briabba
What's not to love? Hot leading man, amazing San Francisco locale and a Faltermyer/Moroder soundtrack including the incomparable Melissa Manchester. The cast is great. Steven Bauer and Barbara Williams have great chemistry together. And the appearance of David Caruso early in his career is a bit of a surprise, too. A fun fantasy escape!
sultana-1
Supporting actors David Caruso (magnificently evil) and George Wendt are far better known to most of us than Stephen Bauer and Michelle Williams and John Getz. But, the starring triangle are truly superb in a movie where nothing is quite what you think it is, and the results of giving into prideful impulses come to light in unusual ways. A twist ending also adds to the proceedings in one of the best romantic thrillers I have ever seen.
rollo_tomaso
This movie was bitterly panned upon its release, and I see a number of IMDB's reviewers agree with the original critics. I don't get it, except that this movie does such a good idea of taking you inside Stephen Bauer's character and what he is doing is so creepy that people react viscerally to him instead of the movie. The movie is engrossing, brilliantly photographed and well-paced. The camera angles and the chemistry between Bauer and Williams are reminiscent of what Hitchcock tried to do in Vertigo, but much less forced and contrived. All these characters behave in character. I really consider this one of the best romantic thrillers of all time. Yes, it is erotic. Why is that a bad thing? 10/10.
bianca-13
Though I do like this film, I found the concept immensely disturbing. Being a private person (you don't see my NAME on this, do you?), I found the idea that anyone could so completely invade a life absolutely terrifying. In spite of a few holes, the film works, chiefly because the characters enmesh the audience in their feelings. Steven Bauer is incredibly underrated as an actor and, while I have seen stronger performances from him, he's very good as the enamoured thief in search of a way out and Barbara Williams is credible as the neglected wife enchanted by the mystery man. Let's not leave out John Getz, another unexplainably underrated performer, as the self-absorbed husband. If you can ignore the flashy 80s style, the film is a fascinating study of obsession. Warning: it definitely deserves its R rating for unnecessary full nudity.
AD
