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A note to any wannabe actors: study Mark Harmon's performance heavily here. You will learn all the tricks to being sauve, slick, sinister and charming. Unfortunately, the part had to be inspired by real events, of 70's wacko Ted Bundy. Masquerading as a law student with a talent of attracting girls seemingly in every port, a different man takes over at night as Harmon stalks and kills young women. This element of the film got a bit redundant after awhile, and really isn't the key. Neither is the endless policework that can be seen weekly on every prime-time cop show. It's Harmon's way of double-talking his girlfriends, and especially, the police. Watching Harmon's scenes on the witness stand or in the questioning room of the police station are your chance to watch a total pro at work. And the actors portraying the cops aren't slouches either. Tons of veterans like M. Emmett Walsh, Frederic Forest and John Ashton are featured. And a very effective performance from unknown journeyman actor George Grizzard, as Bundy's only friend through it all. He comes off very likable as the guy who just can't bring himself to condemn this young buck he admires. The two or three actresses featured here and there do ok as well. The only mis-step for the film is the majorly overdone, if still somewhat creepy music score. It gets a bit B-movie at times, but it adds to the eerieness of the film's tone. Though at 3 hours (4 if you're watching with commercials) it grips you from start to finish. But the real draw, most notably for aspiring actors, is to forget classes and watch Mark Harmon put on a clinic for performing.

Forget the fact that this was a TV movie. The only thing which possibly could have prevented this movie from being released in theaters was its time (of nearly three and a half hours). Otherwise, it's probably the best movie about Ted Bundy ever released.

Mark Harmon is surprisingly good in this movie. The reason I say surprising is because he has had comedy roles before this one (e.g. "St. Elsewhere"), so you wouldn't expect him to play a complex serial killer as well as he actually does. What Harmon manages to do is portray Bundy as a complex character, successfully balancing Bundy's outer charm and inner sociopathic ways. I have seen other movies about Bundy, and those actors portray one side of him with inaccurate results. It really takes the person who plays Bundy to carry the entire movie, and when such a complicated serial killer is played the wrong way, the entire movie comes off as an exploitation or a cheap horror film.

This movie also gives detail into the police who are trying to track him down, and that information is equally as fascinating as Bundy's character. The addition of the late Dick Larson (portrayed by George Grizzard), the reporter who wrote the book to which the movie was based, gave a really good outsider's perspective of the Ted Bundy case. It's almost as if Larson was added in to represent the idea of the viewers. After all, it is Larson who wonders towards the end of the movie how a well-educated, ambitious, promising young man (who majored in psychology, no less) could be so ruthless when he could have been much better in life. The movie doesn't admittedly delve into Bundy's thought process, but it doesn't really have to. Plus, many authors have attempted to analyze Bundy, and a movie which does the same could take five hours to even cover the basics.

It's really all the perspectives of Bundy that make this movie great. From Bundy's own perspective to that of the police to Larson, and finally to the victim's families. One especially difficult part of the movie was when one of the victim's fathers goes into the coroner's office to identify the remains of his daughter. His wife stays outside on his insistence, and the shouting that comes from him says it all. I don't know if R-rated freedom to show the victim's true remains would do that scene any more justice. It's one of the movie's many terrifying moments.

I'm also surprised that this two-part series was shown late at night, because I was unable to get to sleep after seeing the Chi Omega scene. The editing in that scene is terrific, and it stays in your mind long after the movie is over. I count myself fortunate to have seen this movie during the daytime when I didn't have to go to bed afterwords.

So simply put, this movie is still a must see, and that's saying a lot for a TV movie that was made in 1986. As of the date I am writing this review, the movie has yet to be released on DVD, and can only be seen either on Lifetime or on its now out-of-print videocassette. It's a great movie about a still-mysterious serial killer that tells us enough to keep us glued to the screen. It's a must see, but it's far more difficult going to sleep after seeing it.

The Deliberate Stranger is scary as hell!I first saw this TV-movie when I was in college.I watched in in a floor lounge with some of the girls in my dorm.It scared all of us.There are a few factual and name changes(I caught them because I read both the Larsen book and Ann Rule's book The Stranger Beside Me)but they don't detract from the well-written and directed film.Veteran TV director Chomsky acquites himself nicely.The movie hangs on the performance of the actor playing Bundy,and Mark Harmon delivers,boy does he!His performance as Bundy is absolutely bone-chilling in his ability to portray the switch from charming hunk to homicidal rage.The scene in the sorority house is one of the scariest I've ever seen in a TV-movie! Good performances also come from Glynnis O'Connor as Cas ,his devoted but ultimately doubting girlfriend,Frederuc Forrest as Bundys's chief nemesis,Det. Bob Keppel,the always dependable M.Emmet Walshs as a veteran Washington cop,John Ashton as Keppel's partner,Ben Masters and Frederick Coffin as the two other detectives who pursue Bundy,and George Grizzard as Larsen,whoportrays effectively Larsen's journey frombeing Bund's friend to coming to the realization of just what he is.Unlike others,I also liked Gil Melle's score. 10 out of 10

I think this movie is very good and it keeps you on the edge of your seat the whole way through. This movie is based on the murders of the famous mass murderer, Ted Bundy. This movie is entertaining, but on the other hand it's disturbing and depressing also. It would be bad enough if this movie were fiction, but this isn't fiction. Ted Bundy, the main character in this movie, began a murdering spree back in the middle 1970's and murdered many young innocent girls. This movie shows how looks can certainly be deceiving because Ted Bundy was not only a very handsome young man, but he was also very intelligent, well liked, and in fact studying to be a lawyer. In this film, it shows how nieve young girls can be. Who'd think this young and charming good lookin guy could have such a dark and cold side to him?! Well not many people thought this, no one at all. But of course this all changed when it was discovered that Ted Bundy murdered a bunch of young girls. I give this movie a 9/10 because it's very accurate. I think Mark Harmon did an excellent job with his role of Ted Bundy in the movie! It's definately worth seeing if you're interested in non-fiction stories, and also if you're interested in true-crime stuff.

Many of the books and movies about Bundy out there often focuses mainly on the serial killer himself. This movie is no exception, but - it also shows us how the victim's family and the detectives are affected by his horrendous acts. Surely not enough is being told about each of the victims (Ann Rule however does a good job of this in her book), but it is the one movie so far that gives some acknowledgement to them. And otherwise it is a good movie, script, casting, acting and staying to the facts. They do not explicitly show the murders - unlike the movie "Bundy", which btw is awful - and this is a good thing as we are capable of realising the monster he was but not having to feed into the misogynistic viewings that often show women being hurt. It does a great job of balancing telling the story of the victims and their killer in a truthful way without being gruesome and disrespectful to the victims.