Watch Stalked at 17 For Free

Memorable, crazy movie

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Who had the temerity to call this a thriller? There are so many things wrong with this film, or rather with the way the male lead is portrayed. Okay, Chad was a jerk, but a 21 year old who has sex with a 16 year old is not a paedophile, or pedofile in American-English, and rather than pump and dump his catch as a total jerk would have done, he wanted to be part of his son's life. What is so wrong about that? Some monsters are born, others are made, and he had a terrible start in life as it was. Not a whit of sympathy or empathy for this unfortunate dude. Okay, you wouldn't want him in your daughter's life, but if he'd been offered visitation rights or at the very least if they'd given him a hearing, things wouldn't have turned out half so tragic. Cry for the bad man; you made him that way.

Taylor Spreitler, as Angela Curson, is a high school girl of seventeen and is pregnant. But that's not where the problem lies. A few words of admonishment from her parents -- nice performance from Amy Pietz as the concerned mother -- and the middle-class Curson family happily sets about buying baby doo-dads and fixing up the spare room for a nursery, little pink figures in the wall paper and whatnot. Oh, the family presumably still wishes that their little girl hadn't gotten knocked up at sixteen, but let's put that behind us. Everything is hunky-dory.Except for one thing. The young college student, Chuck Hittinger as Chad Bruning, the father-to-be. The writers have no intention of challenging the viewer. They spill the beans about who's right and who's wrong right off the bat with those names. Now, I ask you, the experienced viewer, the perspicacious assessor, who is good and who is bad -- someone named "Angela Curson" or someone named "Chad Bruning"?Actually Hittinger looks a little like the late Patrick Swayze, and he's all enthusiastic about the pregnancy. Apparently a nice young man, he tries to pressure Spreitler into marrying him so they can live together happily. But by this time the young girl and her family have rethought things. Hittinger is just not their type. So they tell him to bug off. Little did they know that tragedy lay just around the corner.Hittinger had been adopted as a somewhat wayward child by the morally upright Linda Purl. Hittinger's real mother had been a junkie and had wound up in the Crowbar Hotel, but she'd been Purl's housekeeper and, out of kindness, Purl accepted the orphaned Hittinger. (I hope you're following all this.) Now the real mother shows up and begs Purl for her old job back. She's clean and ready. Purl rudely throws her out for no discernible reason.Hittinger's miscreant mother is played by Jamie Luner. She's the most impressive performer in the movie. Deglamorized to the point of homeliness, she exudes pathos and passion. The scene in which Luner politely begs Purl for her old job, while Purl folds her arms across her chest and frowns down at this wreck of a woman may be the only moving moment in the entire story.I think the rest is predictable enough not to need too much description. Hittinger becomes obsessed with "his" child. His importunings become more obvious and more demanding. There is a fist fight with Spreitler's father in a parking lot. Her father is a middle-aged white collar professional but has little trouble decking a larger and younger college student. Finally, with the help of his real mother, Hittinger kidnaps Spreitler and the baby. Tragedy ensues.It's a terrible movie. I watched it fascinated, to see how low it would stoop, how fantastic the plot had to become, to end the way it did. Poor Taylor Spreitler. She's a cute blond but cannot act. And when she's supposed to be pregnant, waddling around wearing that prosthesis under her jersey, the sight is preposterous.The movie embodies two not entirely unpleasant fantasies: (1) Being made a victim so everyone is on your side, and (2) being so desirable that a man would be willing to kill for you. Watch it if you're really curious about this genre.

If you are a fan of a good Lifetime thriller, then this is the movie for you. It is filled to the brim with enough paternity drama, kidnapping, unexpected pregnancy, mother/daughter bonding, and adoption issues to keep you thoroughly entertained for it's brief 90 minutes. Stalked At 17, naturally based on true events, tells the story of high school student Angela who falls for 21-year-old Chad. Chad, abandoned by his drug-addict mother, when he was four years old, has a great deal of family issues to sort out, and is clearly in no position to be starting a family of his own. When Angela becomes pregnant with Chad's child, all hell breaks loose, as Chad's aggression begins to show. Angela's parents naturally pull her away from him, only making matters worse. Will Angela and her infant son survive this disturbing affair? You'll have to check out Stalked At 17 to find out. While the film may not be perfect in every regard, it is certainly an entertaining hour and a half, with very good performances throughout. Taylor Spreitler, who plays Angela, gives a very authentic feel to her adolescent angst, and is a very likable heroine. My favorite characters in the film however were Angela's mom, played by Amy Pietz, and Chad's adopted mom, played by Linda Purl. The films best moments are shared between these two women interacting in the hopes of protecting their children. Chuck Hittinger plays Chad's level of crazy obsession very well, although occasionally he goes a bit overboard. But this certainly does not take away from the enjoyment of the film. Overall, Stalked At 17, is an engaging tale of regret, obsession, and deceit, with Angela and Chad both playing for keeps. If you're a fan of suspenseful Lifetime movies, you will definitely enjoy this one.

Out of Lifetime's "at 17" movies, this is probably the best one or at least one of the best. The girl from Melissa & Joey and the guy from Pretty Little Liars and American Reunion do a good job in this flick. Jamie Luner is also in here and gives a great performance as sort of a maniac, out-of-prison mother. As with all the other movies before that dealt with similar material, this is meant for older teenager and probably their parents, if they can watch it together. If not, the teenage audience this is aimed for should watch it, and I believe they will be pleased. Appropriate subject matter, decent script, entertaining movie for the most part.