"A Stranger is Watching" from 1982, is a gritty story and manages to be a cut above the usual film versions of Mary Higgins Clark's book.
Normally these have been produced by Grosso-Jacobsen, and the films are made in Canada and use Psycho-type screechy music. They have one B or C-list American star, and the rest are Canadian actors.
This film, made earlier than many of the others, stars Rip Torn and a young Kate Mulgrew in her "Ryan's Hope" days, wearing more dead animals than I've ever seen. It also features James Naughton and my old acting teacher, Stephen Strimpell, and is filmed in New York.
The story concerns the aftermath of the horrid rape and murder of a woman while her 8 year old daughter, Julie, watched helplessly from the stairs.
It's three years later, and that man is going to be sentenced to death. However, the now 11-year-old girl and a reporter, Sharon (Mulgrew), who is also her father's girlfriend, are kidnapped. The kidnapper (Torn) holds the dad (Naughton) up for $180,000, the money put in trust for his daughter from his wife's estate.
The kidnapper has great familiarity with the bowels of the city, where the subway runs, and that's where he hides his victims. Can they escape? Or can someone find them?
There are tense and suspenseful parts of this film, but it moves slowly. As to being a cut above, one might ask why it's only getting a 6, which is what I usually give Mary Higgins Clark's films.
Well, it's only getting a 6 because this is a violent and sleazy story. There is no character development. I'm sure the book is better.
Normally these have been produced by Grosso-Jacobsen, and the films are made in Canada and use Psycho-type screechy music. They have one B or C-list American star, and the rest are Canadian actors.
This film, made earlier than many of the others, stars Rip Torn and a young Kate Mulgrew in her "Ryan's Hope" days, wearing more dead animals than I've ever seen. It also features James Naughton and my old acting teacher, Stephen Strimpell, and is filmed in New York.
The story concerns the aftermath of the horrid rape and murder of a woman while her 8 year old daughter, Julie, watched helplessly from the stairs.
It's three years later, and that man is going to be sentenced to death. However, the now 11-year-old girl and a reporter, Sharon (Mulgrew), who is also her father's girlfriend, are kidnapped. The kidnapper (Torn) holds the dad (Naughton) up for $180,000, the money put in trust for his daughter from his wife's estate.
The kidnapper has great familiarity with the bowels of the city, where the subway runs, and that's where he hides his victims. Can they escape? Or can someone find them?
There are tense and suspenseful parts of this film, but it moves slowly. As to being a cut above, one might ask why it's only getting a 6, which is what I usually give Mary Higgins Clark's films.
Well, it's only getting a 6 because this is a violent and sleazy story. There is no character development. I'm sure the book is better.