Touched by Evil

**SPOILERS** Effective little thriller about a young woman Ellen Collier, Paula Abdual, who after being viciously raped is stalked, as well as her friends, by the same sicko rapist. Breaking into her condo one evening the serial rapist, who already raped 15 women, sadistically rapes the terrified woman and promises her that he'll be back for seconds.With the police stymied to who the rapist is Ellen's life falls apart as she's unable to have any kind of relationship, social or business, with a man.

Meeting Young handsome and caring Jerry Braskin, Adrian Pasdar, in her's condo's laundry room Ellen slowly starts to get out of the shell that she put herself in after she was raped. As luck would have it Jerry is not only sweet and kind to Ellen but is also in business as the owner of a car repair shop which he invites her to enter into a partnership with him.

Ellen's friend and business agent Madge Jaynes, Susan Rattan, is not all that impressed or charmed by Jerry an feels that there's something very strange and dangerous about him. But Ellen, who confided in Jerry about her being raped and Jerry in return tells her that he's an ex-convict, refuses to break up and even has an ongoing sexual affair with him feeling that Jerry paid his dues to society and should't have his record as a convicted criminal held against him.

The movie "Touched by Evil" keeps you guessing to who and what Jerry really is but the evidence points to what he told Ellen: he's a man who paid for what he did and is now going straight. There's a number of incidents in the film that both implicates and exonerates Jerry as the serial rapist but it's not until the last ten minutes that you, and Ellen, finally realize what the truth is about him.

Worth watching just for Miss. Abudal's performance which is a lot better then you would have expected since you never think of her being anywhere as good an actress as she is a singer. Paula does a very convincing job as a rape victim and suffering from the post traumatic shock in the way rape affects a woman after she survives it.

The story itself is a bit off since there's a lot of loose ends in it that are left unexplained. Like the rapist obsession with Ellen by constantly tormenting her, he never did that to any of his other victims, even after he went out in the night to rape other women. It's also never explained what he had to do with a string of burglaries since it seemed that he took nothing from Ellen's condo which had a lot of valuable items in it after he raped her so why burglarize his other victims?

I just watched this movie tonight; I guess it was re-run from its original showtime in 1997. All I have to say is dang... this was one SORRY TV movie. I mean I love Paula Abdul but this movie is far from a success and possibly one of the WORST made for TV films I have seen.

It leaves time for no character development and I mean immediately after the rape you know who the rapist is; there is NO ONE else (except at the end) that you would think is the rapist. The whole movie is centered around the main character Ellen (played by Abdul) trying to overcome being raped and she finds this guy (puh-leese) who she ends up suspecting isn't all that he says he is.

I found this movie to be very predictable and at the end when the true rapist is shown I had to laugh out loud because it was SOOOO corny!

Bottom line: if you're bored, have nothing else to do and this movie comes on TV by all means watch it and waste 2 hours of your life. Otherwise, DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME!

It was an okay attempt by Ms. Abdul to get into acting but this movie falls short of success (way short).

Out of a possible score of 10, I give this movie a 4 :(

I watched and recorded this movie when it first aired, just because Paula Abdul was in it. But I actually like it. It's obvious who the rapist is immediately, and Paula has some of the stupidest lines, but I liked this movie. It just has something that makes you want to watch it and see what happens at the end, even though you know it's coming. But mainly for Paula fans. She did better than people would suspect. The ending won't shock you. The plot in general won't shock you. But it's still a good TV movie in it's own right. I could definitely see Paula going on to better acting roles. "Touched By Evil" was #3 in it's timeslot when it first aired, so obviously people enjoyed it enough to finish it to the end.

Yeah this movie is not very good. I never leaves anyone guessing and it is very weak. I would have expected Paula Abdul to choose a better screenplay for her first major dramatic work. Abdul is ok in this movie but she is much better at comedy vs drama. Her performances on sitcoms like; The Single Guy, Cybil, Wayan Brothers and Sabrina, were all very funny and very good. So if you want to see Abdul at the top of her game, check out those sitcoms in re runs or buy her music videos and concerts, dont watch this movie!

I've got just one word for this movie --- Oscar!!! Paula Abdul shines in her starring role in "Touched by Evil," a tragic tale of love, betrayal, rape and some more betrayal.

Paula plays the role of a sassy, brassy career girl with a penchant for shoulder-padded power suits. She's got it all, until she's brutally assaulted and raped by a masked man.

She survives, but now Paula has a new accessory for those power suits -- Fear.

Then she meets Jerry, played by some actor whose name I can't remember. He's a successful car detailer with a checkered past.

But for Paula, he seems like he's got everything to offer -- including a felony conviction! and three "rings"! -- and he could be the "one." But is he really what he seems? Hmm. I wonder.

Anyway, Paula -- who's as a good as solving mysteries as she is picking her men -- spends the next hour or so trying to figure out Jerry's secret. Plus, she's getting stalked by a guy who loves bad 80s tunes. Yikes! Nancy Drew, she ain't. But our gal Paula sure can chew the scenery. And I thought she was just a singer.

Straight up, now tell me, you're going to love this movie.