O Estranho

A great psychological thriller, hider in the house exemplifies childhood trauma and its effect on a a man's life. Tom Sykes (Gary Busey) undergoes the transformation from child to head of the household of Mimi Rogers's family. Mimi Rogers sexes up the role of a woman going through marital problems. Michael McKean (best known for his character Gibby from dream on) plays an arrogant adulterer who gets a good beating from the buse. This movie was worth the three dollars for its rental, just to see Gary Busey beat a man to death with a flash-light. Another quality film from the man with horse teeth.

This is a decent little thriller. Busey steals the show as he often does, managing here to evoke the memories of the Universal Horror creatures of the 1930/40, a lumbering oaf whom the audience has an empathy with. It is quite an accomplishment from Busey, as the premise is both ridiculous and unoriginal. McKean and Rogers are satisfactory as the put-upon couple who become the unwanted centre of Busey's jealousy and affection. It's a shame that Busey's once promising career soon went downhill, as he is a very good character actor. He'll be remembered for his bigger roles but I truly think this is his best performance.

I really like Busey when he portrayef Buddy Holly. I was so disappointed in the later Busey, who ruined his looks and his brain.

The acting isn't that great, except Busey and you can see why I would have liked him so much when he played nice guy Holly. Busey, who probably had hidden psycho in his makeup even before cracking his head open, does crazy really well.

Not for nothing the premise of someone living in your house unbeknownst to you is actually has happened in the past. There's a famous case of a woman having her lover living in the attic of her home while she lived downstairs with her husband for something like a decade or 15 years, so it's not impossible for someone to be living in your house and you're unaware of them.

At any rate, this isn't going to win any Oscars but it kept me entertained even though you know where it's going.

It was nice to see Busey young and good looking before the crap hit the fan in his life.

A refugee(Gary Busey) from the nut house takes up living in the attic of an empty house. After a young family movies in, he becomes obsessed with the lovely housewife(Mimi Rogers). This particular scenario is hard to believe, but also hard to forget about. Pretty predictable story line with Busey the focus of the better scenes. There is no better psycho than Gary. Rogers is enjoyable to look at, but acting skills are lacking throughout cast...Busey the exception of course. Also appearing are Michael McKean, Bruce Glover and Carole King.

Forget the inanity (no thats NOT a typo!) of the plot...a fruitloop living soundlessly in an attic, in a tiny room he built there - EQUALLY soundlessly!......this is a tour-de-force performance from Busey. The most realistic nutter put on screen since Norman Bates! As someone commented, a similar premise to THE STEPFATHER, being the story of a lone weirdo psychotically disposed towards creating the "perfect" family!

Busey's deranged Tom Sykes, complete with nervous dysfunctionality is awesome. There are several scenes you feel for the guy and really ache for his solitude and inherent decency! I believe it was his best role and despite the fact the wheels tended to fall off towards the end, as it entered the standard formula "where-do-we-go-from-here" scriptwriters' block, ENOUGH professional work had been witnessed to term this a way better than average thriller! Mimi Rogers always has dignity, class and resolve (well OK she struck-out marrying Tom Cruise arguably) Here, she puts across a sympathetic woman who finds herself in a seriously unwanted position through no fault of her own.

Ultimately you'd have to wonder, if despite his mental disturbances, Sykes wouldn't have made a better husband than Phil (McKean) who proves himself the wimpiest womaniser on the block! I was rooting for Busy to take him out big-time!

Flawed thriller that should by rights, be rating 6.8 here!