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Don't Hang Up

  • 1974
  • PG
  • 1h 25m
IMDb RATING
4.9/10
684
YOUR RATING
Don't Hang Up (1974)
Slasher HorrorHorrorThriller

In this horror movie, a dutiful grand-daughter goes home to take care of her elderly grandmother. Once there, she finds herself trapped inside the house with a homicidal maniac.In this horror movie, a dutiful grand-daughter goes home to take care of her elderly grandmother. Once there, she finds herself trapped inside the house with a homicidal maniac.In this horror movie, a dutiful grand-daughter goes home to take care of her elderly grandmother. Once there, she finds herself trapped inside the house with a homicidal maniac.

  • Director
    • S.F. Brownrigg
  • Writers
    • Frank Schaefer
    • Kerry Newcomb
  • Stars
    • Susan Bracken
    • Larry O'Dwyer
    • Gene Ross
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    4.9/10
    684
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • S.F. Brownrigg
    • Writers
      • Frank Schaefer
      • Kerry Newcomb
    • Stars
      • Susan Bracken
      • Larry O'Dwyer
      • Gene Ross
    • 31User reviews
    • 28Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • Photos31

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    Top cast9

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    Susan Bracken
    • Amanda Post
    Larry O'Dwyer
    • Claude Kearn
    Gene Ross
    Gene Ross
    • Judge Stemple
    James N. Harrell
    • Dr. Crawther
    • (as Jim Harrell)
    Hugh Feagin
    • Nick
    Annabelle Weenick
    Annabelle Weenick
    • Annie
    Rhea MacAdams
    Rhea MacAdams
    • Grandmother
    • (as Rhea McAdams)
    John Steakley
    • Local 1
    Jeffrey Swann
    • Local 2
    • Director
      • S.F. Brownrigg
    • Writers
      • Frank Schaefer
      • Kerry Newcomb
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews31

    4.9684
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    Featured reviews

    7christopher-underwood

    a real creepy affair

    Not quite as good a low budget effort as Mr Brownrigg's earlier, 'Don't look In The Basement' but still well worth catching. This starts rather slow and predictably but soon develops into a real creepy affair with an excellent central performance from Susan Bracken as she spends the entire movie fending off the crazies. Whilst she may not be surrounded by folks quite as crazy as in the earlier film none of them are the sort you would wish to get too close to and as the film progresses a most unpleasant tone begins to permeate the picture. Bracken does plenty of wide eyed screaming, particularly as she really begins to lose it towards the end and with her red outfit and the dark shadows and is certainly a sight to be seen.
    6franklineley

    Low Budget Regional Horror with Bite

    An eerie low budget shocker that features a lot of the horror/thriller standbys such as creepy phone calls, a young woman returning to a scary childhood home, and lots of frightening mannequins. Performances are stagey and pitched a little too high but it all adds to the charm.
    7thomandybish-15114

    My Favorite S.F. Brownrigg Movie!

    Over the years, various indie horror filmmakers have cult followings, sometimes for the low quality of the films (Ed Wood and Andy Milligan spring to mind). Probably because of the high profiles of these schlockmeisters, low budget horror films from the 1970s seem, almost without exception, to be synonymous with bad movie making.

    The movies of S.F. Brownrigg are not part of that group.

    Yeah, it's all opinion, but come on, look at his work. Or more specifically, THIS work, lensed in Jefferson TX and utilizing one of the most beautiful Victorian houses I've ever seen. I won't spend much time talking about the story because others have already covered that. A young woman returns to her childhood home (where her mother was murdered 13 years before) to care for her ailing grandmother. She's menaced by an obscene phone caller. That's it.

    Wait a minute. That's really just a springboard for something deeper. The plot hardly has any twists (or twists you don't see coming), but look at the various aspects of the production. Brownrigg had a dedicated stock company of actors, who gamely took on whatever role he gave them. The acting runs from competent to excellent--there's nary a bad performance in this, or any other Brownrigg movie. He had a penchance for casting gorgeous female leads, and Susan Bracken is no exception. Looking like a BABY DOLL-era Carroll Baker, Bracken is not only lovely, but feisty as well. You can't take your eyes off her. Larry O'Dwyer may have only appeared in this movie, but he turned in a performance that ranks up there as one of the creepiest in all of Brownrigg's oeuvre. It's both icky and believable; anyone who's lived in a small town knows somebody who fits this profile. Despite being filmed in Texas, there's a deep South vibe to this flick, one that lends itself to a suffocating, insane atmosphere. You can almost feel the humidity and deep, dark secrets festering in the shadows of tradition and heritage. And the house . . . Brownrigg utilized The House of the Seasons, an ornate Victorian confection that, as of this writing, is open as a B & B in Jefferson. The house boasts a cupola decorated by a stained glass dome, a setting that plays prominently in one action sequence. Don't think this film is competently made? Check out the tracking sequence that follows Bracken's character as she moves up the stairwell into the cupola. That's not the kind of thing you see in low-budget 1970s horror, and it's not the kind of shot attempted by a no-talent hack. Brownrigg didn't let budgetary contraints put the kibosh on a creative filmmaking.

    And those dolls . . . is there anything creepier? A real historical society museum and doll museum were used as filming locales, and Brownrigg was savvy enough to use some of the dolls in his title sequence. Accompanied by a harpsichord-heavy score, the sequence, a series of pans across the doll's faces on a black background, is suitable unnerving. I was reminded of Tobe Hooper's opening sequence for THE FUNHOUSE (which of course was filmed nearly 10 years later), in which the creepy automatons emerge from sliding panels. Atmosphere is as thick as the air on a mid-summer's Texas day. Good acting, creative camera angles, ingenious use of locals, a looming sense of dread--what more can I say? Way to go, Brownie!
    ehoshaw

    Pretty good; twisted and spooky

    I admit it. I love this film. True, it has it's drawbacks...like how in many scenes you hear a lot of camera noise and see the boom mike popping up here and there. Also, this thing is real low-budget. However, the acting is retty good (especially from Susan Bracken) and there are some scenes that are really chilling. The plot deals with a curvaceous blonde named Amanda returning to her hometown to care for her sick grandmother. Years ago her mother was stabbed to death there by an unknown slasher. Once she is back at the house, a freaked out transvestite starts axing random folks and calling Amanda, seducing her and whispering perverse lines over the phone. The music is cheesy but good and there are some really creepy scenes involving dolls and a lot of twisted little touches. The gore is low and the ending is somewhat disappointing, but overall this movie is quite watchable.
    5herleifl

    Goodnight Amanda

    The film is worth watching for the extremely unsettling phone calls the protagonist gets while in her grandmothers big house alone... That and a general creepy mood and giallo like filming makes this a nice old horror. There's some killing but it's not over the top.

    Acting is also .. not bad actually, the girl is headstrong and the judge has a menacing persona fitting the film, the museum curators face has a plasticity that makes his real emotions eerily unpredictable, well done sir

    Plot vise this dosent make much sense but I can't say much without spoiling things, I don't think that matters as much as you might think though, crazy people dont act rationally do they.

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    Related interests

    Roger Jackson in Scream (1996)
    Slasher Horror
    Mia Farrow in Rosemary's Baby (1968)
    Horror
    Cho Yeo-jeong in Parasite (2019)
    Thriller

    Storyline

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    Did you know

    Edit
    • Goofs
      The shot of the man's lifeless face is actually Amanda Post's doctor boyfriend, Nick, dead on the ground floor - not Judge Stemple upstairs.
    • Connections
      Featured in Dusk to Dawn Drive-in Trash-o-Rama Show Vol. 5 (1998)

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    FAQ14

    • How long is Don't Hang Up?Powered by Alexa
    • Released in 1974 but has a 1979 copyright

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • May 1, 1974 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Don't Hang Up!
    • Filming locations
      • Jefferson, Texas, USA
    • Production companies
      • Century Studios
      • Jefferson Productions (II)
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      • 1h 25m(85 min)
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Mono
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.85 : 1

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