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Purely Joyful Movie!

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Paranoia is the type of film people either love or hate. It's slow, it's talky, it's cheaply made and quite frankly it's a little bit strange. All part of the appeal, in my opinion. Jana Mercer has become a recluse after a psychopath (Larry Drake -- who else?) broke into her home and murdered her entire family when she was a child. Now grown, Jana returns to her childhood neighborhood just as the loony is inexplicably paroled. This is a movie that's rich with back-story and stagy dialogue. Jana is a fully realized and fleshed out character, admirably played by b-movie vixen Brigitte Bako, who comes off a little wooden but mostly BECAUSE of the character she's portraying. Larry Drake is a b- movie pro who gets to elegantly spout off a slew of creepy dialogue. The movie's got some oddball stuff going on which seems to be in reference to other things (Dick Van Dyke Show, witchy stick, gafilter fish, etc.), though almost 15 years after I first saw the film, I still don't get all the inside jokes. And did I mention the ending packs a wallop of a twist? If you skimmed this review and think the film might be up your alley, it probably is. Unfortunately there are no DVD special features, which sucks because it's the type of film which would benefit from insight from the writer/director.

To be honest, I mostly rented this to get a glimpse of one of my favorite almost-completely-unknown actors, Stephen Gevedon. After the first few minutes of truly horrendous dialog, I watched it on fast-forward until Stephen appeared! But one thing I will give this movie: it has a twist ending that's actually GOOD, makes sense, and works well. Ms. Bako is very beautiful and does her best with the aforementioned bad dialog. Sally Kirkland tries her best, but does not succeed very well. Larry Drake does his "I'm not Benny from L.A. LAW" serial killer thing. (This is not a spoiler; he is on the poster brandishing a big ol' knife.) I wish I could give this 2 1/2 stars on Netflix, but your choices are only 2 or 3, so I gave it 2.

Brigitte Bako gives a winning performance as Jana Mercer, a beautiful, sarcastic interior decorator who witnessed her family being murdered as a child by psycho Calvin Hawks (Larry Drake). Twenty years after the original crime, Jana (a night owl with a ultra-secure penthouse apartment) is again harassed via computer by Calvin, who informs her he's getting out on parole very soon and wants to be reunited. Unable to convince the authorities he's after her again, Jana retreats to the country with her new cop boyfriend. Guess who else shows up?Drake is amusing and creepy as the psycho who tracks her down, slits a librarians neck ("Just because I could.") and tells another woman "Fear is the distance between pain and nothing!" It's silly that a mass murderer would have a laptop and advanced internet access IN his prison cell and would be getting out on parole after killing three people (hell, or nowadays, maybe it isn't), but, that aside, this has several surprising and effective plot twists, some witty dialogue, a pretty twisted flashback and nice attempts at establishing characters.

Jane Mercer is the sole survivor after the serial killer has brutally slaughtered her family. The girl is living in fear and loneliness isolated from the whole world. The only contiguity is her brief interviews with the shrunk and Internet. Until the night when someone has established communication with Jane via computer. She realizes that her interlocutor is the ruthless murderer who has killed her family. And to her horror she finds out that he is going to be released from his confinement very soon.