Marketic It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.

Humaira Grant It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Derry Herrera Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

Kamila Bell This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Coventry TV-movies from the 70's are generally fantastic. Whenever I spot the "archive collection" label, or recognize certain names of contemporary writers/directors, I immediately associate the film with intelligent and absorbing plots, atmospheric tension, genuine frights and devoted performances from often underrated but talented actors and actresses. There's something inexplicably magical about these movies and not coincidentally I regularly encounter user comments around here from fellow film freaks that remember and honor certain 70 TV-titles as movies that haunted their dreams ever since childhood. "The Stranger Within" is such a modest but highly efficient and memorable little gem from that era. Perhaps the film owes its existence solely to the tremendous success of "Rosemary's Baby", but it nevertheless it still stands as a solid independent thriller about a handful of touchy subjects like pregnancy issues, marriage and faithfulness. Painter Ann Collins is overjoyed and optimistic when she finds out she's pregnant, even though she had to process a severe trauma 3 years earlier and her loving husband David underwent a vasectomy as a result of it. He can't be the father, but Ann swears she wasn't unfaithful, so they decide to keep the baby. Ann's condition rapidly turns out to be a very unusual, abnormal and even dangerous pregnancy. She puts tons of salt on her food and slurps down gallons of steaming hot black coffee. Even more disturbing is that Ann constantly seeks for cold, sneaks out for long and mysterious nightly excursions and that her body miraculously heals itself from every type of illness. David and his friends desperately look for a medical explanation while Ann isolates herself and increasingly becomes influenced by the unborn baby whose origin remains an enigma. "The Stranger Within" benefices from a powerful first half, with a strong emphasis on marital defiance. The tense interactions between Ann and David after finding out he couldn't have conceived the child are honest and realistic. The second half is more Sci-Fi orientated, but the atmosphere nonetheless remains vulnerable and serene. The movie doesn't feature and bloody massacres or monstrous creatures, but it's definitely unsettling and grim. The basic story comes from the multi-talented veteran author Richard Matheson, so there aren't many better references in the horror industry. I hugely appreciated the climax and the (very) open ending and caught myself still gazing at the screen even long after the end credits were finished.

MartinHafer My wife and I were talking a few years back and we got to talking about movies that freaked us out as kids. Well, it turned out that two made for TV films in particular were scary--and we both remembered them decades later. One was "Crowhaven Farm" and the other was this film, "The Stranger Within". So, I was thrilled to find out that both are finally on DVD and I picked up copies. I was interested to find out that whether or not they really were as weird and scary as I'd remembered. Regardless, the movie sure had an impact on us! The film begins with a wife (Barbara Eden) telling her husband (George Grizzard) that she was pregnant. Normally this isn't a bad thing, but the husband had gotten a vasectomy three years earlier! And, after he goes to the doctor, the doctor tells him conclusively that he cannot be the father! So who is the father? Is sweet Barbara cheating on him? And if not, HOW?! And, why is she beginning to behave so weirdly?! The answers are freaky....and I don't want to say more as it would clearly spoil the film.Now seeing the movie several decades later, my impressions of the thing have changed considerably. While I still think it's worth seeing, I noticed three things I never saw as a kid. First, it really wasn't a scary film at all but a weird one. Second, the plot is pretty thin and could have been told better in an hour or less. Third, it's pretty obvious what's going on relatively early in the film and the surprise ending isn't all that surprising. Still, as I just said, it's well worth seeing and is one of the more diverting made for TV films I have seen--even with all its cheesy faults.

bribabylk *** spoiler signal! *** ... that is presumably coming from the alien fetus inside her, speaking through her mouth. I don't remember it verbatim, but the alien fetus explains its origin and speaks of Earth as a "...hot, heavy land..." It was a nice, little haunting bit of writing, and the makers of the TV movie knew it was the best part of the whole production, because they use it TWICE. The rest of the move is rather flat and lethargic; it's not really scary or even all that suspenseful. I saw this when I was a little kid, when it originally aired on TV in '74, and I remember I was looking forward to it and hoped it would be good because I liked (and still like!) spooky movies and because it starred Barbara Eden who was still pretty fresh from Jeannie at the time, but even as an indiscriminate 7-yr old viewer I was bored and disappointed.

verna55 Interesting made for TV ROSEMARY'S BABY/EXORCIST type flick, with Barbara Eden in fine form as the expectant mother who begins committing some very bizarre acts after she discovers she's pregnant. This is not at all new territory, though horror/sci-fi author Richard Matheson has managed to add some fairly effective offbeat touches.