A Stranger Is Watching

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....

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.

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...

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

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.