What happens when the woman picks up the phone in a slasher film?
Why does she - or her friends - have to die?
What would happen if there was another way?

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This video essay explores the role of the landline in five canonical telephone slasher films - Sorry, Wrong Number (1948), Black Christmas (1974), When a Stranger Calls (1979) and Scream (2022). It utilises the potential of videographic criticism to imagine alternative endings for Leona, Jess, Jill, and Tara.

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First draft conceptualised at the Scholarship in Sound and Image Workshop on Videographic Criticism, Middlebury College, Vermont, USA, July 2022.

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Made by Alison Peirse

Artwork and Soundtrack by _HEAVYLEG