Stranger Within

Well I actually did not require a doctor to realize The Stranger Within was going to be painful to watch. Why oh why do I continue to subject myself to films who are written and then directed by the same person. In this case the perpetrator is a guy named Adam Neutzky- Wuff. Adam's prior director experience is limited to television and I assume he must have thought this film would go direct to DVD which it obviously warranted to avoid a box office flop.

This so called thriller evolves around the married couple Psychiatrist Robert played by William Baldwin and his wife, who happens to play a stage and star actress named Emily, played by Estella Warren. Emily is such a great tortured soul that she tortured me while I waited for the movie to come to a resounding end, and the only sound I heard besides a terrible melodramatic soundtrack was the sound of another flop!

Emily has an affair with her best friend's lover, and shortly after Emily's best friend turns up dead. Poor poor Emily then gets kidnapped by a hooded stranger who subjects poor Emily to 5 days of rape and torture. The director Adam Neutzky-Wuff must know a few things about torture because that is what he subjects his audience in to watching.

Emily's husband Robert convinces her that they need to get away from all this trauma so they rent a beautiful villa with a great scenic and panoramic view (which happens to be the only reason I rated this a 3) to help Emily forget about her fear and the hallucinations she has been experiencing since the death of her best friend.

No thriller would be complete without an unexpected young and attractive damsel in distress appearing out of nowhere, seeking the assistance of the great Psychiatrist Robert to help her get over the so called accidental death of her husband who fell off the cliffs that overlook Robert and Emily's beautiful villa. The stranger within is actress Sarah Butler, who plays Sarah. Is this going to end up being a love triangle, or is there a murderer amongst the four occupants? Did I say four occupants, when only three have been introduced? That is because Emily's male friend Michael, played by Jeffrey Pierce just shows up whenever the director feels like adding him in to his script but doesn't explain why Michael just seems to disappear from the film after each of his brief scenes with Emily.

The ending could not come soon enough. As a child who places his hand to close to a heated element on the stove top, if you want to avoid getting burned as I did with The Stranger Within, then heed my rating of 3 out of 10.

It started off alright, but then it started to become boring. They have this scene in the beginning with trauma to her, but the rest of the movie goes in a different direction as if it was a different story. The lead actress, sorry, but she needs sleep needs to stop doing drugs/drinking before her scenes. No one ones to see under eye bags. She also was terrible portraying her character. I figured out the plot, but this movie still didn't make sense. I guess we were supposed to be scared maybe? Not sure. The filming locations were beautiful. Just not sure about the uneven story line. Leaves questions and not the good kind.

So you thought the erotic thriller movie (at least the one that is also portrayed in this particular movie) won't be seeing the light of day anymore? Well, welcome back to the 80s (or maybe even early 90s). This is a flashback (something you get in the movie too). The acting is spot on with the theme it has. Which doesn't mean it's good.

But if you're like me, you are a sucker for Sara Butler and you love to see her, even in a lesser movie like this one (she also appears in her "Eve" costume). There won't be many surprises in this one (you'll figure it out, before it begins). The suspense is low, the cinematography is nice and that's about it

We guessed it was going to be bad, but we were enjoying a tipple and wanted something lightweight to watch. Firstly the acting was appalling - two trees would have been more convincing. Then there's the direction - sudden glimpses of scary imaginary things - all the clichéd shock stuff that became annoying many decades ago.

Then we come to the script and the story-line. The whole set-up just would never have happened. We sat there laughing that - no, he wouldn't have done that and no, that bit makes no sense and why didn't she do such and such. Nonsensical from beginning to end.

Suffice it to say that it went downhill as it continued. The reason I didn't give it one star is that we got some entertainment value from picking every scene to pieces. Trying to think if I can say something good about it - nope, I can't.

What a waste of time. The beginning was pretty exciting, but the rest of the movie is so terrible! Amateuristic acting, bad directing and a bas plot. I was waiting for it to get good the whole time, but no such luck. Not worth the time!