It is a performances centric movie

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

PARANOIA is a pretty uninteresting late addition to the run of psycho-thriller movies that had begun with FATAL ATTRACTION over a decade previously. This story has a young woman, played by Brigitte Barko who gives an indifferent performance, the sole survivor of a massacre by a serial killer which slaughtered her family. Years later, she's trying to live a normal life when she discovers that the killer is about to be released on parole. This low budget oddity singularly fails to deliver any thrills or suspense, but the narrative structure is quite interesting and there are enough twists to keep you mildly involved. The great Larry Drake, best known as the baddie in DARKMAN, gives the best performance as the killer.

Paranoia is the type of film people either love or hate. It's slow, it's talky, it's cheaply made and quite frankly it's a little bit strange. All part of the appeal, in my opinion. Jana Mercer has become a recluse after a psychopath (Larry Drake -- who else?) broke into her home and murdered her entire family when she was a child. Now grown, Jana returns to her childhood neighborhood just as the loony is inexplicably paroled. This is a movie that's rich with back-story and stagy dialogue. Jana is a fully realized and fleshed out character, admirably played by b-movie vixen Brigitte Bako, who comes off a little wooden but mostly BECAUSE of the character she's portraying. Larry Drake is a b- movie pro who gets to elegantly spout off a slew of creepy dialogue. The movie's got some oddball stuff going on which seems to be in reference to other things (Dick Van Dyke Show, witchy stick, gafilter fish, etc.), though almost 15 years after I first saw the film, I still don't get all the inside jokes. And did I mention the ending packs a wallop of a twist? If you skimmed this review and think the film might be up your alley, it probably is. Unfortunately there are no DVD special features, which sucks because it's the type of film which would benefit from insight from the writer/director.

Brigitte Bako gives a winning performance as Jana Mercer, a beautiful, sarcastic interior decorator who witnessed her family being murdered as a child by psycho Calvin Hawks (Larry Drake). Twenty years after the original crime, Jana (a night owl with a ultra-secure penthouse apartment) is again harassed via computer by Calvin, who informs her he's getting out on parole very soon and wants to be reunited. Unable to convince the authorities he's after her again, Jana retreats to the country with her new cop boyfriend. Guess who else shows up?Drake is amusing and creepy as the psycho who tracks her down, slits a librarians neck ("Just because I could.") and tells another woman "Fear is the distance between pain and nothing!" It's silly that a mass murderer would have a laptop and advanced internet access IN his prison cell and would be getting out on parole after killing three people (hell, or nowadays, maybe it isn't), but, that aside, this has several surprising and effective plot twists, some witty dialogue, a pretty twisted flashback and nice attempts at establishing characters.

Ludicruous, almost amateur thriller about a killer (Drake) who gets out of the prison just to terrorize a young woman (Bako) who is the only survivor of the last crime of the bad guy. Weak plot, predictable all the way, extremely boring and with some campy performances, especially Drake, absolutely unconvincing and far - fetched. Don't lose your time and your money. I give this a 3 (three).