Malevolent is a 2002 thriller film.
Detective Jack Lucas (Lou Diamond Phillips) is under investigation by his superiors for a job-related shooting when a young man he doesn't know starts stalking him and frames Jack for murder. Jack has to find the malevolent stranger to clear his name.
This film provides examples of:
- Freudian Excuse: An aspiring serial killer starts stalking a police officer (Lou Diamond Philips) and tries to frame him for several murders, as well as following a stripper while pretending to be her ex-husband. The cop eventually figures out his identity and realizes that he's one of his father's former patients looking for revenge, a brilliant kid from a wealthy family who was committed after an extremely messed up youth. Specifically, his mother (a b-movie actress and pin-up model) carried on an incestuous relationship with her son before they were found out by her husband, who then killed his wife and himself in a Murder-Suicide.
- Parental Incest: The killer's backstory involves a sexually abusive mother who was also the Trophy Wife to a wealthy businessman. In addition, she was rumored to have been in a relationship with her own father.
- Revenge by Proxy: The Ax-Crazy bad guy has a grudge against a psychiatrist who tried to put him away. He takes revenge by murdering the man's wife and stalking his adult son, an L.A.P.D. cop (Lou Diamond Philips) who initially has no idea who this guy attempting to ruin his life even is.
- Shoot the Hostage Taker: The movie culminates in the cop protagonist (Lou Diamond Philips) shooting the psycho rich kid who is obsessed with him between the eyes when the latter tries to escape with a hostage after a lengthy car chase.
- Stalker with a Crush: Oliver has been stalking a stripper named Jessica, even pretending to be her ex-boyfriend. This proves to be a vital clue to tracking him down. His obsession with Detective Jack Lucas also has some homo-erotic undertones.
- Stock Footage: It is padded with stock footage from The Corruptor and Marked for Death for two car chases near the beginning and end of the movie. This is especially obvious because Lou Diamond Phillips is replaced behind the wheel with Steven Seagal at one point. It's like some exec saw the script and said it needed more action beats, because they're largely out of place with the rest of the film, which is a straightforward crime thriller.
