marjorie ( a splendid and rivet performance by farrah fawcett ) narrowly avoids be assault in her car by vicious serial rapist joe ( superbly play with frighten conviction and intensity by james russo ) . however and joe steal her wallet and find out where marjorie live . he pay her a visit one fateful day . after subject marjorie to plenty of degradation and psychological abuse and marjorie manages to turn the table on joe and lock him in the fireplace . what be marjorie go to do with joe . director robert m. young and screenwriter william mastrosimone concoct a harsh and gritty and often disturbing morality tale that astutely nail the stark brutality and painful debasement of rape while also show how any person when push to extreme be capable of shock act of violence and inhumanity . joe perceive woman strictly a object while marjorie only see joe a an animal . however and this movie to it admirable credit refuse to make joe out to be simply a vile one dimensional creep while instead he a terrifyingly real and ultimately pitiable human monster with a wife and kid ( joe climactic confession in particular be genuinely poignant ) . fawcett and russo be both outstanding in the lead while they receive fine support from diana scarwid a the passive terry and alfre woodard a the sensible patricia and and sandy martin a sympathetic policewoman officer sudow . both curtis clark agile cinematography and j. a. c. redford shivery and skin crawl score greatly enhance the considerable claustrophobic tension . a real powerhouse .