Terror Among Us (1981)

Simply A Masterpiece

An Exercise In Nonsense

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

I caught this thing one afternoon or something, long after all the 'careers' of the 'stars' had ended.I watched it mainly to see what became of our 'stars'; Purcell, Spencer Mulligan, Pat Klous.Sara Purcell, best known for attempted wit with Skip Stephenson (wow, whatever became of him?) on the seventies hoke-fest, Real People, was giving a dramatic turn here. I thought her 'sacrifice' was so convoluted, you have to see it to believe it.The first thing I noted when I saw Ted Shackleford was how much smaller his physique was compared to what he sported on Knot's Landing. A wonderful example of the solarflex craze of the eighties here.Also fun to note the domino emphasis on the stewardesses; one gets away with her boyfriend, one is just tied up, Purcell flings herself through the glass door, one is beaten up and the final one, Klous, is the rape victim.Granted, this is the way it can proceed (Richard Speck and the 8 Chicago student nurses is the first one to come to mind), but in Speck's case, he had killed all the women save for his victim, not the other way around such as here.Meredith was fun too, looking into acting at this time.There is another rape movie, with Howard Hesseman, called 'Victims' that may have come about at this time. That was about previous victims trying to get back at their rapist.I don't know if that was the same case here.In the Hesseman movie, it was much more chilling than this Love Boat version of rape. This was more of a fantasy with victims all tied up, victims being stewardesses, then the victim heroically fighting back for the sake of her fellow victims.

I vaguely remember watching this television movie around the time it first came out, but it was a rather good drama/suspense film. Simply put, it's a story about a paroled rapist who threatens to get his revenge on the group of women (I think they were all airline flight attendants) who testified against him and put him in prison in the first place. It's noteworthy to watch for Ted Shackelford, who plays the rapist, since he portrayed Gary Ewing on "Knots Landing." This character is NOTHING like Gary Ewing, that's for sure! He was was joined by Kim Lankford, as one of his victims, who was his "Knots Landing" co-star; she played Ginger Ward in the first four seasons. I would guess that this was probably made before "Knots Landing" premiered, even though it came out after that show began in late 1979. It stars a lot of mid to late 70's TV actors, such as Sarah Purcell ("Real People"), Jennifer Salt ("SOAP"), Sharon Spelman ("Angie"), and Pat Klous ("Flying High" and later "The Love Boat" as Lauren Tewes' replacement) as well as Don Meredith, the former football player who used to peddle iced tea in those commercials. It's worth a viewing if you're a "Knots Landing" fan or like TV movies with lots of actors from classic, cheesy 70's shows.

When I first saw who was to play the rapist in the movie I thought that I would never be able to find it believable. But Ted Shackleford's transition from Gary Ewing on Knot's Landing to Delbert Ramsey was quite effective. He made you forget that he played the always likable Gary with an endless soft spot for Val. And did a exceptional job at making Delbert Ramsey a monster you hated. Now, with the technology employed in making movies today, there are probably better gripping, suspense movies. But for it's time it had a huge impact on me. The acting was great. You felt rage at the villain and extreme compassion for the victims, one in particular. I was shocked at how well it made the viewer run the emotional gamut - as a good thriller should. I definitely recommend it as long as you keep in mind the era in which it was made.