THE SYNOPSIS For L.A. anchorwoman Jamie Douglas, life can’t get any better. She’s beautiful, famous, wealthy, successful and has a terrific boyfriend, Brandon (Sarrazin). And now, there’s Derek (Stevens)—her very own obsessed fan. It’s bizarre: Derek is himself a successful photographer, handsome, well-mannered and has a loyal employee, Julie (Smith Howard)—who happens to be secretly in love with him. However, Derek is oblivious, because all he cares about is Jamie. First come the flowers, then candies, then the phone calls. She progressively becomes frightened by the handsome fan with the sinister eyes. Derek crosses the line when he breaks continually into her home (he happens to live right up the hill from her domicile) and terrorizes his with his camera, snapping photos of his frightened subject. Brandon shows up and belts him but good. The frightened couple visit L.A.P.D. Captain Maxwell (Edwards) to see what police action can be taken on the stalker. Nothing can be done, since Derek hasn’t really broken any civil laws. Brandon gets Jamie a shotgun and teaches her how to use it. Derek’s obsession with Jamie becomes lethal and she must defend herself against this madman. THE CRITIQUE THE SEDUCTION is a movie was ahead of its time. What used to be a laughable, late-night stalker potboiler has become (in today’s celebrity-obsessed media society) a creepy fact of life for many famous people. As I was again revisiting this gem from the early 1980’s (having seen it originally on HBO as a kid), I found it to be rather uncomfortable—due to its eerie parallels to such subsequent real-life tragedies as the Dominique Dunne & Rebecca Schaeffer murders (in 1982 & 1989 respectively). [Though Dunne was strangled by her estranged, stalker boyfriend, there are similarities between real & reel life. Also, it was because of the Schaeffer murder that California became the first state to institute anti-stalking laws that dealt with perpetrators severely.] THE SEDUCTION was written & directed by David Schmoeller (Puppet Master/Crawlspace)—who evokes a sense of the Hitchcockian in his helming style of the material (which according him was ripped from the headlines of the day). I must admit that the movie does possess a classy and relatively-restrained handle on the material. On the downside, the script is rather inane and plot devices are introduced--only to be abandoned later (e.g. the late Vince Edward’s cop character doesn’t save the day--nor really does anything in the climax other than give the villain a “warning.” Snooze.). As far as the talent in front of the camera, Morgan Fairchild is a prolific and attractive actress. The problem in this movie is that she doesn’t so much “act” as “react”--to everything around her. Michael Sarrazin (a French-Canadian actor) is the movie’s tough-talking, bitch-slapping hunk who gets toe-tagged by the end of the picture. Boo-hoo. Better in the role as the villain, Andrew Stevens (son of actress Stella Stevens) embodies the 1980’s version of the loony killer: handsome, rich, sinisterly-suave, etc. Although why they make the villain in these movies handsome, suave, etc. is beyond me. Stevens’ character can have any (other) girl that he wants by virtue of those aforementioned facets. But hey, that’s the movies... Moving on, the movie’s best-looking feature (other than Morgan Fairchild, that is) is the glossy, gorgeous-widescreen lensing by Swedish cinematographer Mac Ahlberg (A Very Brady Sequel/The Brady Bunch Movie/Beverly Hills Cop III). Ahlberg’s close-ups & soft-focus photography of his gorgeous lead actress evokes the similar cinematography prevalent in Sunset Boulevard (1950)--where the great Gloria Swanson is the muse of DP John Seitz. Additionally, the lensing raises the bar for a product with inferior material (read: script) and the decision to shoot it in the widescreen 2.35:1 aspect ratio is commended. Between the aforementioned cinematography and the slick production values, I felt like I was watching the sequel to 1981’s cheesy-classic Looker. But that was a more-intriguing movie. All other tech credits (editing, production design, score, etc.) are solid across the board for a $2,000,000-budgeted movie. I’m sure they spent most of it on hairspray and lighting for Ms. Fairchild! THE BOTTOM LINE THE SEDUCTION is a breezy watch that’s easy on the eyes, thanks to gorgeous cinematography, non-gratuitous T&A—and of course, Morgan Fairchild. Just don’t expect a good script or narrative cohesion. But it does feature Morgan Fairchild. Naked. CAST: Morgan Fairchild, Andrew Stevens, Michael Sarrazin, Vince Edwards, Colleen Camp, Kevin Brophy, Wendy Smith Howard & Joanne Linville CREDITS: Director/Screenwriter: David Schmoeller; Producers Irwin Yablans & Bruce Cohn Curtis; Director Of Photography: Mac Ahlberg; Editor: Tony DiMarco; Costume Designer: Linda M. Bass; Music: Lalo Schifrin AC/AL 1982 104m ENGLISH N/Vhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screenwritinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_directorhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitchcockianhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screenplayhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Widescreenhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinematographyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinematographerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Close-uphttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soft_focushttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinematographyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinematographerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinematographyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screenplayhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Widescreenhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspect_ratio_%28image%29http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinematographyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_editinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Production_designerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_scorehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_budgetinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinematographyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screenplayshapeimage_2_link_0shapeimage_2_link_1shapeimage_2_link_2shapeimage_2_link_3shapeimage_2_link_4shapeimage_2_link_5shapeimage_2_link_6shapeimage_2_link_7shapeimage_2_link_8shapeimage_2_link_9shapeimage_2_link_10shapeimage_2_link_11shapeimage_2_link_12shapeimage_2_link_13shapeimage_2_link_14shapeimage_2_link_15shapeimage_2_link_16shapeimage_2_link_17shapeimage_2_link_18shapeimage_2_link_19shapeimage_2_link_20shapeimage_2_link_21