls.
While Christmas carolers visit the house to sing, the killer takes this opportunity to sneak into Barb's room and stabs her to death with a glass unicorn head as her screams get drowned out from the singing. Afterwards, Jess receives another obscene call that quotes part of the argument she had with Peter.
Phyl goes upstairs into Barb's room to check on her, and she is murdered off-screen. While the assailant phones Jess again, she keeps him on the line long enough for the police to trace the call. Fuller contacts Jess to inform her that the calls are coming from inside the sorority house and ordering her to leave the place immediately. Arming herself with a fireplace poker, Jess goes upstairs to get Barb and Phyl, and discovers both of them dead. The assailant then chases Jess through the house, and she finally barricades herself in the cellar. Peter then appears outside a basement window, telling her he heard screaming. Jess, believing him to be the killer, bludgeons him to death while he enters to approach her.
Lt. Fuller and the police arrive and find a fatigued Jess in the basement with Peter's body. Later, she is sedated into bed and the officers discuss the case; they believe Peter as the killer, although they are puzzled on the absences of Clare and Mrs. Mac's bodies. The police then leave Jess alone to sleep while a sole officer waits outside for a forensics team to arrive. After everyone has left, the assailant - although the identity remains a mystery, reveals that Peter wasn't the killer - whispers "Agnes, it's me Billy." before Jess's phone begins to ring, leaving her fate unknown.
------------------------------------
------------------------------------
Cast:
Olivia Hussey as Jessica "Jess" Bradford
Keir Dullea as Peter Smythe
Margot Kidder as Barbara Coard
John Saxon as Lt. Kenneth Fuller
Marian Waldman as Mrs. MacHenry
Andrea Martin as Phyllis Carlson
James Edmond as Mr. Harrison
Douglas "Doug" McGrath as Sergeant Nash
Arthur "Art" Hindle as Chris Hayden
Lynne Griffin as Clare Harrison
Michael Rapport as Patrick Cornell
Leslie "Les" Carlson as Bill Graham
Martha Gibson as Mrs. Quaife
John Rutter as Laughing Detective
David Clement as Cogan
Julian Reed as Officer Jennings
