In pericolo di vita

The Stray is one of those movies we are tempted to turn off in the first few minutes. The story gets off to a murky start and the direction is uninspired. Yet, as the pace builds, so does the tension and we begin to care just a little more. By that time we are hooked, and too much of the running time has elapsed to give up.

Michael Madsen plays the boyfriend of Angie Everhart, a beautiful and successful restaurant owner who "mistakenly" hits a seeming drifter on her way to work. This drifter winds up staying on the premises of Everhart's house where he begins to meddle and then wreak havoc on her and her boyfriend's lives.

The plot does not break the barriers of originality. It reminds us of Fatal Attraction and perhaps a host of lesser derivatives that followed. Yet, the effectiveness of the movie lies in its mounting tension. There is also a nice chase scene at the beginning and other well directed scenes of terror. Beyond that, The Stray is a competent "B" movie thriller, one that holds its own opposite a dozen other less known or unknown movies on any given cable movie channel.