29 March 2024
The Seduction (1982)
103 min.
Directed by David Schmoeller.
With Morgan Fairchild, Michael Sarrazin, Andrew Stevens, Vince Edwards, Colleen Camp, Joanne Linville.
From the director of the stellar Tourist Trap (1979) comes this underachieving thriller.

Morgan Fairchild is Jamie Douglas, an L.A. anchorwoman who has it all: fame, fortune, gorgeous good looks, and a successful career.

But when she rejects the romantic advances of photographer - and rabid fan - Derek (Stevens), she gets more than she bargained for.

Psychologically, Derek wasn't all there to begin with. And Jamie's rebuff just pushes him off the deep end.

Soon, the stunning newswoman finds herself on the receiving end of a stalker's obsession!

Will the police be able to help her? Will her boyfriend Brandon (Sarrazin) protect her? Or will Jamie be forced to defend herself against the increasingly psychotic Derek?

In the early 80s, this was shown repeatedly on HBO and a certain amount of admiration for it comes from the memory we have of watching it back then.

Note we said "certain" in the preceding sentence. By way of clarification, The Seduction is a glossy vanity production. But it's hardly an effective thriller.

The performances are wooden, the pacing slipshod, and much of the action seems focused on getting Fairchild to undress.

None of it's ever very good, but to be fair, it's also not the absolute bottom of the barrel.

A similarly themed - and much better - thriller can be found in The Fan starring Lauren Bacall and Michael Biehn, made the year before.

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