Never Talk to Strangers

Plot synopsis:
Psychologist Dr. Sarah Taylor (Rebecca De Mornay) is a guarded, aloof criminal psychologist who interviews a client who is a rapist, and is pleading not guilty by reason of insanity. It is later revealed that she was the subject of daily rapes as a child by her estranged father, who is now shown to be very ill. Sarah meets Tony Ramirez (Antonio Banderas) in a shopping mall, and she gives him her number. She begins a relationship with Tony, despite the creepy advances of her neighbor, Cliff (Dennis Miller), with whom she once had a one-night stand.
Days into this new relationship, Sarah begins to get death threats and strange gifts, such as dead flowers. As she gets more romantic with Tony, the gifts get more extreme. Her lifelong cat is dismembered, at which point Sarah goes to the police. Sarah then hires a detective and has Tony followed, and breaks into his apartment only to discover that he has a file on her, including information about her mother's death in a car accident, twenty years before. Tony is actually investigating her, trying to learn the whereabouts of a former boyfriend of hers who had disappeared suddenly.
Ultimately, it is revealed that Sarah suffers from multiple personality disorder, brought about from her abuse as a child, and from her father brainwashing her to cover up the murder of her mother. Her alternate personality is responsible for all of the strange gifts, and for murdering her ex-boyfriend. When Tony goes to her father's house, Sarah (under the control of her alternate personality) follows him, shoots and kills him there, and then kills her father when he tries to intervene. When Sarah reverts to her normal personality, not remembering what has happened, she presumes that Tony was crazy and killed her father, and that she killed Tony in self-defense. In the end, she is seen entering into a relationship with Cliff.

Tags: romantic, boring, neo noir, murder, violence

Review:
This thriller is a bit rough-edged, but a lot of people like that sort of thing.
Rebecca DeMornay was the at the top of her game around this time (early to mid '90s).GOOD NEWS - Overall, an interesting and involving story, especially in the second half.
There are a few steamy scenes, too.BAD NEWS - No likable characters, too much profanity; a few minor holes in the story; an obvious feminist bias and DeMornay's foul mouth and morals are pretty rotten for a psychologist, the character she plays.
The guys - Dennis Miller and Antonio Bandaras - play pretty sleazy characters, too.OVERALL - Interesting movie but too sleazy a feel to it..
Rebecca De Mornay stars as Dr Sarah Taylor, a psychologist in an unnamed city who has a difficult personal life.
She meets the charming Tony Ramirez (Antonio Banderas) in a supermarket and- despite her many fears- is soon drawn into a passionate relationship with him.
Soon after meeting Tony, Sarah acquires a stalker who sends her dead flowers and dismembers her pet cat.
The audience is provided with a decent list of possible suspects including Tony, Sarah's missing ex-boyfriend Benny, or possibly her slightly sleazy upstairs neighbor (a surprisingly good Dennis Miller).
Other possibilities include her alcoholic father, and associates of serial killer Max Cheski (the wonderful Harry Dean Stanton) on whom she is performing a court-ordered psychiatric evaluation.As the plot unfolds, it appears as if De Mornay's character has nowhere to hide and nobody she can really trust.
This Thriller was received poorly on it's release, this is unfortunate as I found much to like here.Firstly I liked the main musical score running throughout the film and the Director was quite clearly going for a Hitchcockian feel, which only partially succeeds though.
The love scenes although a bit lengthy were stylishly made and did not detract from the film, the ending although a bit of a stretch was at least surprising and acted fairly convincingly (although I am no shrink).So although being far from a classic I certainly thought it was far from being the worst thriller.
I like this sort of picture, the kind of mystery in which you can't pick out the murderer until the end of the movie.
As a result, there is a considerable dead spot in the middle of the film, which may have influenced some reviewers ratings.As I mentioned, the ending is quite clever and the picture keeps you guessing, since there are few suspects to choose from and the ending was unexpected.
Rebecca De Mornay was good as the heroine and Antonio Banderas was even better as the romantic stranger.
Banderas is often better than the material and does not seem to take himself seriously, as witnessed by the number of crummy movies he has appeared in."Never Talk To Strangers" is an absorbing, if uneven, murder mystery which has been given short shrift by reviewers on the IMDb website.
I like mystery / crime movies where you try to figure out what is going on.
If you like that kind of movies, with twists and turns, then this one is definitely worth a watch..
So yes, if you don't know already, as a thriller it stinks.But as a sex movie, it's not bad.
the movie starred two actors that I like very much, Rebecca DeMornay and Antonio Banderas.
The movie's premise was bad to begin with and the execution just made it even worst.Miss DeMornay plays Sarah Taylor, a psychologist trying to analyze a convicted serial killer whose defense hinge on multiple personality disorder.
This being made in the 1990's when the bad daddy was the in thing in Hollywood is another clue to the ultimate conclusion.Mr. Banderas plays a mystery man named Tony Ramirez, who comes into Sarah's life.
Rebecca De Mornay can be a fascinating beautiful actress but as for the parts she's given to play,if you cannot say something nice...De Mornay portrays a woman who had terrible traumas as a child with a father she can hardly stand now that she's a grown up and has become a -of course brilliant- shrink.She has an affair with Banderas ,whom we suspect of being (ouch!how original!) a serial killer.Sometimes she recalls Banderas's mother-in-law Tippi Hedren's character in "Marnie" .But I wouldn't count on it:Hitchcock died twenty-four years ago ,and a lot of regents desperately try to replace him .Here the director pulls out all the stops to make a thriller with an unexpected end,but that ending is so far-fetched it is absolutely impossible to buy it.The movie includes the obligatory "conversations with a serial killer" in the "silence of the lamb" tradition,murders (human beings and cats),split personality,and open ending in case the crowds should call for more.Apparently they did not,and they were right..
Yet when you view something like Peter Hall's Never Talk to Strangers it rams home just how welcome it is to have Hitch like thrillers at least done well!Rebecca De Mornay is a troubled shrink who whilst dealing with the mind games of a serial killing loony (Harry Dean Stanton), meets sexually charged Latino guy (Antonio Banderas) and indulges in passions unbound.
Then she starts to get very unwelcome presents in the post...The erotic thriller has been well trodden, and will continue to be so for sure, so it feels a little churlish to decry Hall's movie for coming off as a weak willed imitator of previous purveyors of the sub-genre, but this blend of Silence of the Lambs meets Sea of Love - cum - Dressed to Kill - cum Fatal Attraction etc etc just comes across as a cheat.
And that's because it is!The makers know this and try to hide their ridiculous folly behind eroticism as the two lovely looking headlining stars get sweaty and wet, indulging in sexual play that's as powerful as the surroundings (Banderas lives in a loft apartment resplendent with metal cage and wrought iron doors).
The mystery element is weak, the suspense equally so, while the back story of De Mornay's father (a key character) is hopelessly under developed.Then there is H.D. Stanton, stealing every scene is he is in, quid pro quo indeed, yet he's hardly in the film, which ultimately proves to be a tragedy as the plot hurtles towards its implausible and risible revelations.
Red herrings come and go as quickly as Becca and Tony's underwear (the continuity editor should have been sacked along with the writers because of one scene BTW), and even though Pino Donaggio scores the music with customary swirling qualities, this just comes off as a piggyback tactic...This is a poor thriller in spite of two very committed and visually attractive perfs from the leads - and of course Stanton's knowingly sleazy turn.
Yes, some of the acting wasn't great.But, I didn't think it was that bad, and (forgive my ignorance in psychiatric matters if this is wrong) that implausible either.I think, in acting terms, it was a general disappointment in the two main star actors who have done much better work than this.
I really liked the plot and directing and acting in this movie.
Ms. De Mornay is underrated and all the nude scenes I've seen of her are classy and in good taste.While it has holes, character-wise, such as; why wouldn't Sarah know her ex-fiancée's sister or his cousin already?
Rebecca De Mornay,(Dr. Sarah Taylor),"Wedding Crashers",'05, played a shrink who was dealing with a mental case in a prison and also had a husband who was a doctor in the same hospital.
As the story progresses, Sarah meets up with Antonio Banderas,(Tony Ramirez),"The Legend of Zorro",'05, who manages to hit on Sarah and gets a date and plenty more interesting torrid events.
There are many twists and turns to this mystery tale and the ending of this film may greatly deceive you..
This film is a pretty standard thriller with Banderas being a typical bad guy who does the main things in a psycho-thriller to the victim).
I've been trying to think of a word to describe the main characters in this movie, and the best one is incongruity.
A macho-looking Puerto Rican named Tony (Antonio Banderas) dressed in a leather jacket with big silver rings on most of his fingers turns out to be a wine expert and an ex-cop with a great sense of fun and takes his sex either kinky or romantic.
An up-scale psychiatrist named Sarah (Rebecca DeMoray) is evaluating a murderer, Max Cheski (Harry Dean Stanton) for Multiple Personality Disorder while she goes through extreme moods shifts.
She falls for Tony, who doesn't seem to be her type, yet ends up being the perfect guy to help her with her sexual repression and problems with trust.This movie doesn't quite work as a thriller.
I was surprised a couple of things, so I didn't guess the entire ending beforehand.I found DeMoray's acting go from passable to over the top at times.
The only one who actually makes this movie watchable is Banderas, who manages to do some good things with the poor material he's given.
Sometimes, DeMoray either seems to lag behind him or goes over the top in an effort to match him.In spite of it's flaws as a thriller, once you know what's really going on and watch it again, it makes for a decent drama (as long as you ignore the annoying overdone "shocking moments.") Second time through lets you actually understand the whys about things.
Unfortunately, most people aren't going to want to watch this thing a second time..
DeMornay looks great for the guys and Banderas looks great for the ladies and they fit together nicely in this supposed thriller about a police psychologist who may or may not be the victim of a stalker and who may or may not have been abused as a child.
This movie is like one of those long, drawn-out jokes that takes 5 minutes to tell, only to set up a unfunny punchline.
The only thing this movie could've used was Banana Face instead of Dennis Miller.
And he didn't even get his ass bitten in this movie like Antonio did.
Antonio got some AB action in this movie if you know what I mean.
horrible,  predictable and boring, this movie is obviously for horny demornay fans or just older/middle aged divorced women looking to lust after banderas, they're acting was pretty poor considering what they've done in the past was actully good, in this movie it felt like each of them were just found right from a casting call in hollywood with no experience....
The idea alone that a successful shrink like the character demornay plays just falls for low life bum (who ends up later in the movie claiming he was a cop), who some how had enough money to get a nice new motorcycle, straight off the boat from puerto rico is hilarious cause god knows most female shrinks have such an ego and are soooo snobby that she would have smacked that bottle of wine over his head in the store to begin with had this been an accurate film but then we would never have had a movie(UNFORTUNATELY WE DID), OVERALL THE BEST ACTING IN THIS PILE OF AUDIO AND VISUAL HORSE droppings (i'd much rather use bad words to describe this but i'm going to be civil with my disgust towards thig movie) WAS FROM THE DEAD PUSSY cat.
the movie would've just been better if the porn angle between demornay and banderas went from softcore to hardcore , lets face it that would have won a great award right there...
i'd comment on the whole load of bs of wheter or not Demornay was abused somehow as a child, that angle was just put there to add time to the movie not the plot.....please take everything i've said seriously, don't rent it or buy it on dvd if it's offered to you say no thank you i'll wath Se7en, if someone puts a gun to your head and says the only way i'll let you live is if you watch this movie entirely i'd take the bullet!!!.
Indeed the opening half an hour is one of the slowest you will ever see in a film with aspirations of capturing the attention of even the less demanding viewer.The acting by the leads is passable at best with Antonio Banderas particularly poor as the ubiquitous "tall and dark stranger/suspect".It seems as if all elements required to make a decent 90's thriller have been thrown together hastily and what is left is a desperately disappointing letdown..
With so many good movies coming out in 1995 (particularly "Mortal Kombat" and "Seven"), unfortunately, there had to be some bombs as well, and this film indeed falls into the latter category with a boring, predictable plot and a lousy ending.
What idiot wrote this?" But, "What's going on...who's the bad guy...then there's that Rebecca De Mornay." Time passes....THE END."NOT CREDIBLE.
I did like Banderas, but felt bad that he had to play opposite De Mornay.
My analysis *spoilers* Don't read this unless you've seen the movie (this contains little in the way of an actual review).
First of all, you have to understand that Sarah suffered from multi-personality disorder from a long time before the movie started; most likely since she was a child.
However, although her other personality usually hates men, it falls in love with Tony, as well as Sarah herself.
This is obvious in the scene where Sarah appears in Tony's home, slaps him, and has sex with him.
Sarah, who doesn't know that it's her other personality, and isn't good at trusting men, especially men who are close to her, blames Tony, because she doesn't feel safe when he's around.
Sarah is herself again; thereby, she doesn't know what happened, but guess/thinks that Tony killed her father(which would seem logical to her, as she was certain that Tony was insane) and she shot him in self-defense.
It felt like it could have been the work of the late Hitchcock himself(save for the sex scene, which I'm not quite sure was so much necessary as an easy device to attract those on the look-out for such a thing).
but hey, it's got Rebecca De Mornay, does anyone actually see her name on the cast list of anything and think "oh, quality cinema lies ahead!"?), particularly those who like them with a "twist".
Harry Dean Stanton is marvelous, as usual, as the serial killer against whom De Mornay has to testify, and Len Cariou does a nice turn as her estranged father trying to make final peace with her.
Banderas and DeMornay are nice to see, in this mediocre movie..
Rebecca plays a psychiatrist, and we see several scenes where she is evaluating an accused murdered for competency, he claims to have multiple personalities, but we suspect he is just trying to get off easy.
***SPOILERS*** We first get to see pretty blond psychologist Dr. Sarah Taylor, Rebecca De Mornay, interviewing her favorite mental patient convicted serial murder and sex fiend Max Cheski, Harry Dean Stanton.
It's much later in the film that we begin to realize how right Max was in that he's suffers from a multiple personality complex himself!Sarah later gets involved with ex-cop Tony Ramirez, Antonio Banderas,whom she met in the wine department of her local supermarket.
The affair between Sarah and Tony gets under the skin of Sarah's boyfriend Cliff Raddison, Dennis Miller, who in how he handles himself may be in need of psychiatric treatment, like Sarah's patients, himself.The movie gets even more confusing when Sarah's father Henry Taylor, Len Cariou, unexpectedly shows up wanting to crash her place, because he doesn't have money for a hotel room, for the Christmas Holiday's.
Sarah also finds out by breaking into, at his loft, Tony's personal belongings that he's been keeping a secret file on her, with newspaper clippings and police reports, that go back to he time when her mothers died some 20 years ago!
****SPOILER ALERT**** What Sarah didn't realize is that her troubles are a lot closer to home then she could ever have imagined!Nothing special in this Alfred Hitchcock-like thriller with the exception of the typical icy blond, Sarah Taylor, really heating up the screen in her almost X-rated acrobatics with Tony Rameiriz.
But is her stalker Tony Ramirez (Antonio Banderas), the Puerto Rican charmer she's just fallen in love with?
The story keeps you wondering until revealing the truth, which turns out to be pretty decent for a twist ending.Clocking in at under 90 minutes, Never Talk to Strangers is like a well made wading pool.
There's not a lot of chemistry between De Mornay and Antonio Banderas.
De Mornay, Banderas and the rest of the cast do reasonably good acting jobs and the film is adequately written and directed.
For less than 90 minutes, though, it's a pleasant diversion.The only thing that separates Never Talk To Strangers from the typical woman-in-peril movie you'd see on the Lifetime channel are a few F-words, Banderas' bare butt and De Mornay's naked breasts.
But whatever the reason for them, the 30something boomlet is probably the one thing that keeps a lot of actresses plugging away in movies long after they should have found other employment.
Rebecca De Mornay is ideal for portraying repressed fire, Antonio Banderas can easily switch from likable to potentially dangerous, Dennis Miller and Harry Dean Stanton provide lively support (Miller gets the best line in the film: "I am Sisyphus with a hard-on!").
The De Mornay - Banderas erotic scenes are quite steamy.
And there's prisoner Harry Dean Stanton who's trying to maneuver her into giving him a diagnosis of multiple personality disorder so he won't have his privates nailed to the wall for the serial murders he's committed.All these people, and perhaps more, are immediately suspect when strange things begin happening to her.
The film absolutely forces us to identify with Rebecca DeMornay's character, right from the beginning.