Tuesday's Overlooked TV-Movie, "The Stranger Within" (1990)

This week's Tuesday's Overlooked item is the 1990 made for TV thriller The Stranger Within.

Stranger stars Kate Jackson as a mother whose young son is abducted from her, and the abductor disappears without a trace. Years later, after trying to move on with her beau (Chris Sarandon), a young man (Rick Schroder) appears claiming to be the long lost boy. However, it soon becomes clear that not all is right with this man, as the locals start disappearing as soon as he walks into their lives. The movie ends with a climactic battle between mother and "son."

This movie came to my attention due to the plea of a Twitter follower of mine who remembers seeing the movie as a child, and it stayed with him all these years, but he has never known the title or even seen it air since. I passed along the info to Tuesday's Overlooked curator Todd Mason, who in turn gave the alert to his friends in the horror/suspense online communities, and lo and behold, we have this week's entry!

The movie has an interesting pedigree, too. It was directed by Tom Holland, writer and director of Fright Night and Child's Play. He also wrote the screenplays for Psycho II, The Beast Within, and a favorite of mine, Cloak and Dagger.

The Stranger Within was once available on VHS many years ago, but has never been released on DVD. Below is a promo for the movie.

Thanks!