A Stranger Is Watching

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...