No One Could Protect Her”– heck, no one could protect any woman in this OK thriller about a rapist/murderer running amok in a small Midwestern town. Although the titlesuggests that star/victim Joanna Kerns will turn to vigilantism to catch the perp, the outcome is much milder than what other “fact-based” telepics have served up.
Jessica Rayner (Kerns) and husband Dan (Anthony John Denison) are a happy, loving couple who own a limousine service. But when he’s away in St. Louis on business, she is attacked.
Dan becomes obsessed with protecting Jessica; meantime, the criminal seemingly rapes and murders at will.
He breaks into the Rayner home two more times (through the same window — one would think they’d nail the darn thing shut already) to finish off Jessica. She’s the only witness left alive. The police are stymied, but independent Jessica does some research and cracks the case.
Larry Shaw directs with a fine eye for paranoia, and he makes excellent use of the interior of the Rayners’ house.
Kerns acquits herself well as the tough-minded Jessica, but this thriller suffers from uneven character development and lack of focus: Is it a soft-sided “Eye for an Eye,” a study of husband-wife problems after a horrific crime, or an indictment of the police system? It’s a little of all three, with so-so results.
Tech credits are tops, especially Peter Benison’s emotive camerawork.
