Past Midnight (1991)

After serving 15 years in prison for the murder of his pregnant wife, a man (Rutger Hauer) is paroled. At first, his probation officer (Natasha Richardson) is wary of him but not only does she begin to think he was innocent of the crime, she finds herself attracted to him. However, after they become lovers, she begins to have second thoughts about his innocence. This thriller has precedents in films like Hitchcock's SPELLBOUND and JAGGED EDGE which had similar situations about professional women flirting dangerously with possible killers. But the intriguing premise which promises intense thrills is sabotaged by an inept screenplay (an uncredited Quentin Tarantino, still a year away from RESERVOIR DOGS, re-wrote Frank Norwood's original script) laced with pedestrian dialog. The screenplay is laced with a few obvious red herrings but it never amounts to much as mystery. It's the kind of movie where the killer has ample opportunity to kill the heroine but instead he talks, talks, talks. Why? So that she can survive long enough to be rescued! Hauer's casting is problematic. Not only do he and Richardson lack chemistry but his performance is so creepy that you wonder why she doesn't run in the other direction instead of climbing into bed with him. Directed by Jan Eliasberg. With Paul Giamatti, Clancy Brown and Guy Boyd.