Sheesh--what a STUPID movie! Two cousins played by hunky Patrick O'Bryan and nerd Stephen Geoffreys get involved with a satanic phone line (the title). O'Bryan ignores it but Geoffreys loves it. Naturally it possesses him and he starts to kill anybody who ever picked on him.<br /><br />This is Robert Englund's sole directorial movie--it's easy to see why! The basic story line is ridiculous (a satanic phone line--come on!), the dialogue is horrible and this moves at a snails pace (even at only 92 minutes). The makeup at the end is laughable and the "special" effects are truly dismal. At times the story doesn't even make sense!<br /><br />As for the acting--not good. O'Bryan is very handsome and has got a great body--too bad he can't act. Geoffreys plays his role WAY too nerdy and is even lousy when he's killing--and he was so good in "Fright Night" four years earlier! What happened? Small wonder that he now does gay porn. Jim Metzler appears drugged as someone investigating the strange goings on. But worst of all is the late Sandy Dennis in her second to last role. I THINK she's trying to be funny but she's not. She's loud, abrasive and incredibly annoying. But she has a great introduction--she comes on screen wearing a Bride of Frankenstein hair do! <br /><br />I'm a huge horror fan and really wanted to like this (because of Robert Englund) but I couldn't. I actually dozed off halfway through the film! Boring and silly--a complete waste of time. I give this a 1.