New Year, New Movie: The Stranger Within (1974)

It's a lovely pre-spring Saturday afternoon, and I'm sitting down to watch a TV movie featuring Barbara Eden. I picked this one off the shelf today because it was written by Richard Matheson, author of I am Legend, The Shrinking Man, Bid Time Return, and Hell House, among others. He also wrote episodes of The Twilight Zone, as well as other TV series and movies. Even if you've never heard of him, chances are you have seen or read something he created. 

"Why do we always assume that anything that comes from outer space is horrible? Maybe it isn't. I mean, hell, maybe it's great! What do we know? Maybe it's just what we need."

The Gist

Ann is pregnant, but her husband, David, is not the father and she insists she's not been out cavorting with another man. As her fetus develops, she begins to consume large amounts of salt, she lowers the thermostat to a hypothermia inducing temperature, she guzzles pots of scalding coffee while speed reading academic texts, she allows the house to become disorderly, and acts like a shrew to her confused husband, who she begins speaking to in tongues. After undergoing hypnosis, David and friends get a clue to her mysterious pregnancy.

Memorable Moments

A picture takes form.

Salt cravings.

Ann has developed a preference for frigid cold temperatures.

1970s style hypnosis.

Evelyn Wood style speed reading.

More salt.

Ann starts leaving sloppy messes.

More work done on the painting.

Mysterious injuries

Ann displays terrible table manners.

Another sloppy mess.

Ann listens to a record with her fingers.

Another delicious, salty meal.

Good to the last drop.

Ann offers an explanation for her odd behavior. 

Motherhood

Dynamic art.

My Thoughts

Made for TV movies like this one are truly relics of a time gone by, and are quite nostalgic for those of us who grew up in the 1970s, but may not be appreciated as well by others, who won't be as tolerant of the amount of time spent having Ann try to convince everyone she hasn't been sleeping around, or the number of times we see her overusing the salt shaker, slamming cups of coffee, or leaving the house looking like a pigsty. It's a familiar story that recalls Rosemary's Baby, but the ending has got the unexpected feel of a Twilight Zone episode. I just wonder why she bothered with a salt shaker when it would have been more expedient to spoon it out like sugar from a bowl. For all its faults, I was still entertained by it, and it was a nice diversion for a Saturday afternoon.