Lisa

Plot synopsis:
The movie opens with a single woman coming home from work. She plays her messages until one says, "I'm here in your apartment and Im going to kill you." Before she can react a gloved hand covers her mouth. A man (D.W. Moffett) forces her into her bedroom where a romantic scene with wine and candles is set. The "Candlelight Killer," a serial murderer working L.A., is about to claim another victim.After the credits run, the scene switches to a catholic high school where 14-year-old Lisa (Staci Keanan) and her best friend Wendy (Tanya Fenmore) dash into the girls' room after school to change out of their school uniforms. They have made a game of tracking handsome single men (adults in their 20s and 30s) and getting pictures of them for their fantasy scrapbook. Today they dash up a man while he is leaving his underground garage in his convertible. Wendy leans in on the driver's side next to the victim while Lisa snaps their picture. Then they run off leaving the perplexed driver behind.Back at Wendy's house they are putting the new photo in their scrapbook when Wendy gets a call. A boy she likes has invited her out on a date and his friend wants to double with Lisa. Lisa wants to go, but her mother will not allow her to date until she is sixteen.Lisa's mother, Katherine (Cheryl Ladd) is a single working mom who owns a flower store. She is over-protective with Lisa as she herself got pregnant as a teen and was disowned by her parents when she chose to keep the baby. She is so overprotective that she does not even let Lisa know she has a boyfriend, for fear of Lisa getting attached to him and being hurt if they break up.That evening while preparing dinner Lisa broaches the question of the date, but her mother makes it clear that she will not budge on this issue. Lisa then volunteers to pick up some rice for dinner at the local store. On the way back she is startled by a barking dog and literally runs into the "Candlelight Killer" (who is in the neighborhood after just doing another murder). He is nice to her and helps her pick up her grocery bag. Lisa is so impressed by him and his handsome continence that she copies down the plate number on his SUV before he drives away.Lisa has learned how to lower her voice to sound like an adult and uses this skill to flirt with a DMV agent to get the man's name, telephone and address from his license plate. His name is Richard. Lisa calls Richard from the phone in her room. Pretending to be someone he knows, who does not want to tell him her name, she flirts with him using lines her mother has told her a customer used on her. When Richard flirts back she becomes hooked on making calls to him.Lisa and Wendy stake out his Richard's apartment house and follow him as he walks to work. He is apparently the manager of a fancy restaurant.The next day Lisa tries to hang out with Wendy, but she is busy with her new boyfriend. Instead Lisa walks to Richard's apartment house. When the garage gate opens to let out a car, Lisa sneaks into get a better look at Richard's SUV. When the car is accidently unlocked by another resident with an identical remote code, Lisa climbs in the car and fantasies what it would be like to be on a date with Richard. She panics though when she realizes she is locked in the car and Richard is coming. Hiding in the backseat she escapes when he stops to pick up his dry cleaning.The brush with Richard further ignites Lisa's imagination. In additional calls to Richard she tells him she met him at the restaurant and that that her name is Lisa. She is flattered when Richard tells her he thinks that she must be beautiful.Wendy's father (Jeffrey Tambor) invites Lisa to join his family for a weekend in the mountains. Katherine vetoes this as she already suspects that Wendy's having a boyfriend is giving Lisa ideas. Lisa and her mom fight over this. The next day Katherine relents and calls Wendy's dad to say Lisa can go.Lisa and Katherine decide to have a mother daughter night out and Lisa picks Richard's restaurant as their destination. Wendy has given Lisa the idea of matching her mom up with Richard, so Lisa calls Richard telling him she will be at the restaurant that night wearing white (which is the color her mother is wearing). Richard is at the restaurant and greets Katherine, but when she doesn't react he isn't sure that she is the right person. Lisa, however, puts a note addressed to him with the check that says, "Now you have seen me" and adds a lipstick kiss. Since Katherine used a credit card to pay for the meal this now gives Richard a name and address.The meal ends in a fight when Lisa tells her mom she found her birth control pills. She accuses her mother of sleeping around (as she does not know her mother has a regular boyfriend) while not even allowing Lisa to date. When they get home her mother grounds Lisa and takes the phone out of her room.The next day after school Lisa leaves for the mountains with Wendy's family after she realizes that Wendy's parents do not know she has been grounded. When Lisa does not come home Katherine figures out what she has done and calls Lisa. She decides not to tell Wendy's parents what Lisa has done, but tells Lisa they will need a long talk when she gets home.The next day Lisa calls Richard from the mountains. Richard tells her he has discovered her real name: Katherine. Lisa, shocked that Richard has found out her mother's name (and presumably phone number) and calls her mom and tells her that if she gets a call from somebody named Richard, its just a guy from school making crank calls and she should ignore him.Lisa is due home from the mountains about the same time Katherine gets home from the shop the next day. Katherine plays her messages and gets the "I'm in your apartment and will kill you" message, but thinks it's the crank call Lisa warned her about. Hearing somebody in the apartment she assumes it is Lisa, but it is really Richard who overpowers her.When Lisa gets home she is attacked by Richard. Richard has apparently figured out Lisa's game and found her scrapbook. He knocks Katherine unconscious and drags Lisa to a bedroom romantically set up with wine and candles (his usual murder MO). Before he can assault Lisa, however, Katherine, who has apparently recovered, drives a knife into his shoulder from behind. Richard is further injured when Lisa maces him. The women lock themselves in Lisa's bedroom, but too late remember that Katherine removed the phone so they can't call the police. They decide to open the window and hide. When Richard busts down the door he assumes they have gone out the window and rushes to it. Katherine then uses a baseball bat to hit him from behind and send him out the window falling several floors to his death. Mother and daughter, relieved to be alive, collapse in each others arms.

Tags: murder, prank

Review:
Lisa (the lovely Staci Keanan) is 14 and boy-crazy, but Katherine, her overprotective single mother, refuses to let her date until she turns 16.
While Lisa is out getting groceries one night, she literally runs into Richard and instantly develops a crush on the much older man.
Along with her best friend, she finds out where he works and uses sneaky tactics to get his phone number.
When Lisa's stalking gets more and more risky, her friend convinces her that if she revealed herself to Richard, he'd be furious about the age difference.
Lisa then devises a plan to push Richard and Katherine together in an attempt to get her mother's mind on something other than controlling her life.
What Lisa doesn't know is that Richard is a serial killer who was leaving the scene of his latest crime when she bumped into him.Director Gary Sherman's output has always been largely ignored.
Even "Dead & Buried", which is one of my absolute favorite horror films, wasn't widely known for the longest time.
"Lisa" is no different.
That said, it is certainly worth seeking out.The film contains some strong performances.
Staci Keanan, who was the sole reason to watch popular sitcom, "Step by Step", carries the picture.
She's also great at portraying this naive, vulnerable girl who thinks she's tougher than she is.
Lisa and her mother share a good relationship, but we see the wedge that is driven between them as the former grows increasingly bitter due to the rules placed over her.
It doesn't help that she witnesses Katherine spurn a friendly guy at the local bowling alley, an act which leads Lisa to believe that she's being punished for her mother's past mistakes.
Cheryl Ladd is well-cast as Katherine, and her chemistry with Keanan is palpable.
Short of casting Jordan Ladd herself in the titular role, I don't think we could have seen a more believable mother and daughter pairing.
Rich, good-looking and suave, he could easily get women, but he would rather slaughter them.
Dubbed the "Candlelight Killer" by the press, he leaves messages on his victims' answering machines warning them of what he's about to do before he does it.
Jeffrey Tambor is in the film too, but he's underused in a throwaway role.We get some solid suspense here, particularly during a scene where Lisa finds herself stuck in Richard's vehicle.
The film's climax is also tense and surprisingly violent.
We also get an amusing bit, be it intentional or unintentional, where Richard uses Katherine to head-butt her own daughter.
I will say that the film falters a bit towards the end, mainly due to a poor decision made by one of the characters.
I also thought that the look of the film wasn't as impressive as it could have been, especially taking into account the eerie, fog-drenched photography of "Dead & Buried".
The score sort of made up for the generic look, being moody whereas the atmosphere wasn't.In the end, this is a worthwhile effort thanks in large part to the performances on display.
It's a well-acted film, and the suspense benefits as a result..
An excellent movie choice for suspense fans..
This movie freaked me out when I saw it many years ago.
The plot concerns a young single mom raising a rebellios teenage daughter(Lisa) who, tired of what she deems her mom's overprotectivness, begins crankcalling handsome strangers and unwittingly begins a phone flirtation with a serial killer.This movie would be a great choice for mothers and daughters to view.
What makes it so scary is it's realism.This is a situation that could happen to anyone, It stays with you, there are a few really terrifying scenes.I'd recomend this movie to anyone who likes thrillers, "Lisa" will make girls wonder just who it is their striking up a conversation with..
Yes, Cute Guys Can Be Psychos, Too, Girls!
This was a beautifully crafted suspense thriller about an overprotected 14-year-old girl named Lisa (played by Staci Keanan) who, in her innocent attempts to have some involvement with the opposite sex, becomes tied up in conversing by phone with a handsome guy, who unknown to her is the crazed serial killer responsible for several murders of young single women in the area where she and her single mom live.Staci Keanan and Cheryl Ladd made a wonderful mother-daughter team.
There are many suspenseful moments involving Lisa and the killer, yet the whole time she has no clue just how dangerous this handsome young man she stalks really is.
It would make any teen think twice before trying to pick up a handsome stranger.
I was thirteen when this film was first released in 1990.
"Lisa" sure scared the hell out of me when I first saw it..
GREAT PHONE STALKING SLASHER!!!!!.
I watched this movie back on Cinemax and Showtime on cable when I was a kid and just got my hands on a VHS release of it not to long ago.
Just as good as I remember it.
Lots of obscene phone stalking by a 14 year old.
Anyway the movie involves 2 cute supposedly 14 year old hotties and they toy with a serial killer and don't know how far they have pushed this psycho!!A really cool movie with a gory ending.
Slasher reviewer gives this one a thumbs up and yells check it out for sure!!!!!Great acting, great storyline, cute chicks, unique kill scenes, what more could you ask for?.
Surprisingly, Good.
This movie, although its main character is a teenie bopper, is quite satisfying.
There is a killer, victims, suspense, and its surprisingly, interesting.
The acting wasn't that bad, either.
This movie is surprisingly, good..
very good thriller as well as chilling, especially towards the end..
I thought this was a very good thriller as well as chilling, especially towards the end.
Cheryl Ladd is one of my favorite actresses and I was riveted to her performance.
She has done several riveting performances, but this one was one movie I could see over and over again.
Staci Keanan was good as well, I've know her to do comedy as she did with Greg Evigan in "My Two Dad's", but her acting in a thriller/drama gave her more depth as an actress.
This movie takes me back!.
"Lisa" takes me back when I was about 11 or 12 years old.
Sometimes bad movies can be good if you grew up watching them.
I watch this movie now and I say: "Ok it was kind of stupid, but I still like it".
I don't know, I guess I am hooked on the whole fact of Lisa being this stupid kid doing the exact opposite of what I would have done.
I get a kick out of watching movies; especially if it is dealing with other people's problems,it makes me feel better if I am having a bad day.
Still the movie has it's suspense, and charm, and its about a 14 year old girl making really stupid mistakes, and of course paying for them!
I still love this movie and I'm still going to buy it!.
great movie.loaded with suspense and authentic performances.
i was pleasantly surprised by this movie.i thought it was terrific.it's got loads of suspense and tension.i also liked the atmosphere over the movie overall.it's well acted.i found the interaction between the mother and her teenage daughter to be very authentic.the movie is not boring at all.in fact,it movies along at a very nice clip.there is one great ironic scene,which i thought was brilliant.it may not have been original,but it works in this case,regardless.the general premise isn't wholly original,but i like what they did with the material.to me,this movie is quite above average for the suspense/thriller genre.i caught this movie on cable,so it didn't cost me anything(other than my monthly cable bill,of course).i think it's well worth the two hours or so spent watching.for me,Lisa,AKA The Candle Light Killer is an 8/10.
Little girls can never wait to grow up.
A young girl, looking for adventure with the opposite sex, develops a long distance crush on a handsome stranger.
This leads to the man noticing her and her mom which, instead of being a nice meeting of friends, winds up putting both in danger.
Good, nerve wracking chiller containing a very evil, totally sinister killer..
It Grows On You. I remember when I first saw this film in 1992.
I thought the story unfolded in a weird way, and I felt that the candlelight killer took too long to kill his victims; however, this movie contains a number of choice little parts.
I especially liked the phone conversations that Stacy Keanan had with the killer.
I liked the way that Lisa and her mom kicked the bad guy's boonkey.
Wholesome Unique Thriller.
This is one of those awesome unique thrillers I grew up on.
I remember having talks with my mom about the "danger of strangers".
Character Development/Writing Quality: Good, tight, heart-smacking rhythms mixed with tender moments between 14-year-old Lisa (Staci Keanan) and her young mom (Cheryl Ladd).
A rare suspense filled with incredible character development: we go from a naive teen to a mature judicious young lady and an in-control killer to an insecure man when he tries to figure out who is behind the sudden crank calls; this is an interesting aspect of the film as the tables are turned, even though Lisa unknowingly does this, taking the killer out of his self-confident role and into uncertain territory.Values: The precious value of a mom/daughter relationship.
The importance of friendship-- (Tanya Fenmore) plays Lisa's best friend and their friendship goes through some ups and downs for realistic high school drama.Content (sex, language & violence): The start of something about to happen is suggested, but nothing is shown.
Violence is slow and eerie when Richard, "The Candlelight Killer" (D.W. Moffett), prepares to kill his victims.
Intense violence occurs at the end, but it is mostly emotional as mom and daughter combat the villain.Scare factor/suspense: Some intense moments marked by a long guitar rif and the stiff-faced expression of the villain.
One moment particularly stands out with Lisa hidden in the backseat of Richard's car and him just inches away in the front seat.....goosebumps are sure to get you in this scene!A great thriller for parents and their kids, or just you and your friends.
Chilling, well-observed thriller, whose message seems to be: "Careful when you're making telephone pranks, you never know whom you might mess with!".
The bland cinematography gives it a TV-movie look, but it still has natural , believable performances by Ladd and Keanan, a well-cast actor as the handsome psycho, a good ear for dialogue and some moments that would make Hitchcock proud (especially the scene where the girl is trapped in the back seat of the killer's car).
I thought this movie was horrible!!I had wanted to see this movie because of Staci Keanan.
She was actually pretty good, but the movie in itself was just horrible.
It might have been an A title movie, but it portayed itself as being a B title.
If you ever see this movie some where don't waste your time with it.
It's trying to be suspenseful and it is pretty thrilling at times but all and all it's a pretty bad movie!.
Staci Keanan of 'My Two Dads' and 'Step by Step' stars as the title character, a girl in her early teens.
She's a little too eager to grow up, especially since her mother Katherine (Cheryl Ladd), doesn't want her dating for at least another two years.
One night, Staci literally runs into older man Richard (D.
W. Moffett), and is struck by his good looks.
She develops an obsession with Richard that includes following him to see where he works (he runs a restaurant).
This escalates to a point where she goes ahead and phones him, and they engage in some seductive calls, with him not knowing that this mystery caller is the young girl whom he's just met.
Ultimately, she's playing with fire: we learn early in the movie that Richard is the evil Candle Light Killer who has been offing various unlucky local women.People who love the other works of director Gary Sherman, such as his horror features "Deathline" (a.k.a.
"Raw Meat") and "Dead & Buried", and his sleaze drama "Vice Squad", may be caught a little off guard at first with the tamer nature of this film.
But in his own words, he basically made this for teenage girls, having also co- written it with Karen Clark.
Taking it for what it is, it's watchable enough, with some adequate suspense and a climax that actually doesn't go overboard with violence.
Joe Renzettis' music is good, and the lighting by Alex Nepomniaschy is appropriate from scene to scene.Keanans' appealing performance does go a long way towards making this work as well as it does.
Ladd is good as the overprotective mom who believes to have the best interests of her daughter at heart; she doesn't want her to make the same mistakes she did as a kid.
Tanya Fenmore is engaging as the best friend, and a rather under utilized Jeffrey Tambor gets little to do as the best friends' father.Even if "Lisa" is not really anything special, one could also do a lot worse.Six out of 10..
"Lisa" is a thriller about a serial killer.
OK, there are a lot of great atheistic directors, but anyway creativity requires some kind of irrationality – a little madness, a struggle within.
I guess that's why there's no nerve in his movies – there are too mundane.
He sees no miracle in being alive, in trying to survive.The movie has a simple logical story about a girl named Lisa how's young pretty mother forbids her to date boys because she's afraid her daughter will end up pregnant just like herself 14 years ago.
So Lisa had to find some alternative ways to get to the opposite sex – first she imagines some romances with George Michaels and other adult celebrities, then she starts a telephone relationship with a handsome man she met in the street.
And that handsome man happens to be a serial killer.
Sounds a little bit like William Castle's "I saw what you did".
Anyway.Everything in this movie is really good.
Acting is much better than you could expect from a typical thriller.
Although the main character is a school-girl, the movie is never childish – surely it's not for teenagers, but rather for their parents.
Sherman never made trash or masterpieces – he was always somewhere above average, touching neither ground nor sky.In the end, I like the movie.
It's nowhere near "Basic Instinct" – Verhoeven is pragmatist/atheist too, but he feels the sexual tension between his characters like it really matters to him and to us.
This film is a prime example of seeing a movie for the first time and liking it, then viewing it again years later and finding it completely ridiculous.
"Lisa" is the story of a teenager who, with her best friend, basically stalk men that they think are "cute": Keeping scrapbooks of their polaroid snapshots, etc.
This tactic finally goes horribly wrong when Lisa inadvertently fixes her attention on a man who ends up being "The Candlelight Killer", a serial killer who is terrorizing the city.As stated earlier, I had seen this movie about 12 years ago and thought it was fairly suspenseful.
None of that suspense was apparent to me watching it this time, and unfortunately I can't blame it on knowing what was going to happen because I couldn't remember any of the scenes.
The only vaguely interesting element to the film that made the film barely tolerable was the fact that the eventual "victim" was unknowingly stalking the killer - but I think I'm being generous in my assessment.
This was basically a straight to video type film that could have been featured on the Lifetime network, and probably has been since it also features the horrible Cheryl Ladd.
Unless you have a lot of patience to sit through a film with an unfulfilling ending, I would suggest bypassing this one.--Shelly.
i was shocked cuz i placed a bid for a VHS on ebay and 10 other people wanted it also, so i lost.
it never got to DVD for some reason.so, great movie, mainly cuz its like a cautionary tale to warn girls a guy can be hot, rich and successful and still be a psycho.
they need to make more movies like this, not a goofy scream type movie but a real edgy serious thriller like this one.
richard is exceptionally hot in this film.
great acting.
my friend and i thought we were so cool we made our voices sound sexy and would have late night chats with 25 year old guys.
i remember one night my mom walked in and heard me, of course i lied and told her it was a joke if she only knew what we were doing, so dangerous.
Cuz chatlines are dangerous because predators go on there often looking for victims.
And sometimes we'd randomly call people and start talking to guys.
teen girls are boy crazy and there are a lot of psycho's out there.
This movie is so creepy the way they did it was you knew all along who he was, instead of finding out at the end, it made it more creepy that she was playing with his mind and it turns out he was a serial killer.
"if you got laid every once and a while you wouldn't be such a bitch" "if you're mom had a boyfriend and "got it" once and a while she might leave you alone and let you date" lol, i forgot how sassy teenagers can be.
i should know cuz a couple of those guys from the chatlines wanted to dirty talk and i may have let them so yeah, now that im much older, thats straight up creepy!!