The Stranger Within | |
---|---|
Genre | Thriller |
Written by | John Pielmeier |
Directed by | Tom Holland |
Starring | Rick Schroder Kate Jackson Chris Sarandon |
Music by | Vladimir Horunzhy |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
Production | |
Executive producer | Gary M. Goodman |
Producers | Barry Rosen Paulette Breen |
Cinematography | James Hayman |
Editor | Scott Conrad |
Running time | 100 minutes |
Production company | New World Television |
Original release | |
Network | CBS |
Release | November 27, 1990 |
The Stranger Within is a 1990 American made-for-television thriller film directed by Tom Holland and starring Rick Schroder, Kate Jackson and Chris Sarandon. It premiered on CBS on November 27, 1990.
In October 1974 rural Grove's Mill, Minnesota, widow Mare Blackburn's (Kate Jackson) 3-year-old son Luke (Ross Swanson) is kidnapped by an unknown woman when Mare briefly relaxes her supervision of Luke in the small town's supermarket. Mare blames herself for the kidnapping and has difficulty processing the loss. Sixteen years later, Mare is now in a happy long-distance relationship with Dan (Chris Sarandon) – a California man who moved to Minneapolis after the suicide of his son - when a young man named Mark (Rick Schroder) shows up, claiming to be her son. Mare is reluctant to take him in, fearing that he is playing a cruel joke, until he shares memories from the past and shows a scar from a stove burn that matches with Luke's. He explains that he was raised in Idaho, and is now on a rest stop in Minnesota before returning to New York City to take a job. Mare is excited to catch up on sixteen years with her son, but Dan continues to doubt Mark's credibility.
One day, Mare takes Mark to the supermarket where the kidnapping took place, but faints. In the hospital, Mark finds out that Mare is pregnant and is surprised that she does not want him to tell Dan. Dan continues to seek evidence that will prove whether or not Mark is actually Luke, despite Mare's confession that she does not want to know whether Mark's story proves to be either true or false. At the police station, Dan finds out that the city in Idaho where Mark claims to have grown up - "Emerald City" - does not exist. Upset with Mark, Dan reluctantly saves his life when he almost falls off the roof. Mark then claims that Emerald City was a lie told to cover up his much worse past, and assures Dan of his credibility by showing him a birth mole that Luke also had. Shortly after, Mare rejects the latest of several marriage proposals from Dan, who has just found out through Mark about her pregnancy.
During an ice fishing trip, Dan confronts Mark yet again about the lies about his past. Feeling trapped, Mark pushes Dan into the water and lets him drown to death under the ice. Mark then returns to the house and cuts the phone wire and electricity cable, as well as disabling the motor in Mare's car, thus ensuring that Mare has no way to call for help and no other place to go. Mare is unaware of his responsibility in all these occurrences, though, and is further manipulated by Mark's claim that Dan fell in the water due to his fight with her over their marriage views. A visit from a police officer changes her views on Mark, upon finding out that he did not inform the officer about Dan's death. Mark turns the confrontation by insisting that she has been a horrible mother to him. The police officer, meanwhile, finds out that there are flaws to Mark's claims.
As both realize that Mark is a sociopathic killer, they unsuccessfully try to get away. Mark first nearly kills the officer with a hammer, and then turns to Mare. She attempts to throw him out, but he easily overpowers her; knocking her head through a mirror before handcuffing her. Later, he releases her and gives her another chance "to be a good mother", only to attack her when she claims to love him. When she admits that she is a bad mother, Mark responds that she should die for it. Mare, who does not believe that Mark is her own son anymore, attempts to shoot him to death with the policeman's pistol, but runs out of bullets. She is then pushed into the basement and awakes next to the police officer's nearly lifeless body. While Mark is distracted while digging a hole to bury the two, the officer manages to weakly move his arm enough to indicate his bullet-belt, and so, Mare retrieves the gun and reloads it. Mark, meanwhile, admits that he is not her son, before starting to bury her alive. He begins to taunt Mare, saying that she won't shoot him, and that while he may not be Mare's son, he's someone's. However, Mark's taunting words backfire on him, as to save her life, Mare ultimately shoots Mark. Mark survives the shooting and is about to kill her with a hammer, when suddenly, the police officer's father appears behind Mare and saves her by shooting Mark to death; Mark only has enough time to refer to Mare as "Mom" once more before dying. Mare awakes in the hospital with her mother by her side.
Whatever became of Luke, her real kidnapped son, is still left unresolved.
The New York Times called The Stranger Within "a frightening, well-done, made-for-TV thriller with a fine performance by Rick Schroder. [..] Schroder shows remarkable range in this change-of-pace performance where he plays an unsympathetic and unappealing character with great energy and intelligence. The Stranger Within is a fine, frightening psychological thriller." [1]
Richard Bartlett Schroder is an American actor and filmmaker. As a child actor billed as Ricky Schroder he debuted in the film The Champ (1979), for which he became the youngest Golden Globe award recipient, and went on to become a child star on the sitcom Silver Spoons (1982–87). He has continued acting as an adult, usually billed as Rick Schroder, notably in the Western miniseries Lonesome Dove (1989) and on the police drama series NYPD Blue (1998–2001). He made his directorial debut with the film Black Cloud (2004) and has produced several films and television series, including the anthology film Locker 13 and the war documentary The Fighting Season.
Kate Barker, better known as Ma Barker, was the mother of several American criminals who ran the Barker–Karpis Gang during the "public enemy era" when the exploits of gangs of criminals in the Midwestern United States gripped the American people and press. She traveled with her sons during their criminal careers.
Domestic Disturbance is a 2001 American psychological thriller film directed by Harold Becker and starring John Travolta, Vince Vaughn, Teri Polo, Steve Buscemi, and Matt O'Leary.
Ransom is a 1996 American action thriller film directed by Ron Howard from a screenplay by Richard Price and Alexander Ignon. The film stars Mel Gibson, Rene Russo, Gary Sinise, Delroy Lindo, Lili Taylor, Brawley Nolte, Liev Schreiber, Donnie Wahlberg and Evan Handler. Gibson was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor. The film was the 5th highest-grossing film of 1996 in the United States. The original story came from a 1954 episode of The United States Steel Hour titled "Fearful Decision". In 1956, it was adapted by Cyril Hume and Richard Maibaum into the feature film, Ransom!, starring Glenn Ford, Donna Reed, and Leslie Nielsen.
Cellular is a 2004 American action thriller film directed by David R. Ellis. The film stars Kim Basinger, Chris Evans, Jason Statham, William H. Macy with Noah Emmerich, Richard Burgi, Valerie Cruz and Jessica Biel. The screenplay was written by Chris Morgan, based on a story by Larry Cohen.
Phil Mitchell is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Steve McFadden. He was introduced to the soap opera on 20 February 1990 and was followed by his brother Grant, sister Sam and mother Peggy. Phil was one of the major characters introduced by executive producer Michael Ferguson, who wanted to bring in some macho male leads. Phil and his brother Grant became popularly known as the Mitchell brothers in the British media, with Phil initially portrayed as the more level-headed of the two thugs. Storylines featuring the Mitchell family dominated the soap opera throughout the 1990s, with Phil serving as one of the show's central characters and protagonists since the 1990s. McFadden temporarily left the series in late 2003, then returned in April 2005 for a brief appearance before making a permanent return in October 2005, and has now overtaken Dot Cotton as the second-longest-serving character in EastEnders, surpassed only by original character Ian Beale. A teenage version of Phil, played by Daniel Delaney, appeared in a flashback episode broadcast on 5 September 2022, which focuses on the Mitchell family in the 1970s.
Melanie "Mel" Owen is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Tamzin Outhwaite. Mel was introduced by executive producer Matthew Robinson and made her first appearance on 19 October 1998. Outhwaite made her departure on 12 April 2002. Outhwaite's return to the series was announced in October 2017 and she returned on 9 January 2018. The actress chose to leave the soap again in July 2019 and her final episode aired on 14 November 2019 when Mel was killed-off. Outhwaite proved popular in the role, winning multiple awards and critical acclaim for her portrayal of Mel as the character became prominent in the show.
Sonny Corinthos is a fictional character on the ABC soap opera General Hospital. Maurice Benard has played the role of the manic depressive mob kingpin, living in Port Charles, since the character's storyline originated on August 13, 1993. Sonny is also known for supercouple pairings with Brenda Barrett and Carly Benson. Since joining the show, he has become a central character, with many storylines focusing on his family, friends, and criminal enterprise.
Lesley Webber is a fictional character from General Hospital, an American soap opera on the ABC network. Actress Denise Alexander played the role from March 13, 1973 through February 28, 1984, as a series regular, and from 1996 to 2009 as a recurring character. Alexander returned to the series briefly in 2013 to celebrate its 50th anniversary, and has made subsequent appearances in 2017, 2019, and 2021.
John Keenan is a fictional character from the British police drama HolbyBlue, portrayed by actor Cal MacAninch. John is a detective inspector in the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of Holby South police station. MacAninch was involved in a long casting process for the role, but liked playing a police officer as his brothers are policemen. The character is billed as "fearless" and "straight-talking" with a dedication to his job that damages his marriage to Kate Keenan. John's backstory is explored in series two through the introduction of his abusive father.
Elvis "EJ" Aaron DiMera and Samantha "Sami" Gene Brady DiMera are fictional characters and a supercouple from the American soap opera Days of Our Lives. Since 1993, the role of Sami Brady has been portrayed by actress Alison Sweeney. James Scott originally portrayed the role of EJ DiMera when the character was introduced on May 30, 2006, but in 2021 when EJ finally returns for the first time on-screen since his supposed death in 2014, he is now portrayed by actor Dan Feuerriegel. Scott says that his days of acting are now behind him.
Safe is a 2012 American action thriller film written and directed by Boaz Yakin, produced by Lawrence Bender, Dana Brunetti and Joseph Zolfo and starring Jason Statham, Chris Sarandon, Robert John Burke and James Hong. In the film, Luke Wright (Statham) is an ex-cop and former cage fighter who winds up protecting a gifted child being chased by the Russian mafia, Chinese Triads, and corrupt NYPD officers.
As the World Turns is a long-running soap opera television series that aired on CBS from April 2, 1956, to September 17, 2010. Its fictional world has a long and involved history.
The Stranger is a 2022 Australian psychological crime thriller film written and directed by Thomas M. Wright, starring Joel Edgerton and Sean Harris. Based on the non-fiction book The Sting: The Undercover Operation That Caught Daniel Morcombe's Killer by Kate Kyriacou, and inspired by the murder investigation of Daniel Morcombe, the film follows an investigation of a child abduction case, with an undercover police officer (Edgerton) in a sting operation tasked with getting close to and forming a friendship with the prime suspect (Harris).
Dejavu is a 2022 Indian Tamil-language crime thriller film directed by Arvindh Srinivasan and produced by K. Vijay Pandi and P. G. Muthiah. The film stars Arulnithi, Madhoo, Achyuth Kumar, and Smruthi Venkat. the film was released theatrically on 22 July 2022 and received mixed to positive reviews from critics and audience, and became a box office success. The film was partially shot in Telugu as Repeat with Naveen Chandra replacing Arulnithi, which was directly released on Hotstar.