Sleeping with the Devil

A manipulative Texas businessman (Tim Matheson) uses resources in high places to terrorize and subjugate former girlfriend Shannen Doherty ("Beverly Hills 90210") in this precautionary tale supposedly "based on a true story." Do people this rotten really exist? And, does Tim Matheson have a corner on the market for playing them in these cheap teledramas?

Doherty plays a recuperating rape victim who's also an ER nurse and a triathlete when she meets up with the suave (yet sinister) Dick Strang, the egomaniacal owner of a string of health spas. Strang, on the tail end of a bitter divorce battle, turns on the lovely Ms. Doherty with a vengeance, culminating in a hail of gunfire. Paralyzed from the neck down, Doherty makes a determined bid to walk again, convict the untouchable Strang and marry the orthopedic surgeon of her dreams.

Sounds too good to be true, eh? It's unfortunate that the provocative title effectively tips director William A. Graham's hand early, completely dispelling any element of suspense.