John Cragen Movies

One of several direct-to-video movies to make their American TV bows on the Lifetime cable channel, Total Stranger was filmed under the title Stranger in My House. Having just emerged from a nasty divorce, and with her daughter off at college, lawyer Patti Young (Lindsay Crouse) decides to make financial ends meet by taking in a younger female tenant, a student named Lara (Zoe McLellan). What Patti does not suspect--until it is too late--is that the deceptively sweet-natured Lara is a "serial invader", who has a habit of taking over the houses and lives of the people who trust her. The problem: Patti cannot get anyone to believe that Lara is sinister as Patti (and the viewer) knows she really is! Also starring Jay Thomas and Dan Lauria, this psychological thriller made its cable-TV debut several years after filming wrapped in 1999. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

An Iranian woman is sent to the US so she will not be caught up in the upcoming war and there eventually finds herself forced to work as an au pair for a divorced woman's child in San Francisco. This drama chronicles her life in the states after she learns that she has become a pawn in a custody battle. Soraya came to become a nanny after her live-in relationship with her American boy friend goes bust. Because she has no green card, the au pair job was all she could take. She is hired by the ex-husband of Ellen to take care of their son Alex and to keep an eye on Ellen, who may be agoraphobic. Alex is also unusually quiet. Not realizing that Ted is using her for his own gain, Soraya dutifully reports back to him. Meanwhile, she and Ellen eventually become real friends and unfortunately, it is only after it is too late that Soraya learns the truth about Ted's motives. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide