Sinister Stalker (2020 Lifetime)

Sinister Stalker (2020 Lifetime)

Cast: Marci Miller, Kelly Blatz, Rosa Blasi, Marcus LaVoi

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Synopsis (via Lifetime)

Karen, an ER doctor in recovery from addiction, is attacked while walking home one night from a support group. Fortunately, Daniel, a handsome stranger, comes to her aid and rescues her from her attacker. When Daniel is injured in the attack, Karen takes him back to her house to tend to his wounds. But as Karen spends more time with Daniel, she learns that Daniel is not the selfless hero she thought he was but is instead an unstable man determined to keep her to himself after she saved him from a drunk driving accident years ago.

Thoughts

 A man is driving and gets into an accident. (The camera effects here are super low budget and include spinning around!) Another woman is in the car crash too.

Next, we see Karen who is nine months sober. She sits in a circle as everyone applauds her accomplishments. A man named Jimmy or Steve hits on Karen, who is recently divorced, She turns him down and also turns down a ride from the woman running the meeting. (Who has crazy plastic face surgery and looks disturbing. We’ve talked about her before. I’m sure she is a nice person.) 

On her walk home, Karen is attacked by a dirty man with greasy hair and a knife. She is saved by another man in a suit who beats the greasy hair man with his briefcase. It is the same man who was driving the car earlier in the movie. His name is Daniel and he begs her not to call the cops/ambulance because he has a criminal record. The cut on his arm is pretty bad and Karen takes him back to her place to patch him up. (She used to be an ER doctor.) Roni, Karen’s neighbor, sees the two outside of the house and is like “hubba hubba!” (I like Roni)

Daniel keeps sneaking up behind Karen and staring at her creepily. They talk about astrological signs (Aries) and have the same birthday, Daniel fakes a concussion and stays over on the couch… SHIRTLESS. Karen notices a scar under his man boobs and mentally notes that for later. (Or it could be a scar the actors has and I’m looking at his body too closely, and I a stalker?) 

Karen calls her BFF, Izzie, who is very against Karen staying in the house alone with a (hot) man she just met. Izzie leaves her husband and daughter and runs right over. While Karen is waiting for her friend to arrive she takes a long, hot, shower. Much to the delight of Daniel who watches her longly. He enters the shower fully clothed and I know Lifetime would not miss an opportunity to have a shirtless man, especially with Kelly Blatz’s body. (Him entering is a fantasy, he was watching her though.) 

After her shower, Karen brings up the scar she saw. Daniel lies and says he got it in a bar fight, which is inconsistent with what he told Karen earlier about never being in a fight. They then talk about both being in AA and then almost kiss but are interrupted by Jimmy calling to apologize for hitting on her. He has fallen off the wagon and was drunk driving. He tells Karen he wants it all to end.

Izzie shows up and is (again) very suspicious of Daniel. She interrogates him about his past job, living situations, what he does for fun. She catches Daniel in another lie because he says he is in real estate and so is she. Izzie doesn’t back down and things get tense between them. Not sexy tense. When Karen comes back from her phone call Daniel says that Izzie left. Karen sees Izzie’s car in the driveway and calls her friend, but Izzie’s phone is on silent in Daniel’s pocket.

While Daniel is in the bathroom, Karen goes through her phone and finds pictures of her house on his phone. Karen asks him about the photo and realizes she is in trouble. He tells her that he saved her life and they are connected now. Karen plays it cool until the doorbell rings and she is held at knifepoint and forced to answer the door. It is Jimmy and he is very drunk. Roni also stops over and Karen sends them both away while holding back tears. Not before begging Jimmy to “get help.”

After the visitors are gone, Daniel tells Karen that destiny brought them together. He was drunk driving the morning of his car crash. His car flipped and he was brought to Karen’s ER and she saved his life. He served six months in jail for manslaughter because he killed a mother and daughter in the crash. When Daniel goes in for a kiss, Karen makes her getaway and screams for her life. Daniel knocks her out.

Karen wakes up zip-tied and duct-taped next to Izzie who is also held captive. Daniel opens his briefcase and reveals it is full of syringes and medication. Just as he is about to dose them with whatever is in the syringe he is interrupted with a knock at the door. It is the greasy-haired guy (now in an interesting ponytail!) who attacked Karen. Daniel hired him to rough Karen up. The man “took care” of Jimmy and helps move Karen and Izzie to the car. Poor Roni sees them and tries to stop the kidnapping but gets her neck snapped. (Why do all the POC’s have to die in these movies!?!?!)

Daniel and the greasy-haired guy move Karen and Izzie to a really nice place with electronic candles everywhere. (Maybe he is a real estate agent!) The greasy-haired guy is about to take Karen upstairs and rape her, Daniel does him with a lethal dose of Clora-something-something and kills him. 

Karen and Izzie get free and run upstairs to a bedroom with a laptop. They post on social media for help before Daniel disconnects the modem. Karen staps him in the leg with some scissors, but he chokes her out while she looks at a toy lion????????????????????????????????????

It is the next morning. Karen and Izzie wake up to the sound of Daniel digging a grave in the backyard. He tells Karen that he fell in love with her when she saved him that day. He stalked her ever since but has to kill her now because she doesn’t reciprocate his love. As he is syringing Izzie, Karen sticks him with one (how many syringes are in this briefcase?) and then hits him in the face with a shovel. Paramedics arrive on the scene and take Izzie away. The police arrive too and take Daniel into custody. (He still looks fine as hell. Damn it! I’m in love with a stalker.) 

Three months later, Karen celebrates a year of sobriety and has her doctor’s license reinstated.  

Side Note

Minority Report: Roni (RIP!)

I liked that a single location was used for the majority of this movie, It created a suspenseful atmosphere.   

Rosa Blasi, representing Chicago well! I like her in Lifetime movies.

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Overall rating

🔪🔪🔪 (3 Knives)

🍷🍷🍷 (3 glasses of wine required.)

*Photo Credit: © 2020 Lifetime