Stranger at the Door (2004 TV Movie) User Reviews

Stranger at the Door: Pretty much exactly what you'd expect

[Platypuschow · 4/10 · 2 November 2017]

This paint by numbers made for TV melodrama is exactly what you'd expect of its ilk. The kind of thing they play wall to wall on the Lifetime channel, where men are all b*stards and women are all victims.

This particular tale tells the story of a woman whose son she gave up for adoption when she was young comes knocking on her door. But is he everything he claims to be? You'll know everything that's going to happen 30 minutes before they do. Thankfully the cast are competent and make the best of the limited material they have been presented with.

A harmless 30 minutes but don't expect any surprises.

The Good:

Decent cast

The Bad:

Rather bland

Highly predictable

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

It's perfectly rational to allow someone to move in with you without doing any research on their background at all

Wayward Son

[sol1218 · 5/10 · 16 May 2005]

**SPOILERS** Illogical story about a long lost son Jamie Fisher, Andrew Kraulis,who unannounced and mysteriously shows up at his mothers Katherine Norris ,Linda Purl, home who gave him up for adoption back in Lancaster PA. 25 years ago and before you know it becomes a member of the family.

As Jamie starts to charm his way into his moms heart he also begins to weed into his dads Greg Norris, Perry King, wallet by setting the recovering heart-attack patient up for the "Big One" and then collecting the one million dollar insurance policy on him.

Why would Jamie who has everything going for him, a home a loving family and a future in his dads business, jeopardize all that and even end up on death row for what he's planing to do? thats the most interesting part of the movie. You don't get to know the truth about Jamie Fisher until the spunky daughter of the Norris family Tara, Meredith Henderson, who felt right from the start that this "Jamie" was a bit of a flake and weirdo starts to investigates. Tara comes up with some very disturbing information about him and his exploits. Yes Jamie claimed to be a big time world traveler who spent his time mostly in South America working on oil rigs, as well as his previous residence back in PA; which turned out to be nothing but a pile of horse sh*t.

Together with his unstable, she looked and acted like she was on the stuff, girlfriend Liz ,Magen Fahlenbock, Jamie planned to have the cash from Greg Norris' insurance policy wired to a bank in Costa Rica then check out of the country. There was just one small thing that Jamie didn't expect: wacky and dangerous Liz to find out that he's got only one plane ticket and it's not in her name.

Jamie who has Mr. Norris' million dollar insurance check taken to the bank by Katherine with him tagging alone to make sure that nothing goes wrong. Back home Liz is ready to blow Tara's brains out if anything does before the sweet and smooth talking Jamie does in poor Mr.Norris. At the bank she's spotted by her friend Delia, Sophie Gendron, who feels that something just isn't right and later calls a friend and neighbor of the Norris' for help.

The whole crazy plan falls apart back at the country cottage where Jamie and Liz took the Norris'after the bank switch in one of the most insane shoot-out between the two murdering blackmailers I've ever seen. There's nothing really that good about " Stranger at the Door" but it does hold your interest even though a number of scenes in the film make absolutely no sense at all.

The Kindness of Strangers

[lavatch · 8/10 · 4 February 2021]

One of the principal attributes of "Stranger at the Door" is the inherent goodness of Greg Norris and his wife Kathleen. They both show extraordinary kindness to the young man called Jamie Fisher, who arrives on their doorstep claiming to be the son that Kathleen had given up at his birth when she was sixteen.

It was Greg's idea to invite Jamie into the family home with no questions asked or no investigation of his past. And for his kindness, Greg is promptly repaid by being murdered by Jamie, who has his sights set on collecting the million-dollar insurance check.

In counterpoint to Greg and Kathleen is Tara, the daughter from Greg's first marriage. Tara is the skeptic, who is instantly alerted to the suspicious behavior of Jamie. But her father and stepmother take the defense of the facile yet charming young man working in league with Liz, who dispensed medication while serving an as inmate at the prison where Jamie was incarcerated. It was there that he learned the story of the real son of Kathleen. Between the co-conspirators, Liz is the more vicious, and Jamie turns out to actually possess the semblance of a conscience.

The cast was superb with the actors playing the two villains chewing the scenery, and the saintly parents consistently angelic in their behavior. One of our favorite performers and one with a distinctive baritone voice is Perry "Lifetime" King, who plays the role of Greg and unfortunately drops out of the film and this earthly existence well before his time.

The most touching moment is reserved for the denouement when at the Landsberry Correctional Facility, Kathleen finally meets the real Jamie Fisher, her long-lost son, who is destined to help restore her shattered world.

Outstanding TV Film!

[whpratt1 · 10/10 · 4 November 2004]

This was an outstanding TV film on "Lifetime" and had lots of action and suspense. This family had a great home and were running into financial problems and all of a sudden a long lost son appears at their doorstep, Andrew Kraulis,(Jamie Fisher), who gains the love and support of this family and is adored by his mom, Linda Purl,(Katherine Norris). The plot gets quite involved and there is plenty of action through out the entire film. If you want to see a great film with great acting, some romance, and the suspense of not knowing how the film with end, watch and enjoy this one! The ending is quite interesting and I bet you will never guess what happens.

far better than you think

[alannasser · 8/10 · 5 June 2013]

Every few months -not more frequently than that- a quite good Lifetime movie turns up. This is one of them. Especially surprising is that the movie is directed by Lifetime's most frequent director, Douglas Jackson, usually an uninspired, unimaginative, pedestrian director. Perhaps this movie shows that Jackson is capable of decent work when he is given a screenplay much better than standard dull Lifetime fare and actors superior to Lifetime's potted amateurs. This movie is relatively well written, the plot moves along nicely and the performers are quite good, up to the standards of the consistently reliable Linda Purl. With the exception of Lifetime's ubiquitous and wooden Sophie Gendron, the actors here are professional and create interesting characters. In spite of the derivative nature of the plot and the unavoidable Lifetime tropes, I suspect that you will be pleasantly surprised by this movie.

Stranger At the Door- Bother to Knock On this Door ****

[edwagreen · 10/10 · 25 August 2009]

Who could believe that a movie with Perry King dying in the middle of it could still be this good? That's exactly right about "Stranger At the Door." It's an excellent mystery.

Andrew Kraulis makes believe he is Jamie. (By the way, Kraulis has an uncanny resemblance to Andrew McCarthy.) He learns about Jaime when both are imprisoned. It's also in prison that the phony Jamie takes up with fellow inmate Liz, who works in the pharmacy and looking like Faye Dunaway did in "Bonnie and Clyde." She is as vicious and as sinister as they come.

This duo plots to come into the home of Linda Purl and Perry King. King, a widower with a daughter, has remarried the lovely Purl. Purl gave up an illegitimate child at birth years before and he'll claim that he is the child. Trouble is that the real Jaime thought his mother and new husband were wealthy. They were struggling so our duo decides to knock off King to get his insurance money.

King's daughter is suspicious of "Jaime" from the beginning.

The story is a good one since while it deals with the usual themes of greed, murder and treachery, we have a cast that pulls out all the stops.

A just ending ensues which everyone will like.

warning might be a spoiler included in this summary-just won't spoil it for anyone

[jenny136 · 10/10 · 20 March 2005]

I saw this movie or one just like it and it seems the movie i saw does not go along with the summary. the movie i saw did have Linda Purl in it but turned out to be different. the version i saw was a couple and the husband's daughter. the stranger that suddenly appears at the door goes along that he is Purl's long lost son whom she had when she was 16 and given away. this guy at the door arouses the suspicion first of the stepdaughter. she seems to be more on track with this guy than Purl and her husband. the interpretation i got is this Jamie Fisher guy charms his way in the family and endears himself with Purl. this guy is invited to stay with the family "while attending collage." this guy definitely has "plans" for his new family. Purl's husband has a heart condition and is ill quite often. Nothing prepares for what happens to the husband. Appears a life insurance scam is being planned and the stepsister is right on track with this fellow. I won't spoil the end of the movie which has many twists and let the viewers guess the end

Great Thriller

[natasjagleeson · 8/10 · 13 August 2019]

I like this Movie. It's a great thriller I give it an 8 out of 10

It's ok.

[CranberriAppl · 13 March 2022]

The accomplice hamming it up really got on my nerves, but everyone else played their roles believably. Liz was honestly the worst part of the movie, and a couple of times her presence nearly made me turn the movie off. She seemed like a person that Mitch got involved with, but couldn't ditch for whatever reason....until the time was right, as you'll see in the movie.

The movie is full of holes. Even for a 2004 movie, there still seems to be too little interest in confirming his identity. Also kind of interesting how in 2022, Lifetime movies are still not confirming identities with the technology available. Felt really bad for the father since he was just as onboard with welcoming "Jamie" as his wife was. I didn't realize Lifetime movies have been using that particular method of death for so long. It's very popular in their more recent movies. I also don't remember a scene where the two criminals stated how they found out about the family and the earlier adoption. Not to mention that the friend sees Kathleen and "Jamie" at the bank, and senses something is off. Yet the bank manager accepts the shadiest reason for withdrawing a million dollars and transferring it to an international bank, and decides to fast track it instead of sticking to protocol. He should be fired. Wouldn't part of his job be to sense red flags in transactions just like this?

The ending was a bit corny given that technically Kathleen wasn't Real! Jamie's mother anymore and his adoptive mother seemed to love him. But I get the movie tried to show happily ever after.

It made for decent background noise in the kitchen.