Too much of everything

Brilliant and touching

Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

This film might as well have been titled: "Show Me Your Tits And Then I Kill You", because that's the killer's plain modus operandi, time after time, with no exception. Lots of women bare their breasts in this film, and they all get strangled for it. The disturbed killer is a Vietnam veteran (how original) with severe mommy & daddy issues (even more original) and scarily portrayed by Nicolas Worth (the guy honestly comes across as cunning, unpredictable and plain nuts). Worth has developed a bit of a cult status as an actor himself, having starred in a couple of early Wes Craven films and even Sam Raimi's "Darkman" (1990). The title of "Don't Answer The Phone" is a bit of a head-scratcher, as hardly any phone rings in this film. There's a psychiatrist lady who has a radio show, and at one point Killer Worth calls her up and strangles a woman, live on the air. Perhaps that explains the movie title to some extend. In the end, "Don't Answer The Phone" is glorious trash, both demented & ridiculous. And well, you may add misogynistic to that as well. While watching it, I experienced flashbacks to other films widely ranging from Martin Scorsese's "Taxi Driver" (1976) over William Lustig's "Maniac" (1980) to Abel Ferrara's "Bad Lieutenant" (1992). But "Don't Answer The Phone" by far can't compete with any of those. It's not exactly a good film, but it manages to keep the attention of the viewer. Aside from the naked women, the strangulations and Worth acting all crazy, there's an amusing homicide cop-duo very determined to capture this maniac. Their adventures alone, are worth it already. And some of the dialogue is grin-inducing (and I'm not even talking about what all Worth gets to utter). At one point the cops are looking for clues out on the streets. Upon interrogating a bum who might know something, one cop sarcastically answers: "The last time this guy gave us a tip, he told us that the Boston Strangler was Tony Curtis.". Way to go script writer! If you don't get this joke right away, then go to the movie page of "The Boston Strangler" (1968) and check out the cast.It's for little things like this that "Don't Answer The Phone" gains points all over the place. Just wait for that scene where the cop-duo enters a brothel to look for a suspect. In one room there's a coke-deal going on and the criminals get alerted in time. Panic ensues, cocaine starts flying all across the room and one bimbo who wants to get rid of the evidence doesn't know any better than to start snorting the whole amount of spilled coke on the desk. Then when the cops enter and catch her snorting, she goes "Wooowie!" with a big smile on her face while lashing out with a whip. Not much later, the two cops shoot the suspect. Both of them shoot numerous time. He's dead, so one cop sighs while saying something along the lines of "Now we're gonna be stuck all night doing paper work on this one". The other cop goes: "What do you mean, 'we'? I missed." I had no idea total exploitation trash could be this funny. Either way, it makes "Don't Answer The Phone" very much worth a watch.

So i was up last night at some ungodly hour and this flick comes on straight out of 1980 about a big, huge guy who strangles the life out of sexy woman in L.A. It's called "Don't answer the Phone" and it stands out at being violent, sexy, and scary. This film caught my eye for two reasons, first off the killer is wearing an Airborne/paratrooper jacket in the movie, which seems to fit extremely well with a "Ed Parker" Kempo Karate patch on the right shoulder. Second, the flesh. Every five minutes some Extreme hottie gets squeezed to dirt, its a ninety minute flesh parade of death and desire dealt out in a lethal, one-sided manner. There's almost no blood to be seen, just lots of strangulation and domination. It's slightly reminiscent of "Maniac" the classic that catapulted Joe Spinell to fame for his role as the bloodthirsty woman butcher. There both excellent pieces of cinema that pushed the genre into cold, tension filled depths, AND they both came out the same year. I'm starting to love Hollywood b-genre, bit actors. Nicholas Worth, Brion Johnson, Joe Spinell and Robert Z'dar round out some of my favorites in this weird, forgotten genre. Ten stars.

In "Don't Answer the Phone" sleazy and fat photographer masked behind pantyhose rapes and strangles women in a various state of undress.The action takes place in the city of sin Hollywood.He lures some of his victims to his photography studio.In his spare time he enjoys lifting weights and calling in to a radio show hosted by Lindsay Gale.Sleazy and sordid serial killer movie with truly demented central performance of Nicholas Worth.The police procedural section of "Don't Answer the Phone" is deadly dull,but the stalking scenes are great and the misogyny is rampant.The film is not as gruesome as "Maniac","Don't Go in the House" or "Nightmare in a Damaged Brain",however if you like them sleazy and nasty you can't miss it.8 out of 10 because the rating should be higher.

This was obviously meant to be a standard late-70s total-waste-of-time movie, an excuse to show topless women squirming and thrashing while being strangled, but Nicholas Worth turns it into a must-see. Actors-in-training and stage-vocalists, especially, can learn from his vocal prowess and from the way he uses his size. He is a huge, hulking basso with the ability to near-totally relax his inhibitions, and he uses his entire range, from resonant, snarling low tones, through a thundering midrange up to a piercing, blubbering whimper at the very top which has to be heard to be believed. He should have been an opera-singer. He could have sung Wagner.The women dress beautifully in late 1970s casual summer-wear, and they get undressed equally beautifully by Worth's character, after (sometimes before) he strangles them to death. (One of them is future PLAYBOY-centerfold Pamela Jean Bryant.) As the other reviewer said, James Westmoreland (Detective McCabe) and Flo Gerrish (Doctor Lindsay Gale) act extremely badly; however, Ben Frank (Detective Hatcher) delivers some very funny lines with excellent cheesy deadpan. Like when McCabe tells him that the strangler has stolen some of the victim's clothes, and he replies: "That's great! Now we got him on petty theft, as well as murder!" Also, Chuck Mitchell, one of the few actors even bulkier than Nicholas Worth, plays a small part as a porno publisher. (If Mitchell looks familiar, it's because he played the Warden in PENITENTIARY and the title character in PORKY'S.) These folks have created a masterpiece in spite of all their best efforts to the contrary.