Lisa (1990) User Reviews

An excellent movie choice for suspense fans.

[triple8 · 7/10 · 24 August 2003]

This movie freaked me out when I saw it many years ago. The plot concerns a young single mom raising a rebellios teenage daughter(Lisa) who, tired of what she deems her mom's overprotectivness, begins crankcalling handsome strangers and unwittingly begins a phone flirtation with a serial killer.

This movie would be a great choice for mothers and daughters to view. What makes it so scary is it's realism.This is a situation that could happen to anyone, It stays with you, there are a few really terrifying scenes.I'd recomend this movie to anyone who likes thrillers, "Lisa" will make girls wonder just who it is their striking up a conversation with.

It kept me engaged for 95 minutes, I can tell you that much! [+57%]

[arungeorge13 · 6/10 · 5 November 2020]

Lisa is a lesser-known seductive thriller that toys with the perils of connecting with a stranger over the phone (back then, a landline) in the late 80s. When 14-year-old Lisa (a cute Staci Keanan) falls for the much older, outwardly charming Richard (D.W Moffett), she stalks him and connects with him virtually over phonecalls. This is particularly fueled by the fact that Lisa's (single) mom Katherine (the lovely Cheryl Ladd) doesn't want her to date until she's 16, while her bestie Wendy is allowed by her parents to do so. Little does she know that Richard is a serial killer targeting young women, and he gives chase to Lisa, thinking she's her mother.

The film hasn't exactly aged well and is filled with questionable logic but it delivers pretty solidly as a cat-and-mouse thriller. The horror is minimal - if you think a killer leaving recorded messages and jumping out of the shadows leaving a trail of violence in his wake is good enough, it does alright. But in terms of building an atmosphere, it's pretty far behind. We're introduced to Richard's antics early on, and by the time the second kill happens, we already know his pattern and it really doesn't build any further layers of mystery. And the way the character has been written too is quite ordinary.

What works in the film are the following: the uneasy mother-daughter chemistry between Keanan and Ladd, the charming 80s Los Angeles setting, the pulpy elements (like Lisa getting unexpectedly stuck in Richard's car), and the blood-soaked finale.

Unexceptional but entertaining thriller.

[Hey_Sweden · 6/10 · 28 November 2015]

Staci Keanan of 'My Two Dads' and 'Step by Step' stars as the title character, a girl in her early teens. She's a little too eager to grow up, especially since her mother Katherine (Cheryl Ladd), doesn't want her dating for at least another two years. One night, Staci literally runs into older man Richard (D. W. Moffett), and is struck by his good looks. She develops an obsession with Richard that includes following him to see where he works (he runs a restaurant). This escalates to a point where she goes ahead and phones him, and they engage in some seductive calls, with him not knowing that this mystery caller is the young girl whom he's just met. Ultimately, she's playing with fire: we learn early in the movie that Richard is the evil Candle Light Killer who has been offing various unlucky local women.

People who love the other works of director Gary Sherman, such as his horror features "Deathline" (a.k.a. "Raw Meat") and "Dead & Buried", and his sleaze drama "Vice Squad", may be caught a little off guard at first with the tamer nature of this film. But in his own words, he basically made this for teenage girls, having also co- written it with Karen Clark. Taking it for what it is, it's watchable enough, with some adequate suspense and a climax that actually doesn't go overboard with violence. Joe Renzettis' music is good, and the lighting by Alex Nepomniaschy is appropriate from scene to scene.

Keanans' appealing performance does go a long way towards making this work as well as it does. Moffett is similarly effective - he's charming when he needs to be, and refrains from being an over the top bogeyman, playing the part with some restraint. Ladd is good as the overprotective mom who believes to have the best interests of her daughter at heart; she doesn't want her to make the same mistakes she did as a kid. Tanya Fenmore is engaging as the best friend, and a rather under utilized Jeffrey Tambor gets little to do as the best friends' father.

Even if "Lisa" is not really anything special, one could also do a lot worse.

Six out of 10.

Light my candle

[Cujo108 · 1 September 2010]

Lisa (the lovely Staci Keanan) is 14 and boy-crazy, but Katherine, her overprotective single mother, refuses to let her date until she turns 16. While Lisa is out getting groceries one night, she literally runs into Richard and instantly develops a crush on the much older man. Along with her best friend, she finds out where he works and uses sneaky tactics to get his phone number. She begins calling him repeatedly, engaging in seductive conversations without revealing her identity. When Lisa's stalking gets more and more risky, her friend convinces her that if she revealed herself to Richard, he'd be furious about the age difference. Lisa then devises a plan to push Richard and Katherine together in an attempt to get her mother's mind on something other than controlling her life. What Lisa doesn't know is that Richard is a serial killer who was leaving the scene of his latest crime when she bumped into him.

Director Gary Sherman's output has always been largely ignored. Even "Dead & Buried", which is one of my absolute favorite horror films, wasn't widely known for the longest time. "Lisa" is no different. Unlike the aforementioned gem, however, it doesn't have a DVD or Blu-ray release to help it gain more viewers. That said, it is certainly worth seeking out.

The film contains some strong performances. Staci Keanan, who was the sole reason to watch popular sitcom, "Step by Step", carries the picture. She is infinitely charming with a quick wit and my kind of quirkiness. She's also great at portraying this naive, vulnerable girl who thinks she's tougher than she is. Lisa and her mother share a good relationship, but we see the wedge that is driven between them as the former grows increasingly bitter due to the rules placed over her. It doesn't help that she witnesses Katherine spurn a friendly guy at the local bowling alley, an act which leads Lisa to believe that she's being punished for her mother's past mistakes. Cheryl Ladd is well-cast as Katherine, and her chemistry with Keanan is palpable. Short of casting Jordan Ladd herself in the titular role, I don't think we could have seen a more believable mother and daughter pairing. D.W. Moffet makes for an interesting maniac. Rich, good-looking and suave, he could easily get women, but he would rather slaughter them. Dubbed the "Candlelight Killer" by the press, he leaves messages on his victims' answering machines warning them of what he's about to do before he does it. Jeffrey Tambor is in the film too, but he's underused in a throwaway role.

We get some solid suspense here, particularly during a scene where Lisa finds herself stuck in Richard's vehicle. It's made worse by the fact that she doesn't know just how bad it would be if he found her. The film's climax is also tense and surprisingly violent. We also get an amusing bit, be it intentional or unintentional, where Richard uses Katherine to head-butt her own daughter. I will say that the film falters a bit towards the end, mainly due to a poor decision made by one of the characters. This in turn makes for a predictable finale. I also thought that the look of the film wasn't as impressive as it could have been, especially taking into account the eerie, fog-drenched photography of "Dead & Buried". The score sort of made up for the generic look, being moody whereas the atmosphere wasn't.

In the end, this is a worthwhile effort thanks in large part to the performances on display. It's a well-acted film, and the suspense benefits as a result.

Lifetime style film about teenage hormones and murder...

[xtianarsonist · 7/10 · 24 June 2021]

This is definitely one for Lifetime movie fans, and I mean that in the best possible way! It is a movie that is pretty simple, yet still very relevant today with our heavy dependency on social media and the whole "catfishing" phenomena. It could easily be rebooted to fit today's world with internet. That said, this movie kept me entertained the entire time. It is about a mother who got pregnant by a man who abandoned her. Since that traumatic experience she decides to be cold to men and forbids her 14 year old daughter from dating. The teenage girls in this film are obsessed with older men (the guys all look to be 30 or so), and do odd stalkerish stuff. Like breaking and entering and snapping photos without consent. YeAh. It is pretty weird. Anyway, Lisa is obsessed with Richard (who is actually hot), and follows him all over town and calls him anonymously. They form a relationship over the phone and she convinces him that she is her mother. Long story short, dude is a sexy psycho killer and stalks her mom and tries to murder both of them like his previous victims. This film is a reminder that hot dudes will kill you if they are messed up, same as ugly guys. I liked this movie, but one thing I found odd was how they keep trying to paint Cheryl Ladd as a young mother. She looks close to middle age. Maybe they should have gotten an actress about 8 or 9 years younger. She just looked to me like any other mother raising a 14 year old. Not close in age at all, as they obviously intended.

Flirting with a Serial Killer

[Uriah43 · 6/10 · 9 January 2022]

This film begins with a young teenager by the name of "Lisa Holland" (Staci Keanan) who enjoys playing flirtatious pranks on slightly older men. As it so happens, one night while returning from a nearby grocery store, she happens to bump into a man by the name of "Richard" (D. W. Moffett) and she immediately becomes mesmerized by his good looks. Determined to know more about him she secretly follows him and upon learning his name decides to tease him in her usual manner. What she doesn't realize, however, is Richard is a psychopath who the newspapers have dubbed "The Candlelight Killer" who has recently raped and killed 8 other women-and he now wants to find out more about Lisa in the worst sort of way. Now, rather than reveal any more, this film had a bit more suspense than I initially expected and for that reason it left me pleasantly surprised overall. Likewise, having a beautiful actress like Cheryl Ladd (as Lisa's mother "Katherine Holland") certainly didn't hurt in any way either. Be that as it may, while this film may not be a blockbuster by any means, it was certainly good enough for the time spent and I have rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.

Stupid girl

[mzsteviemac · 3/10 · 3 March 2021]

Lisa's character is super annoying. What a dumb kid. Nosey, stalking, naive, stupid kid who put herself and her mom's life in danger.

Little girls can never wait to grow up

[helpless_dancer · 7/10 · 16 May 2002]

A young girl, looking for adventure with the opposite sex, develops a long distance crush on a handsome stranger. This leads to the man noticing her and her mom which, instead of being a nice meeting of friends, winds up putting both in danger. Good, nerve wracking chiller containing a very evil, totally sinister killer.

Tepid thriller, but tolerable (barely)

[FilmOtaku · 3/10 · 24 May 2003]

This film is a prime example of seeing a movie for the first time and liking it, then viewing it again years later and finding it completely ridiculous.

I wouldn't put such a strong label as "completely ridiculous" on this film, but it's fairly close descriptor. "Lisa" is the story of a teenager who, with her best friend, basically stalk men that they think are "cute": Keeping scrapbooks of their polaroid snapshots, etc. This tactic finally goes horribly wrong when Lisa inadvertently fixes her attention on a man who ends up being "The Candlelight Killer", a serial killer who is terrorizing the city.

As stated earlier, I had seen this movie about 12 years ago and thought it was fairly suspenseful. None of that suspense was apparent to me watching it this time, and unfortunately I can't blame it on knowing what was going to happen because I couldn't remember any of the scenes. The only vaguely interesting element to the film that made the film barely tolerable was the fact that the eventual "victim" was unknowingly stalking the killer - but I think I'm being generous in my assessment. This was basically a straight to video type film that could have been featured on the Lifetime network, and probably has been since it also features the horrible Cheryl Ladd. Unless you have a lot of patience to sit through a film with an unfulfilling ending, I would suggest bypassing this one.

--Shelly

Plays like an edgier After-School Special

[drownsoda90 · 7/10 · 7 March 2021]

"Lisa" follows a 14-year-old girl who is beginning to harbor an interest in the opposite sex, to the disapproval of her protective single mother, Katherine. When Lisa encounters a handsome, well-dressed man, she begins to harmlessly stalk him, even gaining his phone number and making anonymous calls; unbeknownst to Lisa, the man is in fact a smooth-talking serial killer dispatching women around Los Angeles.

This titled-on-the-nose thriller plays like an edgier, bloodier ABC After-School Special, and as such, has an undeniable charm of its own. Directed by Gary Sherman (the director of the divisive "Poltergeist III"), the film often has the soft look of a television movie, but it is peppered with moments of hard-edged violence (particularly in the last act) and subject matter that toes the line of controversy.

What elevates "Lisa" form being utterly silly is that it is very well-acted, and there is a relatively high level of suspense ratcheted up as it progresses. Staci Keanan and Cheryl Ladd make for a very believable mother-daughter combination, and both turn in naturalistic performances. D. W. Moffett is aptly suave and smooth-talking, though his character does feel flat at times, with more focus being placed on Lisa, her best friend, and her dynamic with her mother. The sunny Venice Beach locations are perfectly captured here, and the film, though released in 1990, has that late '80s aesthetic hangover.

All in all, "Lisa" is an entertaining, well-acted thriller that is suspenseful though not particularly unnerving. It is most enjoyable as a time capsule of its era, where voicemails and landlines could unwittingly put one in touch with a serial killer. Lisa never quite realizes the danger she's in, and, though she most definitely is, the stakes never feel too dramatically high-which is what makes this type of film an undeniably fun watch. 7/10.

GREAT PHONE STALKING SLASHER!!!!!

[SlasherReviewer · 9/10 · 6 September 2004]

I watched this movie back on Cinemax and Showtime on cable when I was a kid and just got my hands on a VHS release of it not to long ago. Just as good as I remember it. Lots of obscene phone stalking by a 14 year old. Anyway the movie involves 2 cute supposedly 14 year old hotties and they toy with a serial killer and don't know how far they have pushed this psycho!!A really cool movie with a gory ending. Slasher reviewer gives this one a thumbs up and yells check it out for sure!!!!!Great acting, great storyline, cute chicks, unique kill scenes, what more could you ask for?

Pretty Good Thriller

[gwnightscream · 6/10 · 18 September 2020]

This 1989 thriller stars Cheryl Ladd, Staci Keanan and D.W. Moffett. Keanan plays the title role of a teen whom lives with her single yet attractive mom, Katherine (Ladd). Soon, Lisa meets a charming, older man, Richard (Moffett) and has a crush on him. She decides to spy and call him using a sultry voice, but gets in over her head and discovers that he's literally a lady killer. This is pretty good flick with a decent cast and eerie score. I remember when it was on HBO years ago and some parts stuck with me like the cheesy, "Hi this is Richard" phone message. If you're into thrillers, you may want to give this a try.

Yes, Cute Guys Can Be Psychos, Too, Girls! Watch Out!

[ilovelucy77 · 2 March 2000]

This was a beautifully crafted suspense thriller about an overprotected 14-year-old girl named Lisa (played by Staci Keanan) who, in her innocent attempts to have some involvement with the opposite sex, becomes tied up in conversing by phone with a handsome guy, who unknown to her is the crazed serial killer responsible for several murders of young single women in the area where she and her single mom live.

Staci Keanan and Cheryl Ladd made a wonderful mother-daughter team. There are many suspenseful moments involving Lisa and the killer, yet the whole time she has no clue just how dangerous this handsome young man she stalks really is. It would make any teen think twice before trying to pick up a handsome stranger. I was thirteen when this film was first released in 1990. "Lisa" sure scared the hell out of me when I first saw it.

Prosaic flick about a mother & daughter's clash with a serial killer

[Wuchakk · 6/10 · 25 October 2023]

A 14 years-old girl (Staci Keanan) inadvertently strikes up a secret relationship with a distinguished restauranteur in Hollywood (DW Moffett). Unfortunately, he is also the notorious Candlelight Killer, which naturally puts her and her mother in danger (Cheryl Ladd).

"Lisa" (1990) is a coming-of-age drama meshed with PG-13 slasher. Writer/director Gary Sherman knows how to make atmospheric horror in view of his well-done "Dead & Buried" (1981). I happened to see Brian De Palma's "Dressed to Kill" (1980) the night prior and it was thoroughly artistic and well-written with genuine surprises. This film, by comparison, strikes me as by-the-numbers, which no doubt had to do with the modest budget.

Nevertheless, "Lisa" is a perfectly serviceable film in which the mother & daughter are successfully fleshed out and you find yourself caring for them and their outcome. Staci was only 14 during shooting while Cheryl was 38. If you're a fan of either, this is certainly worth checking out, even though it's not exactly high art.

The movie runs 1 hour, 35 minutes, and was shot in Hollywood (the apartment, flower shop and school) and Muse restaurant on Beverly Boulevard in Los Angeles.

GRADE: B-

RL Stine's GOOSEBUMPS meets LIFETIME MOVIE CHANNEL

[Witchy_Pooh · 8/10 · 8 April 2020]

I am almost sorry that I missed this beautiful gem of a movie when it came out in 1990. Back in the day when it was "totally awesome" for a teen to have a rotary telephone in their bedroom (bonus points if it was your very own line, too), life was much more simple then and, thus, movie plots were able to be more complex. Not having to withstand the dangers of *69 (it didn't exist until 1992) or the immediacy and reliability of smartphones, crank sex calls were an unusual yet tempting pastime for those poor unfortunate souls who would have to wait a couple of decades more for the birth of Tinder.

For this reason and many more, that is what makes LISA such an enjoyable "it's so bad it's good" movie. Staci Keanan gives a believable performance as the awkwardly curious 14 year old Lisa who has boys, boys, boys on the mind! I say "awkwardly curious," for Lisa definitely cannot be defined as "horny," since it is obvious that her character is oblivious to such experiences... which is why she is desperately trying to seek them out in the first place.

And (cute) boy oh boy does her curiousness lead her and others into some serious trouble! Like any girl abandoned by her father at a young age, Lisa stalks good looking, unsuspecting men with her two weapons of choice: a Polaroid instant camera equipped with a not-so-subtle flashbulb, and her "seductive" play pretend voice, which can only truly be described as "a woman who has smoked at least 2 packs of Lucky Strikes a day for 30 years."

Even though some of the scenes are unabashedly contrived in LISA, the tense energy created by the actors' performances combined with the director's admirable timing makes for a rather enjoyable guilty pleasure. Yes, some of the foreshadowing hits you over the head like a sledgehammer within the first 10 minutes of the film (i.e. window ledge... mace...), however that doesn't seem to spoil the plot's unfolding at all. I found myself enjoying the entire journey of the film, even though the middle and ending were painfully predictable.

Therefore, kiddies, if you want to see just how much fun it was to be a perverted high school student (as well as a serial killer) back in the day before the F.B.I. started watching us all via our laptop cameras, then give LISA a viewing. Enjoy witnessing how it was like to live life with much more anonymity, as you pay for your monthly VPN bill which you believe gives you a sense of privacy.

This movie takes me back!

[capri-3 · 25 August 2003]

"Lisa" takes me back when I was about 11 or 12 years old. Sometimes bad movies can be good if you grew up watching them. I watch this movie now and I say: "Ok it was kind of stupid, but I still like it". I don't know, I guess I am hooked on the whole fact of Lisa being this stupid kid doing the exact opposite of what I would have done. I get a kick out of watching movies; especially if it is dealing with other people's problems,it makes me feel better if I am having a bad day. Still the movie has it's suspense, and charm, and its about a 14 year old girl making really stupid mistakes, and of course paying for them! Haven't we all! I still love this movie and I'm still going to buy it!

never forgot this one

[peyespy007 · 10/10 · 20 January 2009]

i was shocked cuz i placed a bid for a VHS on ebay and 10 other people wanted it also, so i lost. but i found another old VHS copy on ebay. it never got to DVD for some reason.

so, great movie, mainly cuz its like a cautionary tale to warn girls a guy can be hot, rich and successful and still be a psycho. they need to make more movies like this, not a goofy scream type movie but a real edgy serious thriller like this one. richard is exceptionally hot in this film. great acting. whats creepy though is i did all this stuff when i was 14. i talked to strange men from chatlines. i thought i was so smart i never told them where i lived or met up with them. i also lied about my age. i was lucky i never met a psycho. or then again some of them were, but they never found out where i lived. my friend and i thought we were so cool we made our voices sound sexy and would have late night chats with 25 year old guys. i remember one night my mom walked in and heard me, of course i lied and told her it was a joke if she only knew what we were doing, so dangerous. Cuz chatlines are dangerous because predators go on there often looking for victims. And sometimes we'd randomly call people and start talking to guys. teen girls are boy crazy and there are a lot of psycho's out there. This movie is so creepy the way they did it was you knew all along who he was, instead of finding out at the end, it made it more creepy that she was playing with his mind and it turns out he was a serial killer. pretty spooky.

also, the mouth on those girls, holy hell! "if you got laid every once and a while you wouldn't be such a bitch" "if you're mom had a boyfriend and "got it" once and a while she might leave you alone and let you date" lol, i forgot how sassy teenagers can be. i should know cuz a couple of those guys from the chatlines wanted to dirty talk and i may have let them so yeah, now that im much older, thats straight up creepy!! lol

great movie.loaded with suspense and authentic performances

[disdressed12 · 8/10 · 4 December 2007]

i was pleasantly surprised by this movie.i thought it was terrific.it's got loads of suspense and tension.i also liked the atmosphere over the movie overall.it's well acted.i found the interaction between the mother and her teenage daughter to be very authentic.the movie is not boring at all.in fact,it movies along at a very nice clip.there is one great ironic scene,which i thought was brilliant.it may not have been original,but it works in this case,regardless.the general premise isn't wholly original,but i like what they did with the material.to me,this movie is quite above average for the suspense/thriller genre.i caught this movie on cable,so it didn't cost me anything(other than my monthly cable bill,of course).i think it's well worth the two hours or so spent watching.for me,Lisa,AKA The Candle Light Killer is an 8/10

7.5 Stars

[Foutainoflife · 8/10 · 9 April 2020]

I remember watching this when I was a kid and my own growing pains were starting to act up.

This film is about 14 yr old Lisa. She lives with her single, over protective mother and is in a hurry to grow up. She's like most teenage girls. Boy crazy, eager to date and loves her best friend, Wendy, who seems to have all the freedom Lisa so desperately wants.

After accidently running into an older, but attractive man, she gets his phone number by way of his license plate and begins making flirtatious phone calls. Little does she realize the dashing man is a crazed rapist killer who has earned the title of "The Candlelight Killer" due to the romantic candle lit atmosphere he sets up for his victims just before killing them. Her playfulness creates an obsession within the killer and soon the prankster becomes prey.

I think this is a pretty solid, yet understated, thriller. While it holds some nostalgia for me, it has a decent storyline and the lead actress does a wonderful job with her character. It's also filmed well aside from a slight "made for tv" vibe.

This is a great film for a bit of suspense and remebering the innocent naivety of youth. I'd recommend it but it's not likely to be a film for everyone. I was just tickled to come across it after all these years.

Surprisingly, Good

[star83 · 9/10 · 30 July 2001]

I enjoyed this movie, and I don't enjoy most. This movie, although its main character is a teenie bopper, is quite satisfying. There is a killer, victims, suspense, and its surprisingly, interesting. It held my interest, and I wanted to know what would happen next. The acting wasn't that bad, either. This movie is surprisingly, good.

A thriller that does almost everything right.

[gridoon · 11 November 2002]

Chilling, well-observed thriller, whose message seems to be: "Careful when you're making telephone pranks, you never know whom you might mess with!". The bland cinematography gives it a TV-movie look, but it still has natural , believable performances by Ladd and Keanan, a well-cast actor as the handsome psycho, a good ear for dialogue and some moments that would make Hitchcock proud (especially the scene where the girl is trapped in the back seat of the killer's car). (***)

Boy crazy 14 year olds are scary!

[cjlove2523 · 9/10 · 18 March 2020]

This movie is a cautionary tale about a 14-year-old girl name Lisa, who is so unbelievably boy crazy that it's beyond laughable. Her and her friend find attractive men out on the streets and take random pictures of them. They even have a shrine book with all the men's pictures they take with hearts around their pictures, even though they know nothing of these men despite what they look like. (Stage 5 stalkers) and then get their license plate number and call to find out their information. When they do get their numbers, they call them up and pretend like they're older so they can flirt with them. One day Lisa comes across a man who she finds very attractive and finds his license plate number to look him up. She begins a phone correspondence with him for some time and in return he seems very interested in her. As time goes by, she realizes that she needs to pretend as if she's older, so she begins to tell him all of her mom's information for some strange reason. (This is the part I don't understand) It gets kind of confusing because she wants to go see him at the restaurant he owns, so she tells Richard on the phone that she'll be at his restaurant that night and will be wearing a sexy white dress. She brings her mother with to go see him, and Lisa convinces her mom to wear the white dress to the restaurant, even though her mom doesn't want to. While at the restaurant for awhile, Lisa finally ends up spotting Richard. He quickly glances at Lisa at the booth she was sitting at but looks away just as quickly, while her mom goes to the bathroom. But then Richard bumps right into Lisa's mom, looks her up and down and seductively says "The woman in white!" But Lisa's mom walks away abruptly and all fluttered. But because in Lisa's mind, Richard briefly saw her, this was Lisa's chance to write down on a napkin, "You've seen me" with a lipstick kiss on it. Which of course Richard thinks that meant it came from the lady in white, Lisa's mom. Richard then finds out all of Lisa's mom'a information from the credit card she left at the restaurant and then begins the stalking on his part, since he thought it was her that was making the seductive phone calls. He goes into her shop she owns which is a flower shop and he hears a familiar catchphrase from Lisa's mom that Lisa used on Richard all the time... "Hi, guy" They both say that to everyone as a nickname so now he knows it's her (or at least think is it) He ends up aggressively stalking her and enters her flower delivery truck one night and left several cigarettes in the ashtray. She now knows something weird is happening.

Lo and behold Richard is not what he seems, as we are well aware right from the very beginning of the movie. He is not just some innocent cute guy that Lisa thought he was. He is the town's Candlelight Killer. He breaks into the apartments of attractive women, leaves a message saying he's going to kill them on the answering machines (ahh the days before caller ID and traced callers) and then he kills them. Therefore, Lisa and her mom basically fall right into his lap. Well as you can guess, he breaks into Lisa's house, kidnaps her and ties her up. Her mom comes home and finds Richard with a terrified Lisa and.. long story short they fight him off and finally end up killing him. Oh but not before they run into Lisa's room and the mom tells her to call 911 while a tearful Lisa tells her mom she took her phone out of her room (for calling her a horrible name earlier on) As if this was some sort of retribution for punishing Lisa for being the biggest boy crazy brat in any movie I've ever seen.

Well.. that's all I've got. The movie is one of those rainy day lifetime movies that you can catch that is kind of entertaining but still also very predictable with some questions also left unanswered. All I know is if I were Lisa's mom, I would never let her get away with half the things she said to me or did. Her mom was very patient with her. Anyways.. Moms of young girls out there, be careful and make sure you know what they're doing and who they're talking to at all times. Especially now with the internet and social media. This movie was made 30 years ago and the themes in this movie still applies today.

It Grows On You

[RHW5000 · 8/10 · 19 September 1999]

I remember when I first saw this film in 1992. I thought the story unfolded in a weird way, and I felt that the candlelight killer took too long to kill his victims; however, this movie contains a number of choice little parts. I especially liked the phone conversations that Stacy Keanan had with the killer. They sounded fun. The ending sparkled. I liked the way that Lisa and her mom kicked the bad guy's boonkey. Please check this film out. It's fun and different.

very good thriller as well as chilling, especially towards the end.

[Onelifer · 9/10 · 31 May 1999]

I thought this was a very good thriller as well as chilling, especially towards the end. Cheryl Ladd is one of my favorite actresses and I was riveted to her performance. She has done several riveting performances, but this one was one movie I could see over and over again. Staci Keanan was good as well, I've know her to do comedy as she did with Greg Evigan in "My Two Dad's", but her acting in a thriller/drama gave her more depth as an actress. Very good

Wholesome Unique Thriller

[Kristamw · 10/10 · 27 February 2019]

This is one of those awesome unique thrillers I grew up on. I can't believe it's been thirty years since this came out! I remember having talks with my mom about the "danger of strangers".

Character Development/Writing Quality: Good, tight, heart-smacking rhythms mixed with tender moments between 14-year-old Lisa (Staci Keanan) and her young mom (Cheryl Ladd). A rare suspense filled with incredible character development: we go from a naive teen to a mature judicious young lady and an in-control killer to an insecure man when he tries to figure out who is behind the sudden crank calls; this is an interesting aspect of the film as the tables are turned, even though Lisa unknowingly does this, taking the killer out of his self-confident role and into uncertain territory.

Values: The precious value of a mom/daughter relationship. The warnings against premarital sex and warnings against speaking to strangers. The importance of friendship-- (Tanya Fenmore) plays Lisa's best friend and their friendship goes through some ups and downs for realistic high school drama.

Content (sex, language & violence): The start of something about to happen is suggested, but nothing is shown. Mild language. Violence is slow and eerie when Richard, "The Candlelight Killer" (D.W. Moffett), prepares to kill his victims. Intense violence occurs at the end, but it is mostly emotional as mom and daughter combat the villain.

Scare factor/suspense: Some intense moments marked by a long guitar rif and the stiff-faced expression of the villain. One moment particularly stands out with Lisa hidden in the backseat of Richard's car and him just inches away in the front seat.....goosebumps are sure to get you in this scene!

A great thriller for parents and their kids, or just you and your friends. Wholesome values,