{"id":6989,"date":"2024-10-25T11:36:54","date_gmt":"2024-10-25T15:36:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=6989"},"modified":"2024-10-25T11:36:54","modified_gmt":"2024-10-25T15:36:54","slug":"never-talk-to-strangers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2024\/10\/25\/never-talk-to-strangers\/","title":{"rendered":"Never Talk to Strangers"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Never Talk to Strangers<\/strong> (1995)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Tri-Star\/Suspense-Thriller\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 86 minutes \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Rated R (violence, language, strong graphic sexual content including references to rape, nudity)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Peter Hall\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Lewis Green and Jordan Rush\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Pino Donaggio\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Elemer Ragalyi\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: October 20, 1995 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Rebecca De Mornay, Antonio Banderas, Dennis Miller, Len Cariou, Harry Dean Stanton, Eugene Lipinski, Martha Burns, Beau Starr, Phillip Jarrett, Tim Kelleher, Emma Corosky.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: $6.8M (US)<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: *<\/p>\n

\u00a0SPOILER ALERT!<\/strong> Yes, there will be spoilers in my review of Never Talk to Strangers<\/strong> and for good reason. The best line in this ludicrous thriller gives away the not-unexpected ending. It\u2019s a line that became an in-joke between me and the two friends I saw it with for a long time afterwards. It still makes me chuckle when I hear it. I\u2019ll tell you the line, but not right now. I\u2019m saving it for later.<\/p>\n

\u00a0What makes Never Talk to Strangers<\/strong> stand out for me (among other things) is that I actually paid to see it. In the 90s, I rarely paid to see movies. I attended a lot of free pre-release screenings. However, not every movie had a screening which was always an omen of something horrible to come (to theaters). Never Talk to Strangers<\/strong> was NOT screened in advance, not even for critics. Of course, I had to see it right away. I went to a late show on opening night with a couple of friends. As expected, it was bad. It made us laugh in parts, a reaction I\u2019m sure the director never intended. It played for a week or two before disappearing into the FMZ (Forgotten Movie Zone) for all but the select few who never forget a movie. People like me. A quarter century later, Never Talk to Strangers<\/strong> still makes for great bad movie viewing.<\/p>\n

\u00a0UK filmmaker Peter Hall (Perfect Friday) attempts to channel Brian De Palma (right down to hiring Pino Donaggio to compose the score) with this suspenseless thriller about a criminal psychologist who gains a stalker at the same time she starts a new relationship with a handsome stranger. Dr. Sarah Taylor (De Mornay, The Hand That Rocks the Cradle) leads a quiet existence without the burden of romantic entanglements unless you count the one night stand she had with her creepy neighbor Cliff (Miller, SNL) a year earlier. She endured an abusive childhood with a father (Cariou, The Four Seasons) who has pervert and sex offender written all over his face from the second we meet him. Sarah\u2019s still not over her fiancee leaving her (11 months earlier) when she meets Tony Ramirez (Banderas, Desperado) in a supermarket. Initially wary, she gives him her number and they begin a relationship. This is when somebody starts stalking her. This somebody sends her dead flowers, makes death threats and kills her pet cat. All signs point to Tony, the most obvious suspect. Of course, it\u2019s rarely the most obvious suspect in movies like Never Talk to Strangers<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Pino Donaggio\u2019s score is the only redeeming feature of Never Talk to Strangers<\/strong>. A frequent De Palma collaborator, he composed the scores to Carrie, Dressed to Kill, Blow Out and Body Double. While far from his best work, it\u2019s the best thing in this incompetent movie. The level of ineptitude on display here is astonishing. Hall wants to be De Palma (and by proxy, Hitchcock) in the worst way and fails hilariously as his movie keeps falling flat on its face. It has enough red herrings to open a fish market. Take the imprisoned rapist played by Harry Dean Stanton (Repo Man) in a grievous waste of his talent. If Hall means to set up his character as a suspect, it\u2019s ineffective as well as dumb. An inmate planning to use the insanity defense surely wouldn\u2019t have access to the personal information of the doctor evaluating him. Sure, his lawyer might have it, but even that\u2019s a stretch. To be honest, Stanton\u2019s character serves absolutely no purpose other than false suspect and even then, he\u2019s entirely unnecessary to the story.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The rest of the acting isn\u2019t much better. Frankly, it stinks. There is ZERO chemistry between the two leads. The pairing of De Mornay and Banderas feels incredibly random. Their individual performances consist of an already unsteady De Mornay losing her grip and Banderas playing the sexy seducer. The plot hinges on their mutual attraction, but I wasn\u2019t feeling it. Their sex scenes, especially the one with the butt-biting and tongue play through a wire cage, tickle the funny bone rather than titillate the libido. Miller, in his second non-comedic role that year (the other was The Net), proves he should stick to being funny. He doesn\u2019t cut it as a guy who might be dangerously obsessed with his comely neighbor.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Never Talk to Strangers<\/strong> doesn\u2019t cut it as a movie much less a thriller. There are enough plot holes to warrant the attention of the highway department. The ending won\u2019t come as too much of a shock. It\u2019s heavily hinted at throughout with several mentions of MPD (Multiple Personality Disorder). And now, here comes the spoiler! The movie is filled with dopey dialogue, but the one that takes the cake is this immortal line: \u201cYou\u2019re stalking yourself.\u201d LOL! Let that one sink in for a moment. The only other thing I\u2019ll say is that the line is directed at Sarah.<\/p>\n

Disappointingly, Never Talk to Strangers<\/strong> was snubbed by the Razzies that year. I guess when something as monumentally bad as Showgirls comes along; other deserving stinkers will fall in its wake. I can think of a few categories it might have swept if not for Paul Verhoeven\u2019s instant camp classic, one with its own hysterically funny sex scene I might add. Awards or not, Never Talk to Strangers<\/strong> is a must-see for lovers of trash cinema. It\u2019s bad every which way yet watchable.\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Never Talk to Strangers (1995)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Tri-Star\/Suspense-Thriller\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 86 minutes \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Rated R (violence, language, strong graphic sexual content including references to rape, nudity)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Peter Hall\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Lewis Green and Jordan Rush\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Pino Donaggio\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Elemer Ragalyi\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: October 20, 1995 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Rebecca De Mornay, Antonio Banderas, Dennis Miller, Len Cariou, Harry Dean […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7296,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6989","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-suspense-thrillers","category-this-sucks-so-bad"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Never-Talk-to-Strangers-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6989","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6989"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6989\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7298,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6989\/revisions\/7298"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7296"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}