Otages

Seeking out "A Stranger is Watching" was somewhat of a new experience for me… I'm a big movie fanatic and I hardly read any books, but in this case I was familiar with the work of novelist Mary Higgins Clark before I ever saw a movie that was based on her writings. Clark certainly isn't the greatest suspense fiction writer in the world, as her books are often clichéd and predictable, but at least everything that I read from her was easy to digest, unpretentious and occasionally very tense (like for example the novels "I heard that song before" and "Two girls in Blue"). I haven't read the novel on which "A Stranger is Watching" is based, but it sure had an interesting synopsis that fits right into her area of expertise. The film is directed by Sean S. Cunningham, whose name is irreversibly linked to the slasher pioneer "Friday the 13th". Although often also quite sick and very exploitative, "A Stranger is Watching" is totally different and incomparable to "Friday the 13th", since the story centers on just a handful of people in a devastating situation, whereas "Friday the 13th" is simply about horny teenagers getting slaughtered. 9-year-old Julie Peterson traumatically witnesses how her mother fiercely gets murdered in her own house. Two years later, when an innocent person is about to be sentenced for the crime, the real killer returns to kidnap both little Julie as well as her father's new girlfriend Sharon. The psychopath, Artie Taggart, imprisons the two ladies in a hideout place underneath New York's central station and demands a 180k$ ransom. Julie's father and the police attempt to collect the money, while Sharon – as well as a couple of observing New York homeless people – battles her repulsive kidnapper. "A Stranger is Watching" is mostly tedious and not at all suspenseful, mainly because the identity and lame motives of the kidnapper are immediately revealed. Some sequences are quite grotesque, like for example when Taggart calmly walks across the crowded train station carrying a large bag on his shoulder with his sedated victims in it, but most of the time the film is overly talkative and dull. The surprise twists in the plot come across as forced and implausible and – as a viewer – you feel very little affection or compassion for the two damsels in distress. The killing sequences are vile and nasty, though, and the underrated Rip Torn depicts an extremely sadist & menacing villain, so "A Stranger is Watching" definitely holds some interest for 80's horror fanatics.

Greetings And Salutations, and welcome to my review of A Stranger Is Watching. Before we get into it, here are my ratings:

Story - 1.25 Direction - 1.25 Pace - 1.25 Acting - 1.25 Enjoyment - 1.25

TOTAL - 6.25

Based on a Mary Higgins Clark novel, A Stranger Is Watching is an insidious dark thriller. The one thing that stayed with me was how cold-hearted and viciously cruel the killer was. Granted, that's par for the course in this style of story. Though, what makes Artie Taggart stand out is the gritty realism of his character. Artie wouldn't stand out in a crowd as a man to worry about. In fact, most of the time it's Artie who is marked as a target by other criminals. Usually to their detriment. Even if he loses the fight he wears his scars and bloodstains with an apathetic pride. It takes the writers, the director, and the actor to construct Artie into the human monster that he is. And they all do it superbly.

The one good thing Stranger has going for it, and what caught my attention, was the director, Sean Cunningham. He of Friday 13th fame. This guy knows how to use his locations to the max. The murder at the beginning takes place in a large sitting room by a roaring open fire. Though, when he shows Julie, the daughter, witnessing her mother's abuse and murder, you can't help but feel trapped and claustrophobic. He shoots Julie behind the bannister of the stairs. It looks as though she's imprisoned with nowhere to run. And, of course, her fear has done just that. Then when we get down under Central Station, he shows the audience a darker and dirtier side to the city. Discarded rubbish is left to rot in the enclosed tunnels, where the lost, homeless, and rats roam. It's an ideal place for a villain's lair. Who in their right mind would venture down there?

As for the performances, as I said before, Artie Taggart is the foremost character. And boy, was I surprised by this because he is played by Rip Torn. He is one actor who never made it onto my radar because he's never been so good. If I had watched stranger when I started watching movies seriously, I would have hunted out Rip Torn movies. Only to be let down. Rip Torn in this film is like Ted Levine as Gumb in Silence Of The Lambs.

However, the rest of the cast is a tad hit and miss. The worst is James Naughton as the kidnapped girls' father. He is so laid back it's unforgivable. His wife was murdered, and then the last of his family was abducted, surely, he would be out of his mind and pulling his hair out. But this dad is so cool, you can call him SMEG.

Nevertheless, A Stranger Is Watching is an above-average and enjoyable dark-thriller. If you like your bad guys dark and deadly then this film is for you.

Feel free to check out my Killer Thriller Chillers lists to see where I have ranked A Stranger Is Watching.

Take Care & Stay Well.

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.

Thirteen years before sitting in a Star Fleet captain's chair and going up against such alien homicidal monstrosities as the Borg, the Kazon, the Hirogen and Species 8472, Kate Mulgrew did battle with a homicidal monster of a much more mundane nature, in 1982's "A Stranger Is Watching." Based on Mary Higgins Clark's best seller of 1977 (which, to be honest, I've never read), the film shows us what happens when 11-year-old Julie Peterson (well played by Shawn von Schreiber)--who had seen her mother brutally raped and killed two years earlier--is kidnapped along with the woman (Mulgrew) who is dating her widower dad. The thuggish lout (Rip Torn) hauls the pair to the underground labyrinth beneath Grand Central Station, a hellish world unto itself, where he caches them and schemes to acquire his ransom. The film is a fairly taut thriller, into which director Sean S. Cunningham manages to generate more suspense than he had two years earlier in the overrated "Friday the 13th." A background score by the great Lalo Schifrin adds immeasurably to the tension on screen, and all four principals--including James Naughton as Julie's understandably desperate dad--turn in fine performances. Unfortunately, the story is a tad too simplistic for this viewer's taste. We never learn anything about the nutjob Artie Taggart, other than the fact that he wants to raise horses in Arizona; his background, and why he's chosen this particular moment to kidnap Julie, remain mysteries. If only the film's screenplay were as multilayered as Grand Central Station itself seems to be! Still, despite the unfleshed-out nature of the picture's most interesting character, the film does manage to keep the viewer riveted. Kate, post-"Ryan's Hope" here but still hardly a household name, is always wonderful to watch, and looks quite beautiful in this early screen role. And while Artie Taggart may not be as relentless as one of the Borg, he still manages to give the old girl a pretty tough time....

The script is way above average for a movie that is part exploitation, and part crime drama. My only complaint is that at times it seems a bit stretched, as in a few too many chases, and the acting varies from excellent,( Rip Torn), to very average,( Kate Mulgrew). The dark underground is used to great advantage, and there is genuine tension in several scenes. "A Stranger is Watching" is a must see for Rip Torn fans, as he is at his sleaziest. Obviously the "slasher" crowd has missed the whole point ,that this is a clever "suspenser", and the low IMDb rating reflects their misguided interpretation. Recommended for those who are looking for something different from the usual "slice and dice". - MERK