The Stranger Within (1974)

TV-movies from the 70's are generally fantastic. Whenever I spot the "archive collection" label, or recognize certain names of contemporary writers/directors, I immediately associate the film with intelligent and absorbing plots, atmospheric tension, genuine frights and devoted performances from often underrated but talented actors and actresses. There's something inexplicably magical about these movies and not coincidentally I regularly encounter user comments around here from fellow film freaks that remember and honor certain 70 TV-titles as movies that haunted their dreams ever since childhood. "The Stranger Within" is such a modest but highly efficient and memorable little gem from that era. Perhaps the film owes its existence solely to the tremendous success of "Rosemary's Baby", but it nevertheless it still stands as a solid independent thriller about a handful of touchy subjects like pregnancy issues, marriage and faithfulness. Painter Ann Collins is overjoyed and optimistic when she finds out she's pregnant, even though she had to process a severe trauma 3 years earlier and her loving husband David underwent a vasectomy as a result of it. He can't be the father, but Ann swears she wasn't unfaithful, so they decide to keep the baby. Ann's condition rapidly turns out to be a very unusual, abnormal and even dangerous pregnancy. She puts tons of salt on her food and slurps down gallons of steaming hot black coffee. Even more disturbing is that Ann constantly seeks for cold, sneaks out for long and mysterious nightly excursions and that her body miraculously heals itself from every type of illness. David and his friends desperately look for a medical explanation while Ann isolates herself and increasingly becomes influenced by the unborn baby whose origin remains an enigma. "The Stranger Within" benefices from a powerful first half, with a strong emphasis on marital defiance. The tense interactions between Ann and David after finding out he couldn't have conceived the child are honest and realistic. The second half is more Sci-Fi orientated, but the atmosphere nonetheless remains vulnerable and serene. The movie doesn't feature and bloody massacres or monstrous creatures, but it's definitely unsettling and grim. The basic story comes from the multi-talented veteran author Richard Matheson, so there aren't many better references in the horror industry. I hugely appreciated the climax and the (very) open ending and caught myself still gazing at the screen even long after the end credits were finished.

My wife and I were talking a few years back and we got to talking about movies that freaked us out as kids. Well, it turned out that two made for TV films in particular were scary--and we both remembered them decades later. One was "Crowhaven Farm" and the other was this film, "The Stranger Within". So, I was thrilled to find out that both are finally on DVD and I picked up copies. I was interested to find out that whether or not they really were as weird and scary as I'd remembered. Regardless, the movie sure had an impact on us! The film begins with a wife (Barbara Eden) telling her husband (George Grizzard) that she was pregnant. Normally this isn't a bad thing, but the husband had gotten a vasectomy three years earlier! And, after he goes to the doctor, the doctor tells him conclusively that he cannot be the father! So who is the father? Is sweet Barbara cheating on him? And if not, HOW?! And, why is she beginning to behave so weirdly?! The answers are freaky....and I don't want to say more as it would clearly spoil the film.Now seeing the movie several decades later, my impressions of the thing have changed considerably. While I still think it's worth seeing, I noticed three things I never saw as a kid. First, it really wasn't a scary film at all but a weird one. Second, the plot is pretty thin and could have been told better in an hour or less. Third, it's pretty obvious what's going on relatively early in the film and the surprise ending isn't all that surprising. Still, as I just said, it's well worth seeing and is one of the more diverting made for TV films I have seen--even with all its cheesy faults.

This movie has many things going for it. All the best ingredients are here: a great story with a fine cast and writers. I was amazed to find that nearly all of these actors--as well as the director and writer who created the story--were veterans of Rod Serling's Twilight Zone. I was lead to expect the finest in performing art from this movie. Unfortunately, the acting in this movie is its most glaring weakness. Barbara Eden is probably miscast in the leading role. She captures all the moodiness and unpredictability that one would expect of a pregnant woman. The key to understanding what is happening to her character is the explanation of what happened to produce this strange pregnancy. All we get is her strange behavior and a few hints from the actors that point us in the right direction. Those hints, when provided by the actors themselves, are usually a bad sign. But even they are not as bad as the acting itself. Barbara Eden says too little in the leading role and the other actors compensate by overacting their parts--all presumably in an attempt to produce suspense. They would have done well to take a page from Rod Serling's school of acting: namely, that it is what is left unsaid and undone that holds the audience in suspense. The more words that are put in the actors' mouths, the more actions there are for them to perform, the more tedious and incredible the story seems.This is nowhere better illustrated than in a scene where Barbara Eden's character is behaving especially irrationally. All of the other characters are behaving equally irrationally, and this only amplifies the confusion and suspense produced by Ms. Eden's character. David Doyle, who plays a hypnotist, shouts above the din, "Just let her act out what she feels compelled to do and maybe we can find out what's going on here!" Amen to that!! His is the voice of rationality in the picture.Bad acting aside, on a positive note, "The Stranger Within" is a compelling story that seeing the movie compels me to read. The movie's and I'm sure the story's presentation hearken back to a time before special effects and sardonic humor: a time when much was left to the viewer's and reader's imagination. Imagination produces the most creative kind of viewing and reading. It's just too bad that in this case the director felt that he needed to supply so many details that were unnecessary to his purpose. A great concept here, but Mr. Serling would no doubt be disappointed.

******POSSIBLE SPOILERS!!!!!*****Ann Collins discovers that she is pregnant. Trouble is, her husband David (George Grizzard)is not the proud papa-to-be. Soon, her behavior changes: Eats raw foods (Especially raw octopus!),HOT coffee and LOTS AND LOTS of salt. She also reads books...by just quickly scanning it with her hand. It is obvious by now that SOMETHING is wrong with this pregnancy, but what? Is the baby the spawn of Satan, or from outer space? Is she going to end up with a permanent case of the jitters by drinking all of that coffee?This is a pretty good movie-of-the week, and hopefully it will pop up on DVD sometime soon. It's a good laugh in some parts, and it clearly shows its age, but worth looking at.