Lisa Movie Review

Lisa is the first film I rented just because I liked the clip they were playing in the video store. (We don't recall seeing ANY other advertisements for this movie, which is a 1990 variation on 1965's I Saw What You Did theme). Karen Clark's screenplay clearly has some first-hand understanding of what it's like to be an isolated 14-year-old girl. Lisa and her best friend start out by playing casual games with the telephone. Lisa's friend, complete with obnoxious kid brother and idealized parents who let her go out on dates, soon loses interest in the games. Lisa, the daughter of an overly protective single working mother, continues playing a dangerous telephone game with a serial killer. While he stalks his victims, she stalks him with considerable skill but without a clue as to the real implications of the game. Television actresses Staci Keanan and Cheryl Ladd are convincing as Lisa and her mother and the conclusion, without a male rescuer in sight, provides a satisfying payoff to this overlooked theatrical release.

1990 (PG-13) 95m/C Staci Keanan, Cheryl Ladd, D.W. Moffett, Tanya Fenmore, Jeffrey Tambor, Julie Cobb; D: Gary Sherman; W: Karen Clark. VHS, Closed Caption