I Can See You

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    This is the creepy counterpart to Short Distance Phone Call. It's when someone calls another person from a cell phone. At first the person being called believes the caller to be far away, but then the caller makes a comment like "nice outfit" or whatever, and the person being called realizes he or she is within line of sight of the caller.

    Needless to say, it was even creepier before cell phones came around.

    Also related to The Calls Are Coming From Inside the House. See also Harassing Phone Call. Not to be confused with You Can See Me?.

    Examples of I Can See You include:

    Anime and Manga

    Comic Books

    Film

    • This is generally how the killer or, as we later learn, killers from Scream operates. It's first done during the opening sequence, with Casey getting calls from someone who appears to be rather nice, but soon turns menacing as hell with this exchange:

    Caller: You never told me your name.
    Casey: Why do you want to know my name?
    Caller: Because I want to know who I'm looking at.

      • Later, it gets even more menacing with this exchange after Casey finally gets fed up with the caller:

    Casey: Listen, asshole -- !
    Caller: [aggressively] No, YOU listen, you little bitch! You hang up on me again, I'll gut you like a fish! Understand?! [starts chuckling creepily] Yeah...
    Casey: [scared] Is this some kind of joke?
    Caller: More of a game, really. Can you handle that...blondie?

      • The killer from Scream 2 openly taunts Dewey, Gale and Randy about being able to see them while they sit at a crowded campus in broad daylight. This prompts them to start searching for everyone with a cell phone to find the killer... after all, they assume he can't strike to kill under such circumstances. Turns out he can. The killer was hidden in a news van, pulls Randy inside, butchers him and gets away scot-free.
    • As a spoof of Scream, the killer in Scary Movie plays and subverts this. After making the threatening phone call, he claims that he can see the hot blonde he'd calling. He's actually reading a porn magazine. It gets worse when he issues the threat, "I want to see what your insides look like!". Her response? Telling him to turn to page 54 of the same magazine.
    • Jason Bourne does it to Pamela Landy, twice:
      • In The Bourne Supremacy (talking about getting Nicky to act as a contact)

    Landy: "What if I can't find her?"
    Bourne: "It's easy. She's standing right next to you."

    Bourne: "Get some rest, Pam; you look tired."

        • Keep in mind, during the first scene he has a sniper rifle trained on her the whole just in case he doesn't like what he hears. The second time is far more benevolent.
    • Speed has an interesting example, where The Hero realises that the Mad Bomber can see him and the driver because he calls her a "Wildcat" in relation to the shirt she is wearing.
    • The opening scene of Yes-Man involves Jim Carrey's character on the phone while in a video store. He tells the caller that he is in his apartment, but is caught in the lie when it is revealed that the called is standing right outside the window of said store.
    • Variant in the movie Hannibal - Clarice is trying to track Hannibal Lecter while he taunts her over the phone, and gets close enough to him for him to mess with her hair when he rides by on the carousel.
    • The Caller in Phone Booth is pretty upfront about being able to see Stu, but Stu doesn't believe him at first:

    Stu: You can see me right now?
    The Caller: Uh-huh.
    Stu: What am I doing?
    [Stu scratches himself]
    The Caller: You're scratching your ear. Now you're brushing your hair back.
    [Stu gives the finger to the windows in the buildings around him]
    The Caller: That isn't very nice, Stu.
    Stu: Did you call me Stu? Who's Stu? I don't know any Stu.
    The Caller: Why, do you prefer Stuart?

    • Happens as part of a Scream spoof in The Angriest Video Store Clerk in the World. Somebody phones the video store and starts asking leading questions about "scary movies". The conversation goes downhill after the clerk says that his favourite horror movies are Nosferatu, Suspiria, and Bride of Frankenstein, and the caller has never heard of any of them:

    Clerk: You're damned lucky you're not in the store, buddy!
    Caller: But I am in the store! And I've got a reeaallly big knife. And I think that I might just kill you!!! BWAHAHAHA!!!!
    [beat]
    Clerk: You know, when you laugh that loud it becomes really obvious that you're hiding behind the animation section.

    • "I Know You're There, Charley. I Can See You"
    • In 2008 movie Get Smart, Max has escaped the prison cell and needs to deliver important news to Chief and 99, who are in Los Angeles. She receives a call from him. Chief orders to trace this call. The call traces to the rooftop in Washington. When operatives enter that place, it's Bruce or Lloyd, while Max stands on the rooftop near 99 in Los Angeles. The call is redirected from named cell phone to to Max' shoephone.
    • Frequency has a scene where Frank thinks that this is happening when talking to a weird guy on a shortwave radio. He tells Frank that he knows that Frank just accidentally burned the table. Actually, the weird guy is Frank's son thirty years in the future and he knows about the accident because a 30 year old burn mark has just appeared on the table he is sitting at
    • "Why haven't you checked the children?"
    • In the sci-fi movie Runaway Gene Simmons' character does this twice to Tom Selleck, first by hacking into the security cameras inside the police station ("You're punching buttons on a computer trying to trace this call but you won't because I'm using a mobile phone, shithead!") until his partner puts her cap over the camera. He is not happy. Simmons calls again while Tom Selleck at a restaurant, eventually revealing himself to be sitting next to his partner holding a pistol on her.

    Literature

    • In Harriet Spies Again, this is how Harriet's new friend proves she's an excellent spy in her own right. "I can see you. You're on the telephone. You've got the cord twisted around your wrist." "I'm watching your house with binoculars and I can't see you!"
    • Played for Laughs in Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency: Dirk manages to completely throw Richard off-guard by phoning him when - for what seem to be perfectly sensible reasons - he's broken into his girlfriend's flat and berating him for not having proper equipment, answering the phone, admitting his name and finally - after persuading him to look out the window - standing where he can be photographed.

    Live-Action TV

    • In the series Psych, Detective Juliet O'Hara receives a call from Shawn Spencer. He makes a comment that tips her off to the fact that he can see her. Somewhat subverted. See You Can See Me??
    • In the Cold Case episode "John Henry", the Victim of the Week gets such a call.
    • In Friends, Monica and Chandler are at Ross' apartment across the street and can see the dog the rest of the gang is playing with. They call Phoebe.

    Phoebe: There's no dog here.
    Monica: Yes there is! He's black and white and shaggy and he's sitting next to Rachel and licking Rachel's hand.
    Phoebe: Oh my god! Where are you?

      • Another episode had Ross lying about taking care of Ben, setting up a dummy with a pumpkin head while he was in his apartment just across the street from Monica and Rachel's. The pumpkin fell off and he tried to play it off that "Ben" put his head in his shirt, but he was caught.
    • Happens in an episode of White Collar (1x05), during a hostage negotiation.
    • In an episode of NCIS, Abby's stalker calls her at the office. As she tries to trace the call, the stalker suggests she use a different tracing technique. It takes her a few seconds to realize that that means he's watching through the window.
    • Hawaii Five-0 (the remake): See at 1:20. "Should have taken the deal. By the way, that's a nasty cut on your eye."
    • Amusing version on The X-Files. Scully's arrived at the address Mulder told her to visit, her phone rings, and it's Mulder complimenting her outfit. He's right behind her.
    • Burn Notice, the episode "Dead to Rights".

    Video Games

    • In Metal Gear Solid, Snake runs into Meryl. His priority is getting her somewhere safe (because he feels he owes it to the Colonel, her uncle, who is in the whole mess because she was a "hostage"), but he really didn't count on her insisting on helping him out, or her being pretty badass herself, so she keeps a few steps ahead of him early in the game... and when he asks where she is (at a point where he still seems determined to get her out of trouble, by force if necessary), the answer is "where I can see ya".

    Western Animation

    • In Kappa Mikey, there is an example of this in the episode Hog Day Afternoon.
    • Played for laughs in Home Movies where McGuirk calls Erik and tries to arrange a get-together with him and all their other friends. Erik, looking for an excuse to not go to said get together, lies and says he is looking at his schedule and can't find any free dates. McGuirk then reveals that he is looking in through Eric's window and doesn't see the schedule Erik is talking about.

    Web Comics

    Web Original

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