Otages

This film is sleazy and exploitive in the extreme. That's not much of a surprise, since it was directed by the man responsible for the (inept) first "Friday the 13th" film. What I DID find mildly surprising was the director's ability to shoot some reasonably suspenseful scenes in the middle of all the sleaze, proving that, when he doesn't overuse gore, he is competent enough. For a low-budget exploitation film, this isn't too bad.

I remember when I watched this movie in the late 80's in my country on TV, many years after it got released, I was around 6 or 7, and I remembered some scenes that totally freaked me out. After that, my mother didn't let me watch the rest, and then I could not find it anywhere because I didn't remember the name. I finally found it a couple of days ago, and I stared remembering the scenes that frighten me when I was a kid. Right now that we have movies like A Serbian Movie, Hostel, The Human Centipede, and on and on, where everything is super explicit, and hardly ever any survivors, same as perfect makeup effects, so watching a vintage movie where there is no blood at all, where you see always a way to escape (I tend to do that in all the movies where someone is trapped), perhaps you won't find it really thrilling, but if you consider the time period where it was made, with the effects that were available at that time, and the time when the action happens, 1980, with no cellphones, no internet, no DNA tests, and many other details, it is scary, and still believable.

I had recently get this on inter-loan from the library.

I I'll have to say, out of all the Mary Higgins Clark movie adaptations which my mom and I enjoy, this one feels the most serious and feels R-rated.

Since this is directed by guy who made the original Friday the 13th, this film has a little bite to it.

Rip Torn plays the mysterious kidnapper who adducts an 11 year old girl played by cute Shawn Von Schreiber and a reporter played by sexy Kate Mulgrew.

A large some of money must be met by the kidnapper or he will kill both Kate and the girl.

I love the dark claustrophobic atmosphere and the thickness of the high tension.

Rip Torn is excellent as the sleazy manic mad man, I had never seen him be a villain in anything before. I had only seen him in very little, but enjoyed him in the Men in Black movies.

Kate Mulgrew is another actress I had seen in very little, the only movie we own with her is Throw Momma from the Train, and I gained a crush on her since I was little. I do remember seeing her in the tv series Star Trek: Voyager, when I was little and loved her in that as well.

These movies in the Mary Higgins Clark films are a little corny but I really like them, guilty pleasures if you will, this movie keeps you on the edge of your seat from stat to finish.

I don't want to say more because I'll give away the twists but you will be entertained.

I give it a 6/10. Give it a look and enjoy.

As a Connoisseur of all things Kate Mulgrew, I'm somewhat biased in this one. She portrays Sharon Martin with ease, although horror has never been her fortay. She has a flare for the dramatic which is played out well in this film, aiding in the sympathizing of her character's plight. As for an actual review, this movie rates in effect up there with the Shining. You know when the bend in the corner is, and every point is virtually expected... it's a true "Here's Johnny" moment. However, if you enjoy the smaller budget horror films of the early 80s this one is well worth it. I LOVED it. Again, a biased opinion, but if you like Kate Mulgrew and Rip Torn, you're set.

Director Sean S. Cunningham's A STRANGER IS WATCHING is about depraved psychopath, Artie Taggart (Rip Torn), who rapes and murders a woman in front of her young daughter. A couple of years later, Taggart returns to the scene of the crime, kidnaps the daughter, as well as her dad's new girlfriend, Sharon (Kate Mulgrew). Whisked away to Taggart's secret lair beneath Grand Central Station, Sharon must protect the girl, while trying to find a way out of their dire situation.

Cunningham proves that he's not just a director of slasher films, building up suspense rather than relying only on jumps and jolts. There are deaths, some semi-brutal, but not repetitive. The underground location is perfectly claustrophobic and grim. For his part, Rip Torn is quite menacing, in an unhinged, could-kill-you-at-any-moment sort of way. Ms. Mulgrew plays Sharon as resourceful and resilient. Recommended for fans of crime drama-thrillers...