Murder By Phone (1982)

Film Title: Murder by Phone
Also known as: Bells, Hell's Bells, The Calling
Released: December 1982
Directed by: Michael Anderson
Written by: Michael Butler, John Kent Harrison & Dennis Shryack based on a story by George Armondo, Michael Butler, Dennis Shryack & James Whiton
Starring: Richard Chamberlain & John Houseman

Plot: Some one is killing people using the telephone. When one of his former students becomes a victim, environmental professor Nat Bridger tries to unravel the mystery and stop the madman responsible!

IMDb: 5.5/10
Rotten Tomatoes: No score
My Score: 2/5

Murder by Phone, also commonly known as Bells, is a 1982 Richard Chamberlain vehicle directed by the Oscar-nominated Michael Anderson. Chamberlain is Nat Bridger, an environmental professor who gets embroiled in a serial killer's rampage when one of his former students is murdered. Personal favorite John Houseman is Stanley Markowitz, Chamberlain's mentor who puts him up at his house while Chamberlain is in town to speak at a symposium. While investigating the girl's murder, Chamberlain encounters a hard-nosed cop (Gary Reineke) and uncovers a series of murders involving telephones. When he goes to the phone company to make inquiries into the matter, he is brushed off none too subtly by the powers that be who are trying to keep the situation under wraps. Of course this only strengthens his resolve to get to the bottom of things. This is a silly but interesting premise and the movie really doesn't live up to the potential of it. Chamberlain is stiff and unrelateable and even the indomitable Houseman seems to struggle with the thin plot. The ideas of an evil telephone company and killer telephones are pretty good ones and would have succeeded better if played tongue-in-cheek. The result, however, is a preposterous but inventive, poorly scripted and ultimately forgettable film. Not even the killer is memorable and the script doesn't even really explain his motivations for killing people. Sara Botsford co-stars as Chamberlain's love interest. Watch the good bits of the movie (the death scenes) below or the whole movie here.