Natural Enemy (Video 1996)

A businessman (Donald Sutherland) has a hotshot young new partner (William McNamara). What he doesn't realise is that his new partner is the son of his second wife, adopted into an abusive ... See full summary »

Director:

Douglas Jackson

Writer:

Kevin Bernhardt (screenplay)

Stars:

Donald Sutherland, William McNamara, Lesley Ann Warren

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Donald Sutherland	...	Ted Robards
William McNamara	...	Jeremy Harper
Lesley Ann Warren	...	Sandy Robards
Joe Pantoliano	...	Stuart
Tia Carrere	...	Christina D'Amelio
Christian Tessier	...	Chris Robards
Lenore Zann	...	Gina Knox
Rosemary Dunsmore	...	Judy
Vlasta Vrana	...	Stanley Knox
Claudia Besso	...	Claire, Receptionist
Serge Houde	...	Mitchell Sherwood
Richard Zeman	...	Bob
Terry Haig	...	IRS Agent
Michael Caloz	...	Young Jeremy
Tedd Dillon	...	Father

Storyline

A businessman (Donald Sutherland) has a hotshot young new partner (William McNamara). What he doesn't realise is that his new partner is the son of his second wife, adopted into an abusive family at birth and now a raving psychopath out to murder his natural mother for whom he blames the miseries of his lifetime.

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Plot Keywords:

murder | abusive father | psychopath | rough sex | older woman younger man relationship | 

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Horror | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

Canada USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

10 January 1997 (USA)

Also Known As:

Der Feind in meinem Haus

Filming Locations:

Montréal, Québec, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

CAD 6,200,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Filmline International, Home Box Office (HBO), Phoenician Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

88 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Quotes

Ted Robards: [after rescuing Sandy and knocking Jeremy unconscious with a wooden board] You're fired, you son of a bitch!

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Crazy Credits

A message about adoption and serial killers who turned out to be adopted appears after the end credits.

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Soundtracks

"In Search of Heroes"
Performed by Alan Reeves

User Reviews

Fairly engaging, yet derivative thriller

Natural Enemy is not unlike a plethora of similar revenge type of movies involving a character with considerable "damaged goods" out to destroy those he feels is responsible for his twisted state.

Here, William McNamara is the son of adopted parents who abused him and apparently ruined his life. To retaliate, McNamara has tracked down his natural parents and slowly begins to ruin their lives.

While the story is uninspired, it does move at a fairly fast pace. While McNamara does not possess the emotional range of many other actors in his age group, he is fairly convincing here and does send a few chills our way.

Perhaps the most disappointing element of the film is that, in its own way, it tries to shed light on the fact that many adopted children often grow up to be emotionally scarred for life, if not worse, (McNamara's character being an extreme example.) Although this is a noble undertaking, we can't respect the movie enough to care about this aspect of it. In addition, the movie falls way too short of taking itself seriously enough to double as a legitimate "message picture" in this regard.

Ultimately, we are left with not a whole lot to think about.