Fatal Exposure (1991)

The terribly titled Fatal Exposure is a woman-in-danger thriller that would be typical fare from the USA Network except for two attributes: It stars the always terrific Mare Winningham (St. Elmo's Fire), and it's better written (by Raymond Hartung) than most such efforts. Winningham plays the single mother of two boys. After her local photo store hands her the wrong pictures one day, she finds herself holding snapshots of a man who is soon found murdered. The killer discovers she has the photos, and, thinking she must know too much, starts stalking her. Standard, offensive scare-the-bejesus-out-of-a-woman stuff, right? Well, no: Winningham is believably strong and unintimidated; the killer proves not to be the person we've been led to believe it is. The characterizations in Fatal Exposure are subtle, and the plot twists are complex. Winningham's difficult day-to-day life as a single parent raising two children is vividly detailed. I've been waiting a long time to write this: If you watch only one USA Network movie this year, this should be the one.

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