Stranger Within, The
Entry updated 22 September 2017. Tagged: Film.
Made-for-tv film (1974). Lorimar/ABC TV. Directed by Lee Philips. Teleplay Richard Matheson, based on his "Mother by Protest" (September/October 1953 Fantastic; vt "Trespass" in The Shores of Space, coll 1957). Cast includes David Doyle, Barbara Eden, George Grizzard and Joyce Van Patten. 72 minutes. Colour.
A woman (Eden) becomes pregnant – inexplicably, as her husband (Grizzard) is certified to be sterile. It turns out that she has been impregnated by a wandering Martian seed (see Mars). At first the unpleasant side-effects of the pregnancy drive her to an attempted abortion, but she finally bears a healthy child who, along with a number of other Martian babies, floats off back towards Mars. The film, whose atmosphere of mounting Paranoia is well achieved, belongs to the sinister-pregnancy movie cycle set off by Rosemary's Baby (1968). [JB/PN]
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