Scream Factory shed light on celebrity stalking with their Blu-ray of THE SEDUCTION.

News anchor Jamie Douglas (Morgan Fairchild, THE INITIATION OF SARAH) is at the top of her field, but all of that exposure is sure to garner some unwanted attention which comes in the form of photographer Derek (Andrew Stevens, THE FURY) who has formed an unhealthy attachment to her. He moves from spying on her with her journalist boyfriend Brandon (Michael Sarrazin, THE REINCARNATION OF PETER PROUD) and violating her privacy with his camera to sending gifts and trying to meet her in person. When she confides her fears to Brandon and her model friend Robin (Colleen Camp, CAT IN THE CAGE), Brandon shows up in her dressing room and promises not to bother her again only to then barge into her home to get up close and personal photographs of her. When detective Maxwell (Vince Edwards, THE MAD BOMBER) tells Jamie and Brandon that the police can do nothing unless Derek actually threatens her, Brandon wants to get a gun while Jamie does not want to sink to Derek's level. Derek invades her life in a variety of increasingly stressful and violent ways, and it is only when Jamie has nothing left to lose that she turns the tables on him.

Inspired by a newspaper story, THE SEDUCTION plays like a more adult version of a Lifetime network film but is actually quite insightful about the phenomena of celebrity stalking at a time when it was unfamiliar to both the public and the law, recognizing that the laws had yet to catch up with what the film's pop psychologist (Joanne Linville, A STAR IS BORN) calls "a new age of madness" just as it has fallen behind new ways of stalking and terrorizing just about anyone through social media these days. For the most part, the film plays like a more realistic – more so in terms of story than the film's wholly glamorous mise-en-scene – version of THE FAN, withholding the actual bloodshed and gunfire for maximum drama. Fairchild, Stevens, and Sarrazin give good performances – well-supported by HELL NIGHT's Kevin Brophy as Jamie's campy but not flaming gay assistant and Wendy Smith Howard (then-wife of composer James Newton Howard) as Derek's love-starved photographic studio partner – but some aspects of the film seem severely underwritten or curtailed by final editing including the degree of Maxwell's unofficial investigation which includes talk of an ex-con hired to keep an eye on Jamie that never turns up, and other supporting characters who have little to do. The photography of Mac Ahlberg – who also shot HELL NIGHT for the film's producers Irwin Yablans (PRISON) and Bruce Cohn Cutrtis (DREAMSCAPE) – is utterly sumptuous, lighting sets and locations as glamorously as he does Fairchild, and the scoring of Lalo Schifrin (THE AMITYVILLE HORROR) as an air of gloss to the production along with a theme song by Dionne Warwick. Writer/director David Schmoeller had previously helmed TOURIST TRAP for Yablans, and executive producer Chuck Russell went on to helm A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 3: DREAM WARRIORS and THE BLOB remake.

Highly successful upon release theatrically by Avco Embassy, the film was released on panned-and-scanned VHS through Media Home Entertainment (the Japanese laserdisc was also fullscreen) and did not have its Panavision framing restored until Anchor Bay's 2006 DVD. While the DVD looked nice for the time, Scream Factory's 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 widescreen Blu-ray comes from a new scan in which even the most glamour-treated details have definition and the luminous night scenes have one wishing that HELL NIGHT looked this good on Blu-ray (the negative was lost for that film and Scream had to resort to a 35mm print with some standard-definition inserts). The DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono track also vividly conveys the scoring and sound design while optional English SDH subtitles are also included.

The audio commentary by director Schmoeller and producers Yablans and Curtis who discuss how Schmoeller's screenplay "The Romance" sat in Yablans' filing cabinet until Curtis spotted it and proposed it as a follow-up to HELL NIGHT. They speak highly of the contribution of cinematographer Ahlberg and the goal of every shot looking as gorgeous as Fairchild which dictated the choice of locations and sets. "Beauty and Strength" (22:16) is a new interview with actress Fairchild who was popular at the time for the TV series FLAMINGO ROAD, recalls being attracted to the role for the character, feeling like the nude scenes were more graphic than the screenplay – although she notes that her hot tub sex scene with Sarrazin was more uncomfortable for the choreography than for what it actually showed – and how her kung fu training made her more comfortable with the fight choreography for the climax. In "The Seducer" (11:10), actor Stevens recalls turning down the script multiple times but attributes accepting the role to Yablans' tenacity, admits to doing no research about stalking, and his friendship with Fairchild and recently casting her in the family film ALL GOOD THINGS which he produced (although no mention is made of their appearance together in BODY CHEMISTRY III: POINT OF SEDUCTION). "Flashbacks" (22:20) is a new interview with producer Curtis who recalls that John Carpenter was intended to direct TOURIST TRAP before Schmoeller's agent contacted him asserting Schmoeller's rights to direct the film while also noting that Yablans wanted Carpenter do direct HALLOWEEN instead. He covers material from the commentary with the origins of the project and its reception upon release.