Il risveglio di Candra

Small town Oregon newlyweds Julio Torres (Paul Regina) and his wife Candra (Blanche Baker) honeymoon in the mountains of their home state in 1978. Julio is preoccupied with fishing and following various spots where they may be biting. He is so preoccupied with fishing that he strikes up a conversation with bug-eyed creep Tom Brown (Cliff De Young), a local outdoorsman/weirdo about the best spots.

Julio invites himself and Candra to follow Brown who says he knows of a secret fishing hole where an impressive catch is certain. Candra gets bad vibes from Brown immediately and is reluctant to go along but Julio is insistent even as Brown displays increasingly erratic behavior. Within 24 hours Brown has murdered Julio.

Days later Brown accompanies a visibly shaken Candra to the local police station. He tells police that the killing of Julio was just a hunting accident. Candra backs up his story and the case is quickly closed. But in the weeks which follow whilst Candra is safely back home with family she begins to have flashbacks to what really happened including her abduction and repeated rape by Brown.

She goes to the police to contradict her earlier account. The justice system is tasked with extrapolating the truth in the bizarre case where the only witness has told vastly contradictory versions of what happened. Oregon in the late 1970s was evidently a favorite playground for sex murderers like Ted Bundy & Randall Woodfield. Based on a true story we see yet another in the person of Thomas Leslie Brown.

This CBS TV movie was made in 1981 but shelved until 1983 and then only broadcast late at night. It technically is not one of those much loathed 'woman in peril' sleazy exploitation movies. But to audiences, and in particular those concerned about the mixture of sex and violence on network TV, the difference would have been negligible and the network might have been accused of insensitivity.

Director Paul Wendkos may well have thought he was making a profound take on the Kurosawa epic Rashomon but based upon real-life events. He certainly got the most out of the cast assembled and in particular Cliff De Young as the diabolical Tom Brown. Cliff De Young is that type of character actor that quietly delivered believable characterizations in countless productions without garnering much notice since the very early 1970s.

This 1981 made-for-television film is a pretty good film when watching it some 20 years after the fact. While the acting and film appear very dated, the story is wonderful. Based on a true story, it's about a woman, whose husband was murdered on their honeymoon, becomes so traumatized by the killer's threats that she can no longer remember what really happened due to a combination of her mind blocking out the terrible memory and the brainwashing manipulation, rape and torture that the killer puts upon her. While most actor's acting is simply fair, Cliff DeYoung is wonderful as a psychotic and manipulative stalker.

I think many people rated this low because of the sadness and horror of the subject matter. Rape, abuse, mind control - these are the terrible, but true, aspects of this movie. Watching this movie is not fun but the movie is based on a true story, and it deserves better than the low ratings it has gathered here. I first saw this movie 20 years ago, and it honestly haunts me to this day. I don't think this movie could be made today because of the graphic brutality towards the actress playing Candra Torres - even though it was based on a true story and Candra suffered everything you see. Knowing that it was real made it even more horrific. This is not a slasher film, but the violence toward this woman is still more than most people could bear to watch. I believe this is the reason that it is getting low ratings here. I can't imagine this film being shown on television now, but it is worth renting if you can find it, almost as a study of mind control and abuse. You have to know, however, that it won't be a pleasant movie to watch.

I don't know how to describe this movie. It's very well done, dated, but well done. I can tell you though, it was not filmed in Canby as it said it was. Cliff De Young is truly brilliant (probably one of the best performances of his career, next to Les in "Independence Day") and Blanche Baker does very well as well. This is a brutal film, but very good. Watch it if you can get a chance.

US TV movie but a pretty tough one from Paul Wedkos, who worked almost exclusively in such movies though he did make the interesting but much maligned, The Mephisto Waltz ten years before this. Leading lady, or lady who is lead on a lead for most of the movie, is Blanche Baker, who I was not aware of but who does very well here and is still working today. Big bad boy here is played very effectively by Cliff De Young and he is most convincing. Unfortunately this is very predictable at first and soon becomes annoying as the innocent couple go out of their way to prepare for disaster. Things change however, and we subsequently get, the best presentation of the 'Stockholm Syndrome' outside of the Patty Hearst. Even so the lighting is uninspired, the camera work dull and the dialogue struggling to stay this side of believable. We could have just done with a couple of sharp shocks or spine tingling moments to enliven this well meaning attempt to do something a little different.