Missionary

The LDS Church pretty much ignored this mediocre Mormon-proselytizer-turned-stalker thriller, as did audiences. Dawn Olivieri is Katherine, estranged wife of Ian (Kip Pardue), a woman struggling to raise their son (Connor Christie) on her own. When Mormon missionary Kevin (Mitch Ryan) helps the boy prepare for football tryouts, a sultry affair develops with Katharine—until Ian comes back into the family's life. In short order, Kevin turns possessive and menacing, leading to a confrontation between him and Ian that becomes decidedly nasty—although not as much as the subsequent attempt by spurned Kevin to kidnap Katharine and her son to form the perfect unit. Of course, by this time it's evident that Kevin is unhinged: Katharine learns about a previous stalking incident, and he's also had a run-in with his brethren. A protracted face-off in a junkyard will finally settle the issue. While there are a few suspenseful moments in director Anthony DiBlasi's Missionary, this is ultimately little more than a pallid gender-reversal take on Fatal Attraction with a gratuitous religious twist. Not a necessary purchase. (F. Swietek)