Really Surprised!

There is just so much movie here. For some it may be too much. But in the same secretly sarcastic way most telemarketers say the phrase, the title of this one is particularly apt.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

I know, everyone considering watching this movie thinks the same thing...it's probably going to suck, but there's nothing else on, or you watch it for Swayze in his post 80's straight to video film career. Either way you look at it, this is actually a pretty entertaining film, if you can suspend any rational thoughts for about 90 minutes.The first hour of this film is the best. We see Swayze wrongfully put in prison, on death row and about to be executed within a few weeks. He has written a best selling novel in prison and has acquired 4 very lonely fans that he communicates with via cassette tapes. The problem is, he leads every one of them to believe that they are the only ones keeping him alive, so when two of the tapes get switched, one of them sends him a death threat out of pure jealousy. After about 15 min into the film, his eviction is overturned, and he is released from jail with the ubiquitous fear of a killer stalking him. He then visits each one of the girls to find out who is sending him the threats.Honestly, I liked the plot of this movie. Not an original theme with the jealous psycho slasher, but it is an original storyline nonetheless. Swayze does act kind of stupid in some scenes, and unconvincing in others (when he is released from jail, we all know he had the first death threat, but come on, to show NO HAPPINESS at all for escaping death row and having your name cleared?? Bad acting, Patrick), but overall it is a good movie. It does kind of wander in the middle, and becomes a routine slasher where most of the killings are done off screen, but it does serve as a fairly capable who-dunnit. Oh, and there is a pretty lame 'buddy' part in the middle which you can basically ignore.I was able to guess who the killer was before the first murder, but honestly, they played it out so it could be anyone (also, one character is written as a little too conveniently psycho to allow anyone to possibly get any clues as to who did it). I thought the best part though was the fact that only 2 of the 4 tapes were switched in the beginning, so we can surmise of course, that 2 of them found out about the other girls, and we have to guess which 2 they were (though one is very obvious, complete with broken picture frame of Swayze during the montage of him calling all of them). The ending shot is pretty cheesy, but hey, what do you expect? Overall, an entertaining movie. Not thought provoking, but worth a look. 7/10 stars.

The worst movie I have ever seen. The sound quality was bad, the cutting of the scenes was even worse and above all it was not logic and it had no speed...I first tought: "Oh No, I don't want the trail that proves that poor Patrick was an innocent killer". But this turned out to be even worse. Typically in this American film you get a super-hint or no hints at all. I want very tiny small hints that direct you to the killer. The audience isn't involved. And now, when I don't get any hints at all, you can expect a several 's/he-is-the-killer' sweeps in the end. And that is not all. ah... This is hopeless, lets make an end to it...In one word: Disgusting..

This film starts off so well and then drifts around to a disappointing conclusion. Swayze (whose boyish good looks have now matured into something more interesting) plays a convicted criminal on death row for a crime he did not commit (obviously). He conducts tape letter relationships with four women to keep him sane whilst wating for death or release. He is shocked to discover that some of the tapes were mixed up when he posted them and that one of the women send him back a tape threatening his life. All this is academic until Swayze is released from Jail and his name cleared. He now travels round America trying to find out who sent the letter.This is a promising start to the film. Soon after this however the movie lurches off the road of drama and becomes melodrama. The interesting implications of Swazye's relationships are sidelined in favour of action sequences and implausible plot twists and the direction becomes plodding and predictable. See it for Swayses' performance and the first 30 minutes, then see if you can guess the killer's identity. There are no tricks in this film, the director trys to keep you guessing but as the plot is formulaic all the way there's never any doubt in the end who will win and who will lose.

An enjoyable film, but there were flaws in the logic. For instance, he was unable to figure out which woman had threatened him: Why didn't he just look at the postmarks? They were all from different states. Also, since he had plenty if money from his book he could have hired a private detective.