I kept hoping this movie would get better, but it only got worse. Although the acting is okay, the script is stupid, manipulative, unbelievable, and clichéd. I just shook my head in disgust at the climax. I've seen the same climax a hundred times, maybe a thousand. The good guy and bad guy struggle on the ground. Then there's the cliché of a knife just beyond the reach of their fingers. One of them gets the knife. They continue struggling with the knife between them out of sight. Then we get the cliché of wondering who got killed. One man gets stabbed and the two men roll apart, each acting like he could be the dead one. Then we get the cliché of the bad guy who we thought was dead coming back to life and attacking again. Then he's on top of the lady strangling her. He decides to kill her with the knife instead. Then we get one of the most-used clichés ever. As the killer brings the knife down to kill the lady we hear a gun shot at the last possible instant and the killer falls over dead. The good guy had crawled and gotten the gun, and of course shot it with perfect aim at the last possible moment. Of course there were lots of other clichés leading up to the final flurry -- the killer disabling the car in the driveway, the killer cutting the phone line, the killer hiding in the house. What a waste of a couple of hours.

I'm not a big fan of afternoon Lifetime movies, but in this case, I'm glad it was on! Not all of the characters were well rounded, but JAMES WILDER'S performance was excellent - it moved me. The idea behind the movie and some of the questions it brought to surface were very interesting and deeper than I expected. I think it is well worth watching just for the realms of our conscience that it delves into.

****** CONTAINS POSSIBLE SPOILERS - BUT DON`T WORRY YOU WON`T WANT TO SEE THIS ******

TVMs are always " disease of the week " films , they occasionally plunge lower than Jayne Seymour saving the life of a sweet young child and involve lapses in logic and common sense. TOUCHED BY A KILLER is such a TVM . The lead role is a journalist but because the scriptwriter has never worked at a news stand never mind a newspaper all journalists are teatotal , hard working crusaders who are obsessed with integrity and justice , especially if the justice involves getting a innocent man on death row out of prison for a crime he didn`t commit . Oh and most journalists are attractive 40 something women who write in purple prose and despite being good looking in a 40 something kinda way they have never ever received a compliment from a man unless he`s on death row . Gee whizz that must be terrible , only getting noticed by men who are about to get fried by the state . But it gets worse ( No honest it does ) according to TOUCHED BY A KILLER women in general and female journalists in particular have a fetish about men on death row. Hey guys want a hot date ? Then pop down to the shops to get some manacles and an orange boiler suit and prepare for some hot 40 something sex. And just when you think it can`t get more stupid TOUCHED BY A KILLER has a plot twist you can see coming a mile away . Dead man walking ? Bad film sinking more like