TO KILL A STRANGER

(director/writer: J. Lopez-Moctezuma; screenwriters: Emerich Oross/Rafael Buñuel/Michael Elliott/Morrie Ruvinsky; cinematographer: Alex Phillips; editor: Carlos Savage; music: Mort Garson; cast: Donald Pleasence (Col. Kostik), Angelica Maria (Cristina Carver), Dean Stockwell (John Carver), Ken Grant (Tom), Aldo Ray (Inspector Benedict), Sergio Aragonés (Maj. Keller), Jill Franklyn (Susan); Runtime: 90; MPAA Rating: NR; producer: Raul Vale; Virgin; 1987-Mexico/USA-in English)

“Unremarkable thriller.”

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz

J. Lopez-Moctezuma(“House of Madness”) co-writes and directs this unremarkable thriller. It was never released theatrically.

In an unnamed Latin American dictatorship, John Carver (Dean Stockwell) is a visiting TV reporter. His wife Cristina (Angelica Maria) gets into an auto accident. Colonel Kostik (Donald Pleasence), a military medal-winner, helps her, and she lets him take her home during a rainstorm. When the colonel tries to viciously rape her, she kills him in self-defense. The vic gets in hot water when she hides his body, not wanting it to be a news story. Things get tense when a suspicious local detective (Aldo Ray) begins to investigate the disappearance.

Noteworthy only for fans of Donald Pleasence, in another of his nutty roles.

REVIEWED ON 6/22/2015 GRADE: B-