thriller film
Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre ...
Michael Sarrazin
Michael Sarrazin (May 22, 1940 – April 17, 2011)
Vince Edwards
Vince Edwards (born Vincent Edward Zoine; July 9, 1928 – March 11, 1996) was an American actor and director. He was best known for his TV role as doctor Ben Casey and as Major Cliff Bricker in the 1968 war film '' The Devil's Brigade''.
Ear ...
, and Andrew Stevens. Its plot follows a Los Angeles news anchor who is aggressively pursued by an obsessive male stalker. The original music score was composed by Lalo Schifrin. Reviews for the film have mainly been negative which resulted in three
Razzie
The Golden Raspberry Awards (also known as the Razzies and Razzie Awards) is a parody award show honoring the worst of cinematic under-achievements. Co-founded by UCLA film graduates and film industry veterans John J. B. Wilson and Mo Murphy, ...
nominations, including two for Fairchild.
Plot
Jamie Douglas is a beautiful, successful news writer and anchor in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
, in a stable relationship with her long-term boyfriend, Brandon. Jamie begins receiving anonymous phone calls and flowers from a man named Derek, a psychotic photographer who is obsessed with her. Initially, Jamie dismisses them as harmless flattery from an "admirer," until Derek retrieves her phone number and begins calling her house in the
Hollywood Hills
The Hollywood Hills are a residential neighborhood in the central region of Los Angeles, California.
Geography
The Hollywood Hills straddle the Cahuenga Pass within the Santa Monica Mountains.
The neighborhood touches Studio City, Univer ...
, as well as that of her neighbor, a fashion model named Robin. Derek manages to access Jamie's dressing room at the office, and gives her a box of candy, apologizing for his pestering calls. Jamie is sympathetic toward him, and thanks him for the gift.
Derek continues to obsessively stalk Jamie, who is unaware that his home is adjacent to her property. One afternoon he accosts her in her living room, maniacally photographing her as she fends him off. Brandon arrives and stops the attack, beating Derek significantly. Bloodied, Derek thanks Jamie, and leaves. Jamie visits Maxwell, a police officer friend, seeking advice. Maxwell explains that Jamie has few options, as Derek has technically not committed any crimes. Meanwhile, Derek follows Robin to one of her modeling jobs. He introduces himself as a friend of Jamie's, but Robin realizes he is the man who has been calling her and Jamie's homes. Derek pleads for Robin to convince Jamie to go on a date with him, but Robin forces him out.
Later, Derek confronts Jamie and Robin at the mall, where Jamie sternly tells him she despises him, and to leave her alone. Brandon consults a doctor about Jamie's situation, and the doctor advises him that Derek likely suffers from
erotomania
Erotomania, also known as de Clérambault's Syndrome, named after French psychiatrist Gaëtan Gatian de Clérambault, is listed in the DSM-5 as a subtype of a delusional disorder. It is a relatively uncommon paranoid condition that is character ...
, a delusional disorder in which he believes his affections for Jamie, a stranger, are reciprocated. One night, Derek breaks into Jamie's house and watches her from her bedroom closet, fondling himself while she takes a bath. After realizing Derek is in the house, she retrieves Brandon, but Derek flees through a window and escapes. Later, one of Derek's coworkers at the photo studio, Julie, attempts to ask him on a date. He politely declines, telling her he is engaged to be married.
As part of a news story, Jamie attends a funeral for a female victim of an unknown
serial killer
A serial killer is typically a person who murders three or more persons,A
*
*
*
* with the murders taking place over more than a month and including a significant period of time between them. While most authorities set a threshold of three ...
, dubbed the "Sweetheart Killer." While reviewing the footage, Jamie notices Derek standing behind her in the cemetery. Derek breaches the news station posing as a newsrunner, and brings a "last-minute addition" for Jamie's broadcast. During the live taping, a message from Derek runs on Jamie's
teleprompter
A teleprompter, also known as an autocue, is a display device that prompts the person speaking with an electronic visual text of a speech or script.
Using a teleprompter is similar to using cue cards. The screen is in front of, and usually be ...
. Distraught, Jamie pleads on air for help, telling her viewers that she has a stalker who is going to kill her. That night, Brandon comforts Jamie, and the two relax in her hot tub. The two begin to have sex, but Derek emerges from the shadows and stabs Brandon to death. Jamie flees into the house to phone police, but is put on hold. Meanwhile, Derek buries Brandon's body in his yard.
Dejected and at a loss for what to do, Jamie phones Derek at his home, begging him to come back. When he returns to the house, she begins firing at him with a shotgun, and he crashes through a window to escape. Jamie phones Derek again, and tauntingly offers herself to him. Meanwhile, Julie arrives at Derek's to warn him that the police questioned her about him; during their conversation, Maxwell arrives at Derek's home and warns him to leave Jamie alone, stating that in exchange he will keep him from going to jail for harassment. After Maxwell leaves, Julie professes her love to Derek, but he grows enraged when she tells him Jamie does not love him. Julie storms out to her car, and notices Derek sneaking into Jamie's backyard moments later. Derek enters the house and threatens Jamie with a knife. She manages to force him off her, and the two fight in her bedroom. Derek wrests her to the bed, and begins attempting to
rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or ...
her. In response, Jamie begins to aggressively offer herself to him, unbuttoning his shirt and pants, but he quickly shows cowardice, unwittingly revealing he is
impotent
Erectile dysfunction (ED), also called impotence, is the type of sexual dysfunction in which the penis fails to become or stay erect during sexual activity. It is the most common sexual problem in men.Cunningham GR, Rosen RC. Overview of mal ...
. Disgusted at Derek's hypocrisy, Jamie attempts to leave, until an enraged Derek attacks her and prepares to kill her, only to be shot dead by Julie, who stumbles in on the scene.
Michael Sarrazin
Michael Sarrazin (May 22, 1940 – April 17, 2011)
Vince Edwards
Vince Edwards (born Vincent Edward Zoine; July 9, 1928 – March 11, 1996) was an American actor and director. He was best known for his TV role as doctor Ben Casey and as Major Cliff Bricker in the 1968 war film '' The Devil's Brigade''.
Ear ...
Colleen Camp
Colleen Celeste Camp (born June 7, 1953) is an American character actress and producer. After appearing in several bit parts, she had a lead role in the comedy ''The Swinging Cheerleaders'' (1974), followed by roles in two installments of the '' ...
as Robin Dunlap
* Kevin Brophy as Bobby
* Betty Kean as Mrs. Caluso
* Wendy Smith Howard as Julie
*
Joanne Linville
Beverly Joanne Linville (January 15, 1928 – June 20, 2021) was an American actress. She later taught at the Stella Adler Academy, Los Angeles. She is best known as a Romulan Commander on ''Star Trek: The Original Series''.
Biography
Early li ...
as Dr. Weston
* Marri Mak as Lisa
Production
Screenplay
''The Seduction'' was written and directed by David Schmoeller, who had previously directed the slasher film ''
Tourist Trap
A tourist trap is an establishment (or group of establishments) that has been created or re-purposed with the aim of attracting tourists and their money. Tourist traps will typically provide overpriced services, entertainment, food, souveni ...
'' (1979).
Irwin Yablans
Irwin Yablans (born July 25, 1934) is an American independent film producer and distributor known for his work in the horror film industry. His brother, Frank Yablans, was also a producer.
Life and career
Yablans was born to a Jewish family i ...
served as a co-producer alongside Bruce Cohn Curtis, marking their third producing collaboration after '' Roller Boogie'' (1979) and ''
Hell Night
''Hell Night'' is a 1981 American slasher film directed by Tom DeSimone, written by Randy Feldman, and starring Linda Blair. The film depicts a night of fraternity hazing set in an old manor, during which a deformed killer terrorizes and mur ...
'' (1981). According to Fairchild, Schmoeller's screenplay was partly inspired by a real stalking case revolving around a Los Angeles newscaster who was harassed by an obsessed viewer.
Filming
Filming took place in Los Angeles over a period of seven weeks in the spring of 1981. Producer Yablans had hoped to complete production before the June 30 expiry of the
Directors Guild of America
The Directors Guild of America (DGA) is an entertainment guild that represents the interests of film and television directors in the United States motion picture industry and abroad. Founded as the Screen Directors Guild in 1936, the group merge ...
contract. The shoot was met by several protests when Yablans hired an exclusively non-
union
Union commonly refers to:
* Trade union, an organization of workers
* Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets
Union may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment
Music
* Union (band), an American rock group
** ''Un ...
crew.Frank Capra Jr. served as an executive producer on the film.
Music
Dionne Warwick sings the theme song over the opening titles.
Release
Box office
''The Seduction'' premiered in Atlantic City, New Jersey on January 16, 1982. It had its Los Angeles opening the following week on January 22, before opening in New York City on February 26. It opened number 6 at the U.S. box office, and eventually went on to gross a domestic total of $11.4 million.
Critical response
Jon Marlowe of ''
The Miami News
''The Miami News'' was an evening newspaper in Miami, Florida. It was the media market competitor to the morning edition of the '' Miami Herald'' for most of the 20th century. The paper started publishing in May 1896 as a weekly called ''The Miami ...
'' compared the film unfavorably to several contemporary stalker-themed films, including ''
Lipstick
Lipstick is a cosmetic product used to apply coloration and texture to lips, often made of wax and oil. Different pigments are used to produce color, and minerals such as silica may be used to provide texture. The use of lipstick dates back t ...
Vincent Canby
Vincent Canby (July 27, 1924 – October 15, 2000) was an American film and theatre critic who served as the chief film critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1969 until the early 1990s, then its chief theatre critic from 1994 until his death in ...
of ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' deemed the film "an often comically inept, unsuccessfully vicious nonthriller." Jack Mathews of the ''
Detroit Free Press
The ''Detroit Free Press'' is the largest daily newspaper in Detroit, Michigan, US. The Sunday edition is titled the ''Sunday Free Press''. It is sometimes referred to as the Freep (reflected in the paper's web address, www.freep.com). It primari ...
'' wrote in his one-star review, "I'll be blunt. Would you pay $4 to see Morgan Fairchild naked? There's no other reason to invest in this laughably implausible thriller (...) Well, would you pay $5?"
The film was nominated for a total of three
Golden Raspberry Awards
The Golden Raspberry Awards (also known as the Razzies and Razzie Awards) is a parody award show honoring the worst of cinematic under-achievements. Co-founded by UCLA film graduates and film industry veterans John J. B. Wilson and Mo Murphy, ...
, including two for Fairchild (for Worst Actress and Worst New Star), and Camp (for Worst Supporting Actress).
Home media
Anchor Bay Entertainment
Anchor Bay Entertainment (formerly Video Treasures and Starmaker Entertainment) was an American home entertainment and production company. It was a subsidiary of Starz Inc. Anchor Bay Entertainment marketed and sold feature films, television se ...
released ''The Seduction'' on
DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...
in November 2006.
Scream Factory
Shout! Factory is an American home video and music company founded in 2002 as Retropolis Entertainment. Its video releases include previously released feature films, classic and contemporary television series, animation, live music, and comedy ...
released the film on
Blu-ray
The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of st ...