Stranger in My Bed (2005) Jamie Luner, Chris Kramer, L. Harvey Gold, Ivan Cermak, Barbara Fixx Movie Review

Stranger in My Bed (2005)   3/53/53/53/53/5


Jamie Luner in Stranger in My Bed (2005)

Sleeping with Another Enemy

After another visit to hospital after "falling down stairs", Sara (Jamie Luner) returns home to abusive husband Ryan (Chris Kramer) who as per norm feels bad about attacking her again and showers her with gifts. It is a never ending cycle which Sara's best friend Christine (Barbara Niven) is aware of but has been forbidden to do anything about by Sara. But on a cave diving experience that Sara goes on for work, with Ryan in tow, tragedy strikes when she falls and after extensive searching is proclaimed dead when no body is discovered. 18 months later Ryan discovers that not only had Sara inherited money which she had kept hidden but had been looking in to how to change her identity. With the help of a private investigator Ryan sets about tracking down his wife who has started a new life with a new man.

I can't remember who said it but someone in the movie industry said that stories come around every so often and what makes them work when you watch them again is the connection with the characters. Unfortunately when it comes to the made for TV genre you find yourself watching a lot of familiar movies which trade on the same old ideas and ending up failing to make an impression because the connection with the characters never works. This is the case with "Stranger in My Bed" which is quite simply another movie this takes the idea of a battered wife faking her death from "Sleeping with the Enemy" then slightly elaborating on it when it comes to the psycho husband tracking her down.

Chris Kramer in Stranger in My Bed (2005)

Now there is nothing wrong with the basic idea as the fear factor of a psychotic and possessive husband tracking down the wife he thought was dead has plenty of potential to be truly terrifying. Unfortunately whilst we get scenes of stalking and deranged antics with a knife, none of it is that scary of thrilling. And the reason is that the characters are flat and generic which prevents any sort of connection even when it comes to the storyline trying to introduce some terror such as when Ryan meets one of Sara's new friends.

What this all boils down to is that "Stranger in My Bed" ends up just another take on the whole "Sleeping with the Enemy" storyline and whilst not a terrible movie is an ordinary one with nothing new to make it stand out from the crowd.


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