Tetrady not as good as all the hype

Stellead Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

Aubrey Hackett While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

Billy Ollie Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Scott LeBrun Film director Sean S. Cunningham moved on from his great success with "Friday the 13th" to this more mainstream Hollywood thriller. It's nothing special, but it's not without its moments and pluses. It's a pretty sordid story, to be sure (adapted from a novel by Mary Higgins Clark), and some viewers may find it repellent at times. Others should have some fun with it, although it's never all that credible.Kate Mulgrew stars as Sharon Martin, a glamorous, big shot news reporter romantically involved with Steve Peterson (James Naughton), who's also in the news business. Two years previous, Steves' wife Nina (Joanne Dorian) had been raped and murdered in front of their horrified daughter Julie (Shawn von Schreiber). At the time, Julie had pointed the finger of guilt at a delivery guy, Ronald Thompson (James Russo), but the REAL culprit, Artie Taggart (Rip Torn), returns to extend his crime by kidnapping the two females and holding them for ransom in the vast and dingy areas beneath Grand Central Station.Cunningham brought along some of his F13 collaborators for this show, like casting directors Julie Hughes & Barry Moss, production designer Virginia Field, and cinematographer Barry Abrams. They do their best when capturing the sinister, overwhelming atmosphere of the underground settings. Suspense is minimal, but there is some violence here and there without much in the way of gore (for which, I'm sure, "Friday the 13th" detractors were grateful). One interesting moment has us manipulated into rooting for Rip when a gang of punks attack him in a public washroom, despite the fact that he's a VERY bad bad guy. The effective music score is courtesy of reliable veteran Lalo Schifrin.Rip is typically amusing in the villain role, and Mulgrew and young von Schreiber are appealing enough to maintain rooting interest. Much of the supporting cast is rather nondescript, but Naughton is good as the father, as is Barbara Baxley as a homeless woman. William Hickey and Vincent Spano can be seen in small parts.Screenplay credited to Earl Mac Rauch and "Friday the 13th" scribe Victor Miller.Six out of 10.

ferbs54 Thirteen years before sitting in a Star Fleet captain's chair and going up against such alien homicidal monstrosities as the Borg, the Kazon, the Hirogen and Species 8472, Kate Mulgrew did battle with a homicidal monster of a much more mundane nature, in 1982's "A Stranger Is Watching." Based on Mary Higgins Clark's best seller of 1977 (which, to be honest, I've never read), the film shows us what happens when 11-year-old Julie Peterson (well played by Shawn von Schreiber)--who had seen her mother brutally raped and killed two years earlier--is kidnapped along with the woman (Mulgrew) who is dating her widower dad. The thuggish lout (Rip Torn) hauls the pair to the underground labyrinth beneath Grand Central Station, a hellish world unto itself, where he caches them and schemes to acquire his ransom. The film is a fairly taut thriller, into which director Sean S. Cunningham manages to generate more suspense than he had two years earlier in the overrated "Friday the 13th." A background score by the great Lalo Schifrin adds immeasurably to the tension on screen, and all four principals--including James Naughton as Julie's understandably desperate dad--turn in fine performances. Unfortunately, the story is a tad too simplistic for this viewer's taste. We never learn anything about the nutjob Artie Taggart, other than the fact that he wants to raise horses in Arizona; his background, and why he's chosen this particular moment to kidnap Julie, remain mysteries. If only the film's screenplay were as multilayered as Grand Central Station itself seems to be! Still, despite the unfleshed-out nature of the picture's most interesting character, the film does manage to keep the viewer riveted. Kate, post-"Ryan's Hope" here but still hardly a household name, is always wonderful to watch, and looks quite beautiful in this early screen role. And while Artie Taggart may not be as relentless as one of the Borg, he still manages to give the old girl a pretty tough time....

merklekranz The script is way above average for a movie that is part exploitation, and part crime drama. My only complaint is that at times it seems a bit stretched, as in a few too many chases, and the acting varies from excellent,( Rip Torn), to very average,( Kate Mulgrew). The dark underground is used to great advantage, and there is genuine tension in several scenes. "A Stranger is Watching" is a must see for Rip Torn fans, as he is at his sleaziest. Obviously the "slasher" crowd has missed the whole point ,that this is a clever "suspenser", and the low IMDb rating reflects their misguided interpretation. Recommended for those who are looking for something different from the usual "slice and dice". - MERK

dtucker86 Like that character that Peter Finch played in Network, when I saw this movie I was mad as hell. First of all I think Mary Higgins Clark is one of our greatest living writers, I wrote to Ms. Clark several years ago and she was kind enough to reply. I love her books and A Stranger Is Watching was my all time favorite. The thing about this remarkable woman is that she is so good at creating lovable, courageous heroines that you can look up to. I think of Kate Demoio in The Cradle Will Fall or Pat Traymore in Stillwatch, but in my humble viewpoint, Sharon Martin in ASIW is her best heroine. I remember reading her book when I was in high school and I just fell in love with Sharon. In her book it is a six year old boy Neil Peterson who is kidnapped with her, not an 11 year old girl as they show in this film. One of the things about a thriller where people are in danger is that you have to care about them to feel the fright or suspense. The people who make these cheap slasher films create cookie cutter characters that you don't care about. Mary Higgins Clark is one of the few who did it right. When she wrote ASIW she created two of the most lovable characters you could possibly imagine. I LOVED Sharon and Neil! I was horrified at what Arthur Taggart did to them, gagging them, tieing them up and leaving them in a room with a ticking bomb! I remember there was a scene in the book where he fondled and kissed Sharon that just made me ill. WHAT WERE THE PEOPLE WHO MADE THIS STUPID MOVIE THINKING! Watching this film after reading her wonderful book is like watching someone throw a bucket of sewage over a lovely rose. They made Sharon so unlikeable I could not believe it. As I previously said, they just loosely followed her book. They should have stuck to it line by line and page by page. They had an opportunity to create one of the best thrillers of all time and they failed miserably. If I were the producer, I would have just had Mary Higgins Clark do the screenplay. Also, Sean S. Cunningham could not have been a worse choice to direct this. He is the one who directed Friday The 13th! Once again WHAT WERE THEY THINKING. This movie was downright painful to watch and an insult to Mary Higgins Clark. I think they should try to remake it and this time stick to her book.