I know, everyone considering watching this movie thinks the same thing...it's probably going to suck, but there's nothing else on, or you watch it for Swayze in his post 80's straight to video film career. Either way you look at it, this is actually a pretty entertaining film, if you can suspend any rational thoughts for about 90 minutes.

The first hour of this film is the best. We see Swayze wrongfully put in prison, on death row and about to be executed within a few weeks. He has written a best selling novel in prison and has acquired 4 very lonely fans that he communicates with via cassette tapes. The problem is, he leads every one of them to believe that they are the only ones keeping him alive, so when two of the tapes get switched, one of them sends him a death threat out of pure jealousy. After about 15 min into the film, his eviction is overturned, and he is released from jail with the ubiquitous fear of a killer stalking him. He then visits each one of the girls to find out who is sending him the threats.

Honestly, I liked the plot of this movie. Not an original theme with the jealous psycho slasher, but it is an original storyline nonetheless. Swayze does act kind of stupid in some scenes, and unconvincing in others (when he is released from jail, we all know he had the first death threat, but come on, to show NO HAPPINESS at all for escaping death row and having your name cleared?? Bad acting, Patrick),but overall it is a good movie. It does kind of wander in the middle, and becomes a routine slasher where most of the killings are done off screen, but it does serve as a fairly capable who-dunnit. Oh, and there is a pretty lame 'buddy' part in the middle which you can basically ignore.

I was able to guess who the killer was before the first murder, but honestly, they played it out so it could be anyone (also, one character is written as a little too conveniently psycho to allow anyone to possibly get any clues as to who did it). I thought the best part though was the fact that only 2 of the 4 tapes were switched in the beginning, so we can surmise of course, that 2 of them found out about the other girls, and we have to guess which 2 they were (though one is very obvious, complete with broken picture frame of Swayze during the montage of him calling all of them). The ending shot is pretty cheesy, but hey, what do you expect? Overall, an entertaining movie. Not thought provoking, but worth a look. 7/10 stars.

Letters from a killer has a very unusual storyline. It starts off quite confusing and uninteresting, but as it goes on the excitement gets more and more. Then at the end, you are at the edge of your seat, with all the gun shooting and racing about. I think that this is a film worth watching, but if you miss the beginning, you will probably find the rest of the film hard to understand.

Swayze plays an inmate on death row wrongly convicted of killing his wife, and whilst in prison he corresponds via cassette tape with four ladies. A prank by one of the jail guards results in tapes getting switched and one of the ladies announces she wishes to exact revenge for this slight, and the rather clever screenplay keeps you guessing right up until the end. It's quite a dark murder mystery of sorts, a gripping thriller, and Swayze really plays Race Darnell very well. Whilst the plot has a few holes, or rather improbabilities, I think it's clever and you have to keep your wits about you whilst watching and after-wards may just feel as ragged as Swayze's denim shirt. Certainly not a brainless film experience, and it has some great stunts, familiar faces and good performances. All in all a rather good film, well Directed and well shot (though nothing arty or unusual) on location in some varied places. The plot carries this film, as well as the performance of Swayze; I enjoyed seeing him riding a horse and dancing (albeit just a bit) again in this - I'm a great admirer of his work and this is a not so well known but noteworthy example of his acting talent.

Note: Katy Selverstone (FBI woman) bears a striking resemblance to Jodie Foster, don't you think?