Stranger Within

So you thought the erotic thriller movie (at least the one that is also portrayed in this particular movie) won't be seeing the light of day anymore? Well, welcome back to the 80s (or maybe even early 90s). This is a flashback (something you get in the movie too). The acting is spot on with the theme it has. Which doesn't mean it's good.

But if you're like me, you are a sucker for Sara Butler and you love to see her, even in a lesser movie like this one (she also appears in her "Eve" costume). There won't be many surprises in this one (you'll figure it out, before it begins). The suspense is low, the cinematography is nice and that's about it

The acting is wooden, the film recycles every dull horror cliché in the book, and the story makes no sense from beginning to end. The dialogue is completely implausible, and the only reason to watch this dog of a film is to laugh at its ineptitude. I would have no hesitation in including this film in a top ten of the worst I have seen in the past decade.

It started off alright, but then it started to become boring. They have this scene in the beginning with trauma to her, but the rest of the movie goes in a different direction as if it was a different story. The lead actress, sorry, but she needs sleep needs to stop doing drugs/drinking before her scenes. No one ones to see under eye bags. She also was terrible portraying her character. I figured out the plot, but this movie still didn't make sense. I guess we were supposed to be scared maybe? Not sure. The filming locations were beautiful. Just not sure about the uneven story line. Leaves questions and not the good kind.

We guessed it was going to be bad, but we were enjoying a tipple and wanted something lightweight to watch. Firstly the acting was appalling - two trees would have been more convincing. Then there's the direction - sudden glimpses of scary imaginary things - all the clichéd shock stuff that became annoying many decades ago.

Then we come to the script and the story-line. The whole set-up just would never have happened. We sat there laughing that - no, he wouldn't have done that and no, that bit makes no sense and why didn't she do such and such. Nonsensical from beginning to end.

Suffice it to say that it went downhill as it continued. The reason I didn't give it one star is that we got some entertainment value from picking every scene to pieces. Trying to think if I can say something good about it - nope, I can't.

Stilted acting, an unconvincing storyline, a script that could have been written by a fourth-grader, hackneyed horror film tropes (zombie imagery, etc), and phony picture-perfect makeup/costume design are all topped-off with a distractingly pervasive soap operatic soundtrack. The cover blurb states that this film is "A dark and twisted psychological thriller!"; however, the "psychology" of it all is pretty rudimentary.

On the other hand, the cinematography is well-done despite the very low budget. No matter how limited the scope, there is some nice Balearic Islands scenery, and Sarah Butler, as tormented house-guest "Sarah," strips briefly in order to spice things up. Finally, there is some attempt at a twist, even if it's not a terribly original one, at the end.

THE STRANGER WITHIN is reminiscent of some of the corniest suspense films of the 60s, 70s, and 80s. Indeed, it echos the title of a 1974 TV movie which apparently has a similar conflict and must have inspired this one.