I suppose the main criticism you can level against a film like REMEMBER MY NAME is that it has a distinctly tame, quiet, television-movie style feel to it, so that the drama feels oddly muted for a movie made for the cinemas. It's a late '70s stalker story along the lines of PLAY MISTY FOR ME, although not quite as good as the Eastwood movie.

What REMEMBER MY NAME does have going for it is an excellent cast of past and future stars who enliven an otherwise ordinary tale. The story involves a seemingly happily married couple who are disturbed by the arrival of the husband's old flame who seems obsessed with resuming their relationship. What follows is quietly gripping in places, although the film as a whole is let down by a non-existent ending and a definite lack of incident.

Anthony Perkins is excellent at playing these mild-mannered characters hiding dark secrets but the real acting honours go to Geraldine Chaplin, who invests her disturbed character with real authenticity; she's absolutely frightening in the part. The supporting cast includes plenty of faces who would go on to become famous in the future: Tim Thomerson, Dennis Franz, and best of all a skinny Jeff Goldblum. Blaxploitation actor Moses Gunn also has a role.

Recently released inmate Emily (Geraldine Chaplin) starts stalking construction worker Neil Curry (Anthony Perkins) and his wife Barbara (Berry Berenson, Perkins' real life wife).

This is missing the first scene which is Emily being released from prison. It's not set up properly. It needs to show who she is before the stalking starts. There is another problem. Chaplin's slight frame makes her less than threatening. She does all she can with acting but her character really needs to do something truly scary. She could be holding a knife and I wouldn't see that as threatening. I do see her mental instability but I don't see the danger. Other notable actors here are Moses Gunn, Jeff Goldblum, Tim Thomerson, and Alfre Woodard who is only starting out in her second movie. This is an interesting indie with some interesting performances and a future star starting out.

There are only a few movies I watch more than once, this one is on my list because of Geraldine Chaplin's psychotic performance as Emily. Here is an actor in top form, playing the role for all it's worth, and she is a joy to watch. Anthony Perkins's unstructured acting style serves to emphasize Chaplin's, while Jeff Goldblum and Alfre Woodard (does she ever age?) provide dramatic background characters. I'm less sold on Berry Berenson, who seems out of her depth here, but her tangible fear when Emily pops up in her house is serviceable.

Okay, so about that ending, it's almost like they ran out of money and just called it a day, leaving an unfinished story. It's frustrating, but hear me out: this is how it feels when someone close walks out of your life, this is exactly what Emily experienced when Neil dumped her, and she wanted him to feel that way. I know it's a stretch and probably not intentional, but it's the only explanation that makes sense.