An Excellent (& Realistic) Suspense Thriller!
Added 11/23/2009
This movie grabbed me from the first.
A highrise office complex, where the upper floors belong to a drug testing company,the bottom three floors are a "mall," and various office complexes exist between. Night falls. Shadows rise, and death is in the air!
A woman, the manager of a huge highrise office complex, is notified by security personnel, that someone is walking around the mall at 2:00am, several nights in a row.
As she tries to figure out who the man is, and what he is after, she and her secretary find, after very working late, that doors won't open, gates won't rise in the parking garage, that the building is locked down, and they have no way out!
Searching for someone to help them, they discover others in the building have been murdered, and realize that a killer is loose SOMEWHERE INSIDE THE BUILDING! Now, it is a matter of survival!
This is a very intense, and well acted movie.
If you like edge-of-your-seat thrillers, get it, and push whomever - for it to come out on DVD, so everyone else can enjoy it, too!
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One of the BEST TV-movie suspense/thrillers in existence!!
Added 3/18/2009
I still have this on VHS and wish Universal would get around to releasing it on DVD if they still own the rights. This and Buried Alive, another TV-movie thriller with Tim Matheson and Jennifer Jason Leigh and Buried Alive 2 with Ally Sheedy. Perhaps they could do a double or triple feature! This one stars Kathleen Quinlan (Breakdown, The Hills Have Eyes remake) as a building management executive named Maryann. I have watched this literally dozens of times. Like other reviewers have pointed out, this is the type of movie you can watch over and over and it never bores. It's that thrilling and entertaining. A killer with a motive has sabotaged the controls and all the exits to the building have been turned off. With limited resources, Maryann must conquer her fears, do things she never thought possible and fight just to stay alive. This was directed by Fred Walton who brought us the very suspenseful When a Stranger Calls and it's TV-movie sequel When a Stranger Calls Back. This man knows how to make the audience sit on the edge of their seat! I'm waiting for the DVD release of this highly forgotten gem.
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Run like a mo-fo! Spoilers
Added 1/22/2009
With suspenseful music playing as Mary Ann walked down dark corrider's I found myself shouting at the tv "Run like a mo-fo!" Which is weird because I never stay stuff like that. This movie will have you on edge, tense as a mouse when a cat moves in. The killer never says a word, never speaks or yell, merely carries on his horrific vengeance with a single minded purpose. Unfortunately for the main characters they do not deserve his vengeance, but they had the misfortune to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Mary Ann is working late and on her way out with her friend and co-worker Renni, but Renni has car problems which stalls them long enough for an explosion planted by an unknown person to disable the garage doors, trapping them inside. Not yet aware of their approaching peril, they search for a way to get out of there. But the phones are down as well and before they know it an unknown killer with a baseball bat pops out and starts swinging. Mary Ann is popped in the face and is knocked back into an open elevator, and she initially tries to render some aid to Renni, but realizing she's cornered and can only be killed herself with a useless rescue she forces his arm out of the door and with a whoosh the doors close on a screaming Renni.
Horrified and in shock she rides the elevator as it stops on every floor until finally coming to she stops and exits onto a floor which is still being constructed. There she is grabbed by a man she at first thinks is the killer, but turns out to be a stranger. The stranger thinks she is after him, but upon seeing the marks on her face realizes she has been attacked. He locks her in and goes to see if she was telling the truth, only the killer finds her before the stranger returns. In a frantic attempt to remain hidden she falls onto a window washers lift a floor below and pulling herself up escapes.
She finds the stranger again who tells her his name is John and they stick together to find a something to defend themselves with, but only come up with a shotgun with no bullets and a knife Mary Ann pulls out of a dead man. Turns out John is a thief who is there to steal industrial secrets and is also the one who disabled the gate, but who knew there would be a madman with a bat there that same night?
After an encounter with the killer leaves John with a broken arm and Mary Ann's knife in the killer's shoulder, Mary Ann is all for hiding and waiting for morning. John, knowing that if he doesn't catch this guy he will be suspect for the killing's, refuses to hide and after an attempt to gain Mary Ann's help fails he leaves a thoughtful looking Mary Ann staring after him.
It turns out Mary Ann is unable to hide and put's in place a last ditch effort to stop the killer. Announcing her plans on the radio John had given her (from the security office)in case John wanted to join her she hides out in a garage level in her car. Unfortuantely due to work on the building there is wet paint everywhere and the killer follows her footsteps to a pillar, however, all he finds is a pair of shoes. Up pops Mary Ann behind her steering wheel, trying to start the car and run him over. Too bad it won't start. Making a desperate dash to Renni's empty car the killer takes John's radio and puts in on the window for her to look at in horror. She finally get's it to turn over and in terror flee's. The killer get's in his own car and quickly follows and they crash and peel out through level after level.
Here comes John, still alive, responding to Mary Ann's call (turns out that wasn't John's radio, but another spare). When he gets there it's empty and there is broken glass on the floor and in the distance he here's a revving engine. Mary Ann comes racing through, driving for her life and spots a befuddled looking John. Screaming his name she goes crashing past him with him narrowly escaping being run over by the killer. John noticing a gas leak from the killer's car set's fire to it and takes off running toward the upper level.
After being hit from behind, Mary Ann's car stall out again and suddenly the killer's car is rushing toward her her, aimed right for her door when there is a fire blazing up behind. Like a deer in headlight she is paralyzed, good thing John showed up and yanked her out of there before the two car's hit and went boom.
The two survivor's have a tender moment, fraught with unspoken feelings. John heads off to hide until the building is open and can get pass the police. As he goes Mary Ann ask's his last name and he replies "Doe", Mary Ann realizing that he had been lying about his name all along.
Telling the police she never saw John's face, only from a distance, she is taken to the hospital and the police station for a report. Finally, dragging up the steps in exhaustion she opens her front door and find's John sitting there wating for her, cast on arm. Clearly in love with her, but looking unsure of his welcome he just stares. Mary Ann smiles.
I wish some of the character's stories gave me more information and a more clear ending on what happen's between the two leads, but it's good. You have enough to figure out your own ending, and that is satisfiying enough indeed.
I loved this movie, saw it late one night on USA and was a woman on a mission until I found it on VHS here. Thank goodness.
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GREAT MOVIE! WONDERFUL SUSPENSE THRILLS AND CHILLS!
Added 7/24/2002
This movie is great when it comes to horror and suspence. Kathleen Quinlan stars in this chilling story of a building managment executive trapped in a high-rise building with a psychopathic killer. Working late one night, Marianne Marshall (Quinlan) discovers all the exits locked and the high-tech security system disabled in her 65-story office building. Suddenly a knife lashes out of the dark, and so begins a deadly game of cat and mouse in a labyrinth of corridors and empty offices. Bruce Abbott co-stars in this spine-tingling suspense thriller from writer/director Fred Walton (When a Stranger Calls). This movie also stars Katy Boyer and Ben Loggins. The Los Angeles Times calls it "A tightly wrought thriller..." If you are looking for good suspense, get this movie. Recommended.
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5 star suspense
Added 10/12/2000
I won't bore you with things like how well I think the actors did in the movie, the lovely scenary, etc., the rating speaks for itself. A serial killer has entered an upscale building in the heart of the city, and systematically wipes out all but two people, a man & a woman of which one of them is a thief, the other an office worker. The two do everything they can to try and avoid the jerk, but end up having interesting encounters. This is a sit on the edge of your seat, bite your nails & sweat film. If you love deep intense suspense, horror and thrills, order this movie today!
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