Millionaire playboy Richard Trainor (well played by Robert Culp) publishes a racy calendar that inadvertently acts as a sick map for a serial killer who starts butchering all the lovely models who posed for said calendar in chronological order. It's up to weary, but shrewd and dedicated detective Lt. Dan Stoner (the always excellent Tom Skerritt) to nab the wacko. Director William A. Graham, working from a compact script by Scott Swanton and Gregory S. Dinallo, neatly evokes the glitzy world of the models, generates several effective moments of real tension, and keeps the engrossing story moving along at a steady pace. The sound acting from a capable cast rates as another definite asset, with especially praiseworthy work from a pre-stardom Sharon Stone as the perky Cassie Bascomb, Barbara Bosson as Dan's loyal wife Nancy, Robert Beltran as amiable cop Mooney, Pat Corley as Dan's huffy superior Tony, Robert Morse as smarmy emcee Nat Corley, Alan Thicke as charming photographer Alan Conti, and Michael C. Gwynne as creepy stalker Stark. Rip Taylor has a funny cameo as himself while the ever-gorgeous Claudia Christian pops up briefly as one of the victims. Such oh-so-80's trappings as break dancing and strenuous slow motion provide a certain gaudy'n'groovy period appeal. Both Robert Steadman's polished cinematography and Brad Fiedel's funky throbbing score are up to par. A nifty little teleflick.

Millionaire Richard Trainor (Robert Culp) is celebrating the fact that his new calendar featuring twelve nude woman is a huge success. However the party is ruined when Miss January is pushed off a building and later on that night Miss February is knifed to death.

If you want to see Alan Thicke as a glamor photographer, Tom Skerritt as a cop (not surprisingly) and a young Sharon Stone, this is the film for you. Skerritt (who plays the oddly-named Detective Stoner) must find out who is killing the calendar girls... and you might keep guessing until the end! The film is made or television, so it is pretty tame. No nudity (despite the plot's description) and fairly mild violence. They found ways to stab and murder women without it being too messy, and this is no more racy than the average episode of "Murder She Wrote".

I watched this because I had a hunch it might be pretty good. Sometimes TV movies have a certain zinginess to them, a sort of "what the hell" quality that's generated, I've always suspected, by the unusually low budgets, That is, if your investment is small enough, you don't have to worry so much about producing a blockbuster. Add to it that this cast was interesting. Tom Skerrit may or may not have much acting range, but he's reliable in the way that Cary Grant and Michael Caine have been reliable. They don't always give first-rate performances but they never torpedo a production they appear in, and Skerrit has that same quality. Then there is Sharon Stone, youthful and full of fresh open-faced beauty, and not so evidently full of herself as she later became. And Robert Morse! I was curious to see his gap-toothed person in a dramatic role. The story, involving the sequential knocking off of "Playmates of the Month" or whatever they call them here. The film unfortunately did not live up to its promise. I suppose I'd forgotten that there must be a script. It's awful. There's no suspense to speak of. The dialogue is dull. Conflict, either intra- or interpersonal, is minimal. We don't know about the murdered models, so we don't care about them. (Except the momentary thought -- "What a waste.") At least the movie is not laden with cliches -- one or two car chases, a vehicular fireball -- but not much of that, perhaps because the writers didn't bother to put much effort into cranking up the action. Watch it if you want. I doubt that you'll get much out of it.