Such a frustrating disappointment

best movie i've ever seen.

As Good As It Gets

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

My wife and I were talking a few years back and we got to talking about movies that freaked us out as kids. Well, it turned out that two made for TV films in particular were scary--and we both remembered them decades later. One was "Crowhaven Farm" and the other was this film, "The Stranger Within". So, I was thrilled to find out that both are finally on DVD and I picked up copies. I was interested to find out that whether or not they really were as weird and scary as I'd remembered. Regardless, the movie sure had an impact on us! The film begins with a wife (Barbara Eden) telling her husband (George Grizzard) that she was pregnant. Normally this isn't a bad thing, but the husband had gotten a vasectomy three years earlier! And, after he goes to the doctor, the doctor tells him conclusively that he cannot be the father! So who is the father? Is sweet Barbara cheating on him? And if not, HOW?! And, why is she beginning to behave so weirdly?! The answers are freaky....and I don't want to say more as it would clearly spoil the film.Now seeing the movie several decades later, my impressions of the thing have changed considerably. While I still think it's worth seeing, I noticed three things I never saw as a kid. First, it really wasn't a scary film at all but a weird one. Second, the plot is pretty thin and could have been told better in an hour or less. Third, it's pretty obvious what's going on relatively early in the film and the surprise ending isn't all that surprising. Still, as I just said, it's well worth seeing and is one of the more diverting made for TV films I have seen--even with all its cheesy faults.

If you go to www.warnerarchive.com you can order "The Stranger Within" which is an official release and not a bootleg copy. Note they include a disclaimer that says "not re-mastered for the purposes of this release but taken from the best possible print." Anyway, it would be great for all of us to see our beloved "Jeannie" in a movie where she is clearly a totally different person. David Doyle as the couple's friend is a treat as he puts Eden into a trance so they can find out how she got pregnant. At first, she says nothing but on the second try, she tells them it was an alien. Great fun for the '70's--may be dated today.

*** spoiler signal! *** ... that is presumably coming from the alien fetus inside her, speaking through her mouth. I don't remember it verbatim, but the alien fetus explains its origin and speaks of Earth as a "...hot, heavy land..." It was a nice, little haunting bit of writing, and the makers of the TV movie knew it was the best part of the whole production, because they use it TWICE. The rest of the move is rather flat and lethargic; it's not really scary or even all that suspenseful. I saw this when I was a little kid, when it originally aired on TV in '74, and I remember I was looking forward to it and hoped it would be good because I liked (and still like!) spooky movies and because it starred Barbara Eden who was still pretty fresh from Jeannie at the time, but even as an indiscriminate 7-yr old viewer I was bored and disappointed.

Interesting made for TV ROSEMARY'S BABY/EXORCIST type flick, with Barbara Eden in fine form as the expectant mother who begins committing some very bizarre acts after she discovers she's pregnant. This is not at all new territory, though horror/sci-fi author Richard Matheson has managed to add some fairly effective offbeat touches.