The Silent Thief

This film has been called a psychological thriller, for psychological, read slow. It is also clearly low budget because it takes place in just three locations: two dwellings and the beach. The theme will be familiar to people who watch these types of films, "The Hand That Rocks The Cradle" is broadly similar, the stranger who invades a home by stealth and gradually morphs into one of its residents while tearing it apart.

In this case a slightly odd young Englishman turns up at a house where he rents a room; he has a camera, but is he really a photographer? There is no real explanation about what he is doing on the West Coast of America, he has no apparent means, and what is there for him here? The mother likes him; the father doesn't; the daughter ends up in bed with him; the son doesn't like him at all, but Brennan is not too bothered because he has found out college boy Mike's big secret, he bats for the opposition and has the hots for a slightly older local who works out with him. Gee, not even his Mom suspected?

Brennan uses this weakness to try to drive a wedge between Mike and his parents hoping to take his place. Can such a fiendish plot really succeed? If you manage to last the first hour, you might not care.