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.
Review of A Stranger Is Watching
