Letters From a Killer Reviews

Condemned inmate Race Darnell (Patrick Swayze), who still swears he's innocent of his wife's murder, has written a book about life on death row. Smitten, four different women — Stephanie (Olivia Birkelund), Judith (Elizabeth Ruscio), Gloria (Kim Myers) and Lita (Gia Carides) — have sent him audio cassettes professing undying love, and Race responded to all of them; each hopes for the day he'll be proved innocent and released into her loving arms. Since that day doesn't seem to be coming any time soon, the fact that each would no doubt feel desperately betrayed if she knew about the others doesn't trouble Race unduly. Then the guards play a prank; they switch two tapes, and laugh their asses off when Race gets a murderously angry reply from one of the heartbroken women, who doesn't identify herself and disguises her voice. The angry correspondent is temporarily forgotten when Race's lawyer Elizabeth (Tina Lifford) turns up evidence that Race's trial was tainted, and his conviction is overturned. Once Race is free, the problem of the multiple sweethearts blows up in his face. They're all furious, but Lita is spitting mad, and she's an ex-cop who still carries a gun. Worse, she was thrown off the force for stalking a suspect who got off on a technicality. And then Stephanie turns up dead, her ring finger cut off; it doesn't take the police long to remember that that's the corpse of Race's wife was mutilated. Did Race do it, or is it one of his angry girlfriends hell-bent on seeing that he pays for breaking her heart? Convoluted and ultimately a bit silly, this thriller (the feature film debut of TV director David Carson) nevertheless puts an unusual spin on stalker movie conventions.