Never Talk to Strangers MPAA Rating: R Entertainment: +1 Content: -3

NEVER TALK TO STRANGERS is a twisted who-dun-it that leaves the viewer constantly guessing. Rebecca DeMornay plays Sarah Taylor, a criminal psychologist who is being stalked by an unknown assailant. Max Chesky (Dennis Miller) is her concerned neighbor and former lover who would like to rekindle their relationship. Suddenly Sarah's fiancee, Benny, mysterious disappears. Soon Sarah meets Tony Ramirez (Antonio Banderas) at a grocery store and the two fall passionately in lust. This seems to agitate Sarah's stalker. She finds her apartment torn apart, her cat mutilated and her friend assaulted. Is it her new lover, Tony, or a murderous inmate she's been evaluating? The ending will definitely surprise you as this rollercoaster film jumps off track and switches gears altogether. But the outcome just doesn't work because of too many unbelievable scenarios and loose ends. Don't waste your time on NEVER TALK TO STRANGERS.

Sarah herself is diagnosed with multiple personality disorder which has been brought on by a traumatic violent and sexual childhood experience. She watches her father push her mother down the stairs, almost killing her. He then forces the child to shoot her own mother, so Sarah develops another personality to handle the guilt. This cruel, violent scene is shown as a flashback. In addition, there are several rough and explicit sex scenes which include breast and male rear nudity. Furthermore it seems that in every other sentence, Tony or Sarah is uttering an obscenity. Nothing is truly resolved in NEVER TALK TO STRANGERS. It ends with a bloody massacre as Sarah is forced to look into the face of the stalker. This is just a bleak, sick film with no redeeming qualities.

Preview Reviewer: Sherry Oswald
Distributor: Columbia TriStar, 10202 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, CA 90232