The Seduction (1982)
I suppose the message behind The Seduction was intended to be one of take-charge, female empowerment. Unfortunately, that message gets garbled in a morass of clubfooted plotting, movie-of-the-week level dialogue and acting, and a completely misguided and offensive finale. Not since Lipstick has a revenge flick been this lame. Both films offer depictions of beautiful women wielding shotguns, so there’s that.
Morgan Fairchild plays a ravishing and wildly successful television news anchor. You see, Morgan has it all: physical beauty, rewarding career, a lovely home, a boyfriend (an older, saggy Michael Sarrazin), and now, a stalker. Pretty boy of the day Andrew Stevens (The Fury, Massacre at Central High) is a talented but disturbed photographer who spends his free time spying on Morgan while she swims nude (which is all of the time) and phoning her to pledge his undying love. At first she is slightly annoyed but then her terror escalates as the creep ingratiates himself into every facet of her life; however, as expressed through Morgan Fairchild’s blank, plasticized face, it’s hard to tell exactly how all of this is affecting her.
Will no one help her? It’s true that this movie was made way before our current modern laws regarding stalking were put in place, but even then, the depiction of the police as being unwilling and unable to do anything to help her is very extreme and far-fetched. So, as the tagline for this film states, her only weapon is ‘herself’…oh, and a handy pump shotgun Sarrazin buys for her. So it’s time for our heroine to go vigilante.
As the film nears its finale, things take a truly asinine and deplorable turn. First, as Fairchild and her boyfriend make love in a hot tub, Stevens stabs him in the back at the moment of climax, which sends her running to her shotgun, whereupon she chases Stevens throughout her home blasting away indiscriminately (even during this sequence, Fairchild barely emotes). Then, she lures him back to the house promising sexual favors. Stevens throws her on the bed and, in a particularly queasy scene, when Fairchild gains the upper hand, she knocks him to the floor, and in a bid to give him a taste of his own medicine, she attempts to rape him. As these two numbskulls continue their back and forth power struggle, a police officer conveniently arrives on the scene and takes out Stevens once and for all.
Films such as this (as well as Lipstick and The Fan before it and Extremities and Sleeping With the Enemy after it) were essentially just gussied up slasher films, but they purported to have a real “message.” Although the message they thought they were expressing was one of the positivity of take-charge women, in reality, they simply stated that yes, girls, you too can be as brainless and violent as the men in your life, because there’s no one there to help you, ever.
The Seduction’s dismal reception did no favors for the careers of those involved. Fairchild never became the leading lady she was obviously being groomed for, Stevens faded into obscurity and Sarazzin never regained the career he had in the 60s and 70s.
With the exception of Morgan Fairchild’s many nude scenes (which would probably be the sole reason for anyone bothering with it), The Seduction could easily have been a feature on Lifetime, titled The Night She Fought Back or something equally bland.
Morgan Fairchild plays a ravishing and wildly successful television news anchor. You see, Morgan has it all: physical beauty, rewarding career, a lovely home, a boyfriend (an older, saggy Michael Sarrazin), and now, a stalker. Pretty boy of the day Andrew Stevens (The Fury, Massacre at Central High) is a talented but disturbed photographer who spends his free time spying on Morgan while she swims nude (which is all of the time) and phoning her to pledge his undying love. At first she is slightly annoyed but then her terror escalates as the creep ingratiates himself into every facet of her life; however, as expressed through Morgan Fairchild’s blank, plasticized face, it’s hard to tell exactly how all of this is affecting her.
Will no one help her? It’s true that this movie was made way before our current modern laws regarding stalking were put in place, but even then, the depiction of the police as being unwilling and unable to do anything to help her is very extreme and far-fetched. So, as the tagline for this film states, her only weapon is ‘herself’…oh, and a handy pump shotgun Sarrazin buys for her. So it’s time for our heroine to go vigilante.
As the film nears its finale, things take a truly asinine and deplorable turn. First, as Fairchild and her boyfriend make love in a hot tub, Stevens stabs him in the back at the moment of climax, which sends her running to her shotgun, whereupon she chases Stevens throughout her home blasting away indiscriminately (even during this sequence, Fairchild barely emotes). Then, she lures him back to the house promising sexual favors. Stevens throws her on the bed and, in a particularly queasy scene, when Fairchild gains the upper hand, she knocks him to the floor, and in a bid to give him a taste of his own medicine, she attempts to rape him. As these two numbskulls continue their back and forth power struggle, a police officer conveniently arrives on the scene and takes out Stevens once and for all.
Films such as this (as well as Lipstick and The Fan before it and Extremities and Sleeping With the Enemy after it) were essentially just gussied up slasher films, but they purported to have a real “message.” Although the message they thought they were expressing was one of the positivity of take-charge women, in reality, they simply stated that yes, girls, you too can be as brainless and violent as the men in your life, because there’s no one there to help you, ever.
The Seduction’s dismal reception did no favors for the careers of those involved. Fairchild never became the leading lady she was obviously being groomed for, Stevens faded into obscurity and Sarazzin never regained the career he had in the 60s and 70s.
With the exception of Morgan Fairchild’s many nude scenes (which would probably be the sole reason for anyone bothering with it), The Seduction could easily have been a feature on Lifetime, titled The Night She Fought Back or something equally bland.