The Deliberate Stranger is scary as hell!I first saw this TV-movie when I was in college.I watched in in a floor lounge with some of the girls in my dorm.It scared all of us.There are a few factual and name changes(I caught them because I read both the Larsen book and Ann Rule's book The Stranger Beside Me)but they don't detract from the well-written and directed film.Veteran TV director Chomsky acquites himself nicely.The movie hangs on the performance of the actor playing Bundy,and Mark Harmon delivers,boy does he!His performance as Bundy is absolutely bone-chilling in his ability to portray the switch from charming hunk to homicidal rage.The scene in the sorority house is one of the scariest I've ever seen in a TV-movie! Good performances also come from Glynnis O'Connor as Cas ,his devoted but ultimately doubting girlfriend,Frederuc Forrest as Bundys's chief nemesis,Det. Bob Keppel,the always dependable M.Emmet Walshs as a veteran Washington cop,John Ashton as Keppel's partner,Ben Masters and Frederick Coffin as the two other detectives who pursue Bundy,and George Grizzard as Larsen,whoportrays effectively Larsen's journey frombeing Bund's friend to coming to the realization of just what he is.Unlike others,I also liked Gil Melle's score. 10 out of 10
