Trapped!

This ineptly plotted yet quite well-produced piece, having an alternate title of "TRAPPED!", suffers from some extreme cutting that eliminates entire scenes of narrative importance, as well as performers such as Barbara Bain, eventually settling into a weakly directed and purported suspense film set in the San Diego, California area. In reality, it was shot within the Turks and Caicos Islands, notably upon Grand Turk, a very scenic site indeed, but not at all resembling San Diego and its environs. Alexandra Paul leads the cast as computer expert Samantha, who is kidnapped, along with her teenage daughter, both subsequently kept captive at the mercy of a poorly defined band of terrorists whose ultimate purpose is not made clear, but who are obviously true to an ideology, and who threaten the captured women with death if Samantha does not complete some computer function that will result in the demise of a prominent dignitary. Notwithstanding the film's arresting scenery, its storyline is routine and very predictable, from its initial pages. A quaint choice of casting places Nick Turturro, with his firmly embedded Queens accent, in the role of a Southern California deputy sheriff. Dennis Christopher is a standout as head of the unidentified Forces of Evil. Paul is clearly in need of closer direction, not available here.