Fatal Exposure (1991): The Hitman and Her

Dave checks out a weaker but no less commendable work by prolific cable television director Alan Metzger.

After directing The China Lake Murders (1990) – an excellent thriller based on an old Robert Harmon short – and Red Wind (1991) – a gloriously lurid melodrama made from a Tom Noonan script – director Alan Metzger had certainly earned his place on the speed dial of Paramount’s TV movie division, Wilshire Court Productions. FATAL EXPOSURE, which was sandwiched between the two and nestled alongside the superior Murder C.O.D. (1990), is undoubtedly the weakest of Metzger’s opening quartet for USA Network. It falls victim to the common occurrence of being stuck between an edgy cable TV feature and the cotton wool lined safety of a network telepic.

In this instance it’s among the strange bedfellows of domestic drama and hitman thriller where we find the newly single Jamie (Mare Winningham) pining for a relaxing summer while vacationing on a remote island with her two boys. However, this peaceful retreat is soon shattered when a photo store employee returns the wrong holiday snaps to her, setting into motion a chilling game of cat and mouse…

The flimsiest of the four it may be, but Fatal Exposure still contains a tightly knitted narrative that offers enough in the way of originality, as well as an ensemble that boasts the unobtrusively pleasant Winningham; the welcome sight of Nick Mancuso as a mysterious local; and a scene-chewing Christopher McDonald as an unhinged assassin. Support comes from a handful of other inventively sketched out characters – though one key player gets offed at the halfway point and is never missed, referred to, or asked about again; an oversight that, when coupled with a few others, dents the film’s credibility.

If anything, it’s because Raymond Hartung’s script tries to spin too many plates. A subplot with Jamie’s ex-husband (Kim Loughran) and his new fiancée (May Quigley) proves to be an unnecessary distraction, and the involvement of the local sheriff, state police, the mob, and the feds suggests an incoming cameo from Uncle Tom Cobley.

One unlikely boon for the production is the utilisation of Oregon. Shot in and around the Cathlamet area – the second film that year to do so after Alan Parker’s Come See the Paradise (1990) – the $2.5 million Fatal Exposure enjoyed getting more bang for its buck up near the Canadian border, and producer Paul Tucker was keen to stress other advantages too:

“There is a good working environment here,” he told the Longview Daily News during the film’s September 1990 shoot. “More importantly, though, it’s not jaded in the same way other areas have become.” [1]

USA ● 1991 ● Thriller, TVM ● 88mins

Mare Winningham, Christopher McDonald, Geoffrey Blake, Nick Mancuso ● Dir. Alan Metzger ● Wri. Raymond Hartung