The Robert Drasnin theme music from Daughter of the mind (1969) is a perfect suited theme song for this psychological thriller. It actually hints the fact that its not a ghost story but a deep rooted thriller within the hood of supernatural ambiance. I still have horrors just remembering the words from other side of the phone - "Auntie my Helen... " I loved Ben Gazzara's persona in the movie. However, its the young Michael Douglas (28 years old) playing a much mature psychologist with tainted emotional setup is almost uncaught up until the climax. Loved the movie and its twists - would have been great if remade with selective cast for the big screen!

'Shattered Silence' AKA 'When Michael Calls' (1972) Craig (M. Douglas) has lost his brother Michael 15 years prior to the beginning of the story. Michael begins to call Helen (E. Ashley) on the phone, seemingly in distress every call. Doremus (B. Gazzara) is Helen's ex-husband or soon to be ex - but he is there to help Helen through this terrible nightmare and to solve the mystery of Michael.Micheal calls Helen "Auntie" which is odd. Craig and Michael are brothers and if Michael is Helen's nephew then Craig would be Helen's other nephew. *In reality Helen and Craig are just close to one another, friends - according to the Wiki article.* Why we are lead to believe that Helen and Michael are related/family and not Craig is strange in itself. Most every source says Michael is Helen's nephew or A woman (Helen) receives phone calls from a relative. - when he is not.A good thriller - bizarre. Worth watching if you get a chance to see it. Those phone calls from Micheal will have you shivering. :) 8.5/10

Elizabeth Ashley is receiving phone calls from her nephew Michael--he's crying, screaming and asking for help. The problem is Michael died 15 years ago. This film scared me silly back in 1972 when it aired on ABC. Seeing it again, years later, it STILL works.The movie is a little slow and predictable, the deaths are very tame, it's never explained why it takes Michael 15 years to call and there's a tacked-on happy ending, but this IS a TV movie so you have to give it room. Elizabeth Ashley is excellent, Ben Gazzara is OK and it's fun to see Michael Douglas so young. And those telephone calls still scare the living daylights out of me. I actually had to turn a light on during one of them!A creepy little TV movie. Worth seeing.

I remember being scared to death when this film first aired on TV in 1971. Of course, I was all of nine years old at the time. When Michael Calls was recently shown on Fox Movies, and I had a chance to relive my memories of terror. Surprisingly, the film holds up remarkably well, even with the tacked on and predictable happy ending that ties up all the loose ends. I even had to turn a light on while I watched!