REVIEWS 1990–1999

While trends had been set over the last couple of decades, the nineties definitely had a vibe all their own. Audiences from this period reveled in true crime thrillers, goofy exploitation and celebrity biographies.

Original network telefilms were dwindling but cable picked up the slack, sometimes sticking with the more traditional devices, but often exploiting their ability to show and say more. Epic fare came to HBO, while the more conventional telefilms found a home on channels like USA or Lifetime. In fact, “Television for Women” became a bit of a powerhouse, although much of their programming from this era was carefully cherry-picked from some of the more salacious network TVMs (along with a selection of USA Originals). And, within this new thoroughfare, a more contemporary group of TV movie queens emerged. Actresses like Meredith Baxter, Tori Spelling and Kellie Martin became Lifetime darlings as the channel re-aired (and reaired… and re-aired…) the actresses’ most memorable network output. We can thank Lifetime for making Mother, May I Sleep with Danger part of our post-nineties pop culture lexicon. Take that as you will.

Sure, the product might be slightly questionable, but it was also downright entertaining. And, unlike the bulk of made for television films that aired in the sixties, seventies and eighties, many of these titles are accessible to a public hungry for women in peril, devious doctors and tell all tales!

CO-ED CALL GIRL

Director: Michael Rhodes

Starring: Tori Spelling, Susan Blakely, Scott Plank, Barry Watson

Airdate: February 6, 1996 Network: CBS

A naïve pre-med student, enticed into high-priced prostitution, finds herself in deep trouble after she shoots her pimp in the head.

Despite the ludicrous premise of Co-ed Call Girl, the events of the telefilm are surprisingly (very) loosely based on a real case involving a young woman named Elizabeth Dugan who shot her pimp, Robert Staudinger. The real story manages to be a tad more salacious (Weekly World News reported that Dugan’s nickname was “Psycho”), but this Tori Spelling potboiler throws all of its sympathies onto the protagonist, and does a great job of making a tawdry true crime tale fun. Yes, fun.

Dugan came from a wealthy family and was attracted to life as a call girl because she enjoyed the excitement. However, in this sanitized TV version, Joanna (Spelling) is a scrimping and scraping pre-med student who turns to prostitution both for the money and because she longs to be loved, or at least the object of desire. Joanna’s trek into the call girl world is played out with wide eyes, no sense of logic, and unabashed innocence (i.e. this girl has no control over her horrible circumstances). But what starts off as somewhat innocent (Joanna is assured that she doesn’t have to sleep with a client unless she wants to), turns ugly when she’s made into a cheap Sunset Boulevard tart who feels her only escape is to shoot her pimp in the head! Too bad for her that he lives, and the last third of the film explores why she is guilty but innocent. Before you know it, her whoremongering employer (Plank in a wonderfully sexy and menacing turn) is treated as the criminal. Ah, justice.

Spelling was on a roll in 1996, starring in three made for TV movies. Including Co-ed Call Girl, the platinum blonde actress also appeared in Deadly Pursuits and Mother, May I Sleep with Danger. Co-ed Call Girl is the best of the three, thanks to the ludicrous story, energetic pacing and unintentional humor. This made for TV movie is nineties melodrama at its best, featuring bronze lip-liner, big hair, lines like “You only do what your girlfriends do for free,” and a smarmy pimp who ogles Joanna with lust in his eyes—after she’s shot him! There’s nothing here that can’t be criticized and trashed, but would anyone who sat down to see something called Co-ed Call Girl ever take it that seriously? For pure campy entertainment value, this daffy telefilm hits all the right notes.

Co-ed Call Girl was part of a rather schizoid network lineup for the February sweeps. Other escapist fare such as If Looks Could Kill (which aired directly opposite this TVM) were shown along with highly respected productions such as The Boys Next Door and A Brother’s Promise: The Dan Jansen Story. Of course, this TVM garnered some bad press but, like, Mother May I Sleep with Danger, went on to a second life on Lifetime Television. And we are better off for it. [Amanda Reyes]

THE DEATH OF THE INCREDIBLE HULK

Director: Bill Bixby

Starring: Bill Bixby, Lou Ferrigno, Philip Sterling, Elizabeth Gracen.

Airdate: February 18, 1990 Network: NBC

David Banner is working as a janitor at a science institute to gain access to research he believes will rid him of the Hulk. But terrorists intervene.

This third TV movie revival of the classic series starts off far more promisingly than the previous two installments (Return of and Trial of).

Bixby’s David Banner, now calling himself David Bellamy¹, is holding down another job at a state-of-the-art science institute. This time though he’s not employed as a researcher. Masquerading as a simpleton, he’s scrubbing floors and cleaning toilets as the janitor, forever tugging his forelock as senior staffers walk past patting him on the head and throwing him the odd dog biscuit. At night he’s the phantom of the opera, creeping around the deserted institute, not composing music but surreptitiously catching up on (and contributing to) research that’s being carried out by eminent scientist, Dr. Ronald Pratt (Sterling). Banner believes Pratt’s study holds the key to curing him.

When a struggling Dr. Pratt leaves for the day with a half-finished formula etched on the blackboard, Banner sneaks in and completes it. (Yes, it’s Good Will Hunting, seven years early.) After Pratt blows the janitor’s cover, a meeting of minds follows and he and Banner become friends, vowing to work together to get to the bottom of the latter’s problem.

So far, so much better than the last couple of Hulk TVMs.

Of course, something has to come and ruin it, and it arrives in the shape of beautiful spy Jasmin (Gracen), who’s working for some nefarious Russians (or maybe they’re Middle Eastern, whichever race was the most menacing to conservative Americans at the time) and who’s been tasked with stealing Dr. Pratt’s research.

This is where Death of the Incredible Hulk goes off the boil. But at least Bixby enjoys himself. Banner and Jasmin, having turned against her paymasters, go on the run and fall in love. Hiding out from the baddies in an idyllic woodlands cabin, Banner gets Jasmin to take her top off while he treats her wounds. Before you know it they’re getting down to the series’ only sex scene. (Note that Bixby directed this installment himself.)

Elsewhere, there’s the usual shenanigans: sub-James Bond action with screeching cars, Banner getting beaten up and thrown into some cardboard boxes, everyone getting tied up, etc. Obviously the Hulk makes a welcome appearance at these moments, but there isn’t even the scantest of build-up to the transformation. (He comes too quickly, if you will.) And something odd has happened to Lou Ferrigno’s Hulk wig; he looks like a giant green Bee Gee.

The Death of the Incredible Hulk pans out like a below-average, over-padded series episode. At least we get the closure (the clue’s in the title) so sorely missing from the TV series. Even this is perfunctory, but Bixby’s sad death from cancer three years later now lends it extra poignancy. [Julian Upton]

Tori Spelling and her lip liner star in Co-ed Call Girl.

Perry King can’t believe that tiny Tracey Gold is The Face of Evil, but she’ll prove it.

FACE OF EVIL

Director: Mary Lambert

Starring: Tracey Gold, Perry King, Shawnee Smith

Airdate: April 9, 1996 Network: CBS

Attempting to escape her fiancé, a disturbed woman kills a college bound student and assumes her identity.

I have seen the face of evil and it is… Tracey Gold.

No joke.

In Face of Evil the waifish actress plays the maniacal, cold blooded Darcy Palmer, a girl on the run and someone who will do anything to get what she wants. If that means putting acid in someone’s eye drops, so be it! Early on it becomes obvious that Darcy has an ugly and empty core, and perhaps that would seem like tough stuff for such a campy thriller, but Gold is up to the task of making the psycho roommate scenario fresh and interesting.

Through the opening murder, and simply because she just doesn’t seem quite right, Darcy is mapped as a no-frills stereotyped psychopath from the start. However, Gregory Goodell’s script has a few sly moments, taking lengths to keep Darcy’s duplicity not just on target (this ninety-pound darling always comes across as menacing), but extremely fun to watch as well. At one point, Darcy goes as far as to bash in her own fingers to hide the fact that she’s not a violinist!

Like Darcy, the other characters are built on the same typical psycho killer thriller traits that we’ve come to know and either love or revile. There’s Smith as the wallflower, and King, the rich, sensitive love interest. No one sees much in the way of development (although Smith does toughen up for a great good vs. evil smackdown at the end), but Gold is too fabulous as the roommate from hell, and she elevates the treachery and chaos to the next level. Face of Evil manages to endure because the actors take the madcap premise and run with it. It’s so much fun that the viewer may not realize (or maybe they just won’t care) that they have seen it all before.

Face of Evil was met with mixed critical reception, but the film has stood the test of time, finding a new audience on Lifetime and DVD. Director Mary Lambert, probably best known for directing Pet Sematary, has enjoyed a fascinating career that has taken her from music videos (she directed Madonna’s infamous cross burning video, Like A Prayer) into all sorts of other mediums including video games. She’s only dabbled in the made for television genre, but this telefilm and the USA Original My Stepson, My Lover were made a year apart, making this era of her work something of interest. She brings a strong sense of humor and her music video background adds style to the proceedings (the lovely University of Utah stands in for a back east campus located in New Hampshire). In the end, The Face of Evil seeks only to entertain, and delivers on that promise in abundance.

But lesson learned: If you see a tiny Tracey Gold walking down a dark alley one night—go the other way. You have been warned. [Amanda Reyes]

THE FACE ON THE MILK CARTON

Director: Waris Hussein

Starring: Kellie Martin, Sharon Lawrence, Edward Herrmann, Jill Clayburgh

Airdate: May 24, 1995 Network: CBS

A teenager suspects she was kidnapped as a toddler, and embarks on a quest to discover her true identity.

I’ve often wondered if those appeals for missing children on milk cartons ever yield any results. Well, at least in TV movieland, they do. Sixteen-yearold Janie (Martin) spots the photo of a pudding-basined moppet on the side of a carton and (it could only happen in a movie) immediately suspects that she could be that beaming cherub. Now, her parents’ evasiveness over her birth certificate and her flaming red hair all makes sense. Did they kidnap her all those years ago?

The plot, based on a book by Caroline B. Cooney is, truth be told, a little convoluted. The couple Janie thought of as her parents are actually her grandparents and she was kidnapped! Well, once you’ve got that straight, The Face on the Milk Carton is actually a professionally made, well-acted piece of fluff. You can have fun with the sight of Janie’s birth family, with their slightly unconvincing auburn mops and aching sincerity. They are so, so nice, I was half expecting things to go all Rosemary’s Baby—what a TV movie that would be! Will Janie (or Jenny as she’s now called) be able to fit in with her new family? Why is her carrot-topped brother so obnoxious? Speaking from experience: how can a family of redheads venture out in broad daylight to play football without withering under the sun’s rays? The answer to all but one of these questions is given in due course.

Because the film isn’t based on a true story, the storyline has free rein to stray into the realms of improbability or melodrama once or twice. Reunited with her daughter after thirteen years and facing the thought of losing them again, this mother invokes the Old Testament story of Solomon and the two mothers. But who cares, it gives Primetime Emmy Award Nominee Sharon Lawrence a beautifully overwrought scene.

The acting is what makes this film worthwhile. The “Star Name” is probably ER’s Kellie Martin, but she’s ably supported by a slew of TV and film veterans, most notably All My Children’s Richard Masur, who delivers a delicate, sensitive performance despite looking like the eighties British wrestler Giant Haystacks (remember him, grapple fans?).

Films like this are never going to change the world, but when you find an example as well put together as this one, the inevitable bittersweet ending can even move an old cynic like me. [Rich Flannagan]

A FRIEND TO DIE FOR

Director: William A. Graham

Starring: Kellie Martin, Tori Spelling, Terry O’Quinn, Valerie Harper

Airdate: September 26, 1994 Network: NBC

“Fact-based” account of a shy schoolgirl whose obsession with becoming popular leads to murder.

Angela Delvecchio (Martin) is an everyday teenager with high ambitions. She’s scholarly and respected, but what she really wants to be is popular, so she sets about ingratiating herself with the coolest clique in her school, The Larks. The Larks are dominated by cheerleader Stacy Lockwood (Tori Spelling), publicly adored by her friends, but privately loathed by some of them on account of her undue popularity and bitchiness; she personifies the lifestyle that Angela desires. On their way to a party one evening, Angela’s attempt to befriend Stacy fails terribly. Incensed and in fear of humiliation, Angela stabs Stacy to death. In the days and weeks following the incident, the town is in turmoil; grief becomes gossip, fingers are pointed in the wrong direction and the police struggle for evidence that confirms their chief suspect. All the while Angela rises to the social strata she’s always dreamed of, but confronted with her guilt and facing mounting pressure from the authorities, her perfect life soon descends into a nightmare.

A Friend to Die For is a fascinating study, being among that small number of TV movies it seems everyone has seen, and moreover, remembers with a modicum of nostalgia. But conversely, few people are likely to recollect it without their memory first being jogged by its punchy alternate title Death of a Cheerleader (this aka was used in foreign markets and in the US video and rerun releases).

Presented here is a kind of David and Goliath story, with teenagers as the protagonists and social acceptance as the stakes. On one hand, it’s a tale as old as the hills, yet it also addresses contemporary cultural concerns about bullying, peer pressure and the fight to fit in. And, for these reasons, one can assume that it resonated not just with young adults, but with their parents, too.

Tori Spelling, rises to the occasion as the doomed cheerleader, gamely playing up to her public image (as it was back then) of the It girl that everyone loves to hate, and her exit from the movie halfway through leaves the film noticeably less engaging as a result.

Credit should also be given to Kellie Martin; thoroughly convincing as the social climber with a slightly unhinged glint in her eye, but it must be said, she plays it irritatingly whiney when the script demands that she emote the desperate, needy side of her character’s personality. But these are small quibbles for what is otherwise a strong, noteworthy performance.

In regards to the supporting cast, Terry O’Quinn (Lost), who has spent far too much of his career being the best thing about generally lackluster productions, repeats this feat here, whilst Valerie Harper (Rhoda) is shamefully underused in a hardly visible guest role as Angela’s stoic and devoutly religious mother.

Considering it was one of the highest rated TV movies of the 1994/95 season, it should really have been a far more polished production on a technical level. The depiction of the various high school cliques are mind numbingly clichéd and the film drags too long in the second half, dangerously misdirecting its empathy on Angela to the point that a reasonable perspective on her crime, and, unforgivably, sympathy for her victim is all but lost.

The film is easily available on DVD, and for those concerned, the real-life Anegla Delvecchio—Bernadette Protti—was released from prison two years before this film’s release, having killed her classmate Kirsten Costas in 1984. [Kevin Hilton]

FRIENDS ’TIL THE END

Director: Jack Bender

Starring: Shannen Doherty, Jennifer Blanc, Jason London, John Livingston

Airdate: January 20, 1997 Network: NBC

A disturbed would be singer attempts to assume the life of a girl who has the world at her feet.

Friends ’Til the End is a time capsule that captures that era when grunge rock went totally commercial. The movie’s band, Dead Pink (!), is something like Veruca Salt Lite or the Cranberries (not a surprising comparison since the Cranberries supplied some of their music to the soundtrack), and features Doherty brazenly providing her own vocals. I use the word “brazenly” with all due respect, of course. Because, while the music itself is pleasantly diverting, Doherty’s monotone vocals leave just a little to be desired. But don’t you worry, because she and co-star Jennifer Blanc (probably best known for playing the infamous “wheelchair girl” in an episode of Saved by the Bell) are otherwise wonderful in this college set riff on Single White Female.

In this, the first of three telefilms that Shannen Doherty would lead in 1997, she attempts to escape her notorious bad girl image by playing Heather, a sweet natured sorority girl who just happens to be in the coolest band at her college. Unfortunately, despite the group only enjoying a moderate amount of local fame, their success also comes with a dangerously infatuated “fan” named Zanne (Blanc), who is really looking to avenge losing out on a childhood talent pageant to Heather. Obsession, sex and murder all play out in extremely innocuous ways as Zanne systematically destroys everything Heather has built up for herself during her arguably enviable years at college. No man, sexy dress or music video is safe from this strange girl, who, at the end of the film, finds herself curled up on the backstage floor as Heather belts out a tune called Mental Pollution (Does Anybody Hear Me). If that’s not a metaphor for waking up in the post-college world, I don’t know what is.

Essentially a retelling of All About Eve (1950), except with Doc Martens, Doherty is good as the unflappable victim, and makes for an interesting princess in a grunge rock inspired fairy tale, where, no matter what happens, there will always be a man waiting in the wings (and a handy ballad to help win the Battle of the Bands competition). The conflict between Heather and Zanne is fun, if restrained, and it is somewhat curious that by the end of the film no one knows that she has elevated her act from man stealing to murder!

Largely forgotten about until VH1 picked up Friends ’Til the End as part of their Movies that Rock series, it is nothing more than late nineties small screen fluff. But I’d be lying if I didn’t say it is an enjoyable way to kill ninety minutes. The airy pop music, nineties fashion and two talented actresses make this film a fun endeavor. [Amanda Reyes]

THE GIRL NEXT DOOR

Director: David Greene

Starring: Tracey Gold, Sharon Gless, Tom Irwin, Michael Dorn

Airdate: October 20, 1998 Network: CBS

This is the tale of a fragile young woman coerced into committing murder in the name of love—or so she believes.

Tracey Gold has played the victim, the predator, and the hero… you name it. Her baby faced, but world-weary appearance allows her to take on all kinds of melodramatic roles, and although I prefer when she goes a bit psycho, she’s pretty fun at playing other characters too. Unfortunately, in The Girl Next Door she’s about as weak as a wet paper bag, barely finding any real strength at the end. She plays Annie Nolan, a sweet but naïve girl in a bad relationship. A kindly cop named Craig Mitchell (Irwin) appears in her life (but not coincidentally). He’s older, nice and cute, and he finds it rather easy to woo Annie. She soon discovers that Craig is married, but she buys every line he feeds her. He promises he’s in a loveless marriage, but also that he can’t leave because his wife will take the kids. Somehow Craig talks Annie into killing his spouse, and, as luck would have it, she is pretty good at it (finally she’s good at something!). After the murder she moves into Craig’s life in a more public way, but the guilt eats away at her and after some time Annie starts to suspect that she’ll end up as Dead Wife #2.

Written by Mel Frohman, The Girl Next Door is told mostly through flashbacks as Annie recounts her tale to Dr. Gayle Bennett (Gless). The cops are brought in, but since Craig is one of the boys in blue, Annie is reluctant to involve him too much in her confession. It’s common in this sort of domestic thriller for the woman to grow into a stronger person (and, admittedly, in one minor respect she does), but there’s not much of a development here, and in the end it’s all kind of a letdown.

The Girl Next Door would end up being director David Greene’s last film. Greene had a flair for this kind of material, having directed many incredible thrillers such as A Vacation in Hell and Rehearsal for Murder, among others. He was also behind some wonderful dramas as well (Friendly Fire, Roots, etc.), and perhaps that‘s why we end up with such an uneven film here. The Girl Next Door can’t decide whether it wants to be a thriller or a drama and ends up stuck in that gray area in between. It would have worked better as an out and out thriller because the premise is solid, but needs more guts to completely engage its audience. Of course, it does feature tiny Tracey in a ski mask packing heat, so not all is lost. [Amanda Reyes]

THE HAUNTED

Director: Robert Mandel

Starring: Sally Kirkland, Jeffrey DeMunn, Diane Baker, Stephen Markle

Airdate: May 6, 1991 Network: FOX

A religious middle class family battles against demonic forces in this supposedly true tale of good vs. evil.

Shortly following a move into a duplex building in a quiet neighborhood for Jack and Janet Smurl (DeMunn and Kirkland), Janet begins to experience strange occurrences. Although skeptical at first, Jack also begins to fall prey to the sinister presence that is plaguing their new home. Desperate to be rid of whatever demons are lingering, they seek help, but having been dismissed by their church, their remaining hope lies with supernatural investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren (Markle and Baker), who confirm their worst fears— the haunting is real, malicious, and worst of all, maybe unstoppable.

This is a popular and revisited TV movie of the early nineties, being the kind of material that some found scary on first viewing, only to later find that it wasn’t so frightening after all. Is it worthy of its small cult following? No, not really. But that’s not to say it isn’t worth a viewing. There are some interesting sequences—DeMunn’s character being raped by a lunatic apparition will linger in the mind awhile—but for the most part, the haunting scenes are disappointingly generic and tame.

Embracing the limitations (lower budget, low intensity scares) of the medium for which it is intended, the movie wisely attempts to introduce elements of external drama to complement the building’s interior terror plotline. These include Janet’s ostracization from her local church, and also the suggestion that the distress the Smurl family is suffering may actually be the result of unaddressed marriage problems, rather than supernatural forces. However, the handling of these subplots and various teases toward more profound subject matter is clumsy and forced, and as a result, they feel like unwelcome distractions for the lightweight by-the-numbers bump in the night ghost story that lies at the film’s center.

Sally Kirkland, in a Golden Globe nominated performance (which may be praise too far, but still…), is believable in the lead role and certainly deserves fair credit for the carrying and selling all the predictably daft and clichéd spooky shenanigans going on around her. Whereas everyone else (it’s actually a very small cast) look as if they’re simply there to collect a paycheck. This is a shame, since the film, based on so-called true events, introduces us to real-life demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren—a remarkably fascinating duo in real-life, but whose characters here are bland and one-dimensional.

Hardly a hidden gem, The Haunted seems terribly dated, being neither as dark and dirty as the genuinely scary TV movies of the seventies, nor as shamelessly sleazy as some of its contemporaries. It takes itself far too seriously for a film that has little aspiration to shock or enlighten audiences on its theme of supernatural phenomena, but rather, it seems content to do just enough to meet its one-watch-and-then-forget-about-it mandate; which—thanks chiefly to its sensational subject matter and Kirkland’s earnest performance—it manages to do. But only just. [Kevin Hilton]

IN THE DEEP WOODS

Director: Charles Correll

Starring: Anthony Perkins, Rosanna Arquette, Will Patton, D.W. Moffett

Airdate: October 26, 1992 Network: NBC

After her friend is murdered, a woman finds a long list of suspects— a list that includes someone with whom she is in love.

Made for television movies are often reliant on clichés, but the best of them utilize these clichés as a form of shorthand, quickly establishing the archetypical characters that we know and love with the minimum of plot— you can get the idea of an internal family relationship within about ten minutes after the title card, because we’ve known these people in so many films before that a few lines of dialog is all we need.

This shorthand extends to casting as well, very much apparent in In the Deep Woods, the final film of Psycho star Anthony Perkins, airing a month after his death in 1992. Norman Bates may have made Perkins a household name, but it was a performance so iconic that his presence in any film made his character a suspicious one even before he said a word. (This may have inadvertently turned Mahogany [1975] into an edge-of-your-seat thriller.) Casting Perkins as a man who may or may not be responsible for a series of murders? That’s just a gimme, and one that resulted in a vast bulk of Perkins’ roles in the eighties.

It helps that In the Deep Woods is a solid thriller with plenty of twists beyond mere gimmick casting. Perky Rosanna Arquette stars as Joanna Warren, a successful children’s book author whose friend is the latest victim of the Deep Woods Killer, who murders well-regarded women and places their cigarette-burned bodies in the woods. This unfortunate occurrence happens just as Joanna is starting a relationship with wealthy businessman Frank (Moffett), much against the warnings of Frank’s co-worker and Joanna’s brother, Tommy (Christopher Rydell). Her schedule is so busy that police investigator Will Patton can barely work his way in.

Anthony Perkins plays Paul Miller, who claims to be a detective investigating the case at the behest of the family of one of the victims, though his story changes and Joanna becomes increasingly suspicious about the odd character following her. Miller isn’t, of course, the only potential killer in the midst, but the fact that he’s Anthony Perkins is a great red herring. Like the casting of Leonard Nimoy in a “he’s-so-alien-he-can’t-possibly-be-alien” role in 1978’s Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Perkins’ Miller is so suspicious that he’s simultaneously not suspicious at all and potentially the most lethal person on-screen.

It’s par for the course for the film, handled with flair by prolific TV director Charles Correll, with enough twists and turns to cover a half-dozen television movies. Based on a book by Nicholas Conde, In the Deep Woods feels as though it could have been a miniseries: several reliable performers (including a pre-Sabrina Beth Broderick, a pre-Office Amy Ryan and Friday the 13^th: The Final Chapter’s Kimberly Beck) are given relatively short shrift and a couple of plot threads suddenly vanishing into the ether. The results may be a little uneven, but In the Deep Woods is never dull and moves in some unexpected directions, making it a perfectly good little thriller for a low key weekend evening. [Paul Freitag-Fey]

LETHAL VOWS

Director: Paul Schneider

Starring: John Ritter, Marg Helgenberger, Megan Gallagher, Lawrence Dane

Airdate: October 13, 1999 Network: CBS

A well-respected doctor and family man is accused by his ex-wife of murdering his new spouse.

It is inevitable that John Ritter will forever be associated with his Three’s Company alter ego, Jack Tripper, clumsily walking into walls or dancing with a potted plant on his head. But after his long and successful run with the sitcom, Ritter sought out roles that would allow him to shed his comedic persona and play it down, dirty and mean. He was good at it too. One of his most frightening roles came in a Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode titled “Ted,” where he played a menacing cyborg that terrorized Buffy’s family. Ritter also chose several interesting telefilms that allowed him to showcase different sides of his talent, and one film in which he becomes the man to hate: Lethal Vows.

Based on the true story of Dr. Rick Overton, it’s an odd case of a successful sociopath who thought he could get away with anything, including murder (for a more in-depth look at the story, read Final Affair by Frank McAdams and Tim Carney). Here, Overton’s name is changed to Dr. David Farris, and Ritter plays him with a calculated cool. His co-star, Marg Helgenberger completely immerses herself in the role of Ellen, playing an extremely timid woman trying to find the strength to prove that not only is she right about the state of her deteriorating health but also that her respected exhusband is a murderer. (A bit off topic, but her wardrobe is so frumpy that it almost upstages her. At one point she is wearing a long flowing dress… with sneakers! The nineties were tough on everyone.) She and the rest of the cast are uniformly great, but this is definitely Ritter’s movie. His poker-faced performance is dark and ugly. If Lethal Vows portrays the real killer correctly, he was a total egomaniac who thought nothing of human life, only of status.

CBS released Lethal Vows in 1999, toward the end of a decade famous for its disease-of-the-week and true crime television films. The filmmakers do a nifty job of combining both genres and Lethal Vows has since become a mainstay on Lifetime, which has given audiences a second chance to catch Ritter taking on more serious fare. Yes, Ritter will be remembered best for his ability to make people laugh, but he also showed us that we should fear him in Lethal Vows. Now that’s a legacy. [Amanda Reyes]

MIRACLE ON I-880

Director: Robert Iscove

Starring: Ruben Blades, Len Cariou, David Morse, Sandy Duncan

Airdate: February 22, 1993 Network: NBC

After an earthquake collapses a busy California highway, emergency services race against time to save the injured.

Produced by Columbia Pictures Television and helmed by the director of Roller Revolution (1980), here’s a functional retelling of true events that took place in San Francisco on October 17, 1989.

If you can’t recall, a massive earthquake struck the area, cracking roads, damaging buildings, collapsing bridges and destroying the lives of Oakland residents played here by Ruben Blades (Spin), Len Cariou (Drying Up the Streets), Sandy Duncan (Survivor) and the fantastically named Sabrina Wiener (Bad Blood).

Predominantly an inoffensive tale of courage, human resolve, faith and determination in the face of terrible circumstances, you’ll only have a brief introduction to a list of cookie-cut characters before the quake strikes hard, shaking the support legs of Interstate 880—collapsing the double deck highway into a lethal concrete sandwich that has cars, trucks and people for a filling.

On call and hoping to get everyone out alive or dead, complete or not, are doctors David Morse (Hurt Locker) and Jerry Wasserman (I, Robot), a heroic duo who amputate a child’s leg and do their best to treat those trapped under and inside the two tier debris.

Beefed up with decent, but brief, disaster SFX and the inclusion of actual news footage of the genuine calamity, the padded out running time is dotted with daring rescue scenes that will have you rooting for the injured and squashed, although, if you do decide to watch it, be prepared to endure the non-stop, ever so needy music of Lawrence Shragge. [DF Dresden]

MOTHER, MAY I SLEEP WITH DANGER?

Director: Jorge Montesi

Starring: Tori Spelling, Ivan Sergei, Lisa Banes, Lochlyn Munro

Airdate: September 30, 1996 Network: NBC

A too-trusting co-ed courts trouble when she gets involved with a charming killer.

Like the actresses Kellie Martin and Tracey Gold, Tori Spelling created a niche for herself in the made for television movies of the 1990s. These actresses who appeared in TVMs with such sensational titles as Co-ed Call Girl and The Face of Fear found a second life on Lifetime (and are often confused as Lifetime Originals), and they enjoy a ridiculous amount of play on the channel that calls itself Television for Women (or as a good friend of mine clarifies, “It’s not so much television for women as much as it is television not for men”), and because of its outrageous title, Mother, May I Sleep with Danger ranks among the most recognized films in Lifetime’s canon. This was just one of three Spelling telefilms to come out in 1996, but despite its reputation, it ranks at the bottom of the list.

Spelling, following in her father, Aaron Spelling’s lifelong desire to create fun, escapist television, was at the forefront of diverting programming in the nineties. With a few exceptions, she played capricious, but likeable characters who found themselves in sticky situations (she used her wide eyed stares and goofy giggles to great melodramatic effect). Here, the protagonist’s problems lie in a charming psycho (Sergei) who is obsessed with Spelling because of her resemblance to a girl he once loved but had to murder when she wanted to dump him. Spelling’s character sort of has to be stupid to even fall for the handsome but dangerous stranger because he’s obviously disturbed. This is all well and good, but the film derails itself when Spelling takes a 180-degree turn out of nowhere. Moving from puppy dog love to “he’s keeping me a prisoner” in about ten seconds, she quickly hooks up with a new guy to see a grunge-lite band called Rimes with Oranges (you gotta love the nineties!), and then the not-great stalking scenes ensue.

Clockwise from top: Main title for The Face on the Milk Carton; John Ritter pledges Lethal Vows to Marg Helgenberger; and Jennifer Blanc promises to be Friends ’til the End with Shannen Doherty… whether she likes it or not.

The transition is awkward and the ending is completely predictable. Granted, it’s not like there is a huge amount of original women in peril thrillers out there, but whatever was likeable about Spelling to begin with is overshadowed by the realization that she is not only dumb, but her about-face turnaround is forced.

What of her mother, though? While she is prominent in the film, her importance is almost an afterthought. It’s as though someone wrote the movie, thought of the title and then squeezed in the mother to make it fit. Lisa Banes is good in the part, but ultimately Spelling saves her own day, leaving her mother’s detective footwork feeling superfluous. Also, the tension between mother and daughter is played down throughout the film and their “bond” over finally getting rid of Sergei doesn’t serve a purpose. And what of Spelling’s character’s eating disorder and the fact that she is a long distance runner? Both of these interesting traits have disappeared by the end of the film.

I am a fan of Tori’s small screen work, but the more appropriate title of this film should be Mother, May I Sleep with Boredom? There, I said it. See Co-ed Call Girl instead. [Amanda Reyes]

OBSESSED

Director: Jonathan Sanger

Starring: Shannen Doherty, William Devane, Clare Carey, Lois Chiles

Airdate: September 27, 1992 Network: ABC

A cautionary tale about leading on the wrong woman.

Shannen Doherty, in the midst of her infamous turn as the sometimes sweet but wildly emotional Brenda Walsh on the hit nighttime melodrama Beverly Hills, 90210, lands a role that allows her to drop the sweet and speed straight ahead to the emotional part (add psychotic to that list as well). Her character’s May–December romance with the handsome Devane is an instant glimpse into the horrors of the Daddy Complex, but Doherty’s deadpan delivery only heightens the Fatal Attraction rip-off, which, for the most part, delivers.

Lorie (Doherty) is a girl racked with emotional problems, and even at the start of the film it is obvious that there is something not quite right about the flirty young girl. Things quickly turn sour, but Ed (Devane), who considers himself a very nice guy, thinks he’s helping Lorie out by going along with the love charade for as long as he can, most likely because he’s too chicken to dump her (the obvious benefit being that he can have unlimited sex with the gorgeous twenty-something). While this movie is clearly in Ed’s corner, he is not blameless. His daughter Andie (Carey) points out that his fraudulence is only doing Lorie a disservice (and that’s an understatement!). Of course, he’s not setting boats on fire, slitting his wrists or pulling guns on people, but the fact that his behavior is noted as its own form of toxic makes this telethriller a little more likeable and intriguing.

Despite the limitations placed upon the small screen, television has never shied away from creating its own version of the erotic thriller—TV-PG style. For fans of the saucier stuff (Basic Instinct, Night Eyes, et al.), these telefilms are sure to disappoint, but for those who weren’t old enough to watch sex and death in a darkened theater, or have access to late night pay cable, these TVMs often hit an enjoyable note. Although, even by television standards, Obsessed is fairly light—and it is really light in comparison to Doherty’s notorious sex thriller Blindfold: Acts of Obsession (which premiered on Showtime in 1994), and her 1993 Playboy debut—but this soft imitation makes the most of Doherty, and captures the actress when she and her 90210 counterpart were both loved and hated by fans, but—like she hopes Ed realizes—never ignored.

Doherty appeared in a lot of decent TVMs throughout the nineties (and beyond), and there is something so right about her work in these types of straight-faced thrillers. However, in her later work she eschewed the bad girl roles in favor of playing the damsel in distress. More’s the pity, because when Doherty goes from zero to sixty on the insanity scale, she is an absolute blast to watch. [Amanda Reyes]

THE ONLY WAY OUT

Director: Rod Hardy

Starring: John Ritter, Henry Winkler, Stephanie Faracy, Julianne Phillips

Airdate: December 19, 1993 Network: ABC

A woman who finds herself in an abusive relationship turns to her exhusband for help, leading to calamitous consequences.

Funny guys John Ritter and Henry Winkler opted for a change of pace when they took this very-nineties thriller that features Winkler as a truly terrifying sociopath and Ritter as his weak victim. Originally titled Grounds for Murder, The Only Way Out was co-produced by Ritter’s company Adam Productions. He and Winkler had been searching for a project to work on together, and Ritter was as surprised as anyone that their collaboration wound up being a domestic thriller.

Not unlike theatrical releases of this era (Pacific Heights instantly comes to mind), The Only Way Out is structured to play on very real fears using a somewhat over-the-top method. It’s obvious from the start that Winkler is a few bricks short of a full load, yet he ensnares pretty blonde Lynn (Stephanie Faracy, another actor known mostly for comedy). And while it may be easy for the audience to roll their eyes and say they would never find themselves in a similar situation, we also know that Lynn is carrying a lot of responsibility as Ritter’s ex. She’s now a single mom with three kids trying to get a degree in college. Who wouldn’t want a cute and funny guy helping out around the house? He plays up his strange but somewhat charming sense of humor throughout the film, and he also slowly confesses to a tortured past, invoking Lynn’s motherly compassion. What Ritter shakes his head at, she sees almost as a wounded dog, and someone she can take care of.

Ritter is never less likeable than Winkler who instantly smarms the audience, but he’s spineless when it comes to confronting his ex’s abuser (less so when he faces off with Lynn, which may show the type of man she’s attracted to). It’s not until he’s backed into a corner that he can really stand up for himself, and even then, he overreacts and creates a new problem for himself. The dark ending comes as a surprise.

The Only Way Out was met with mixed reviews, although most critics were pleased with both actors, and they especially took a shine to Winkler who is amiable and terrifying at different points in the film. In an interview to promote the telethriller, Ritter stated that this was the third project to come to the duo. The first two were much lighter—a comedy called The Sob Sisters that never went into production, and the dramedy The Boys (1991), which was based on the true story of Columbo’s co-creators, Richard Levinson and William Link (the parts eventually went to James Woods and John Lithgow). Ritter also said that both actors auditioned for the part of bad guy Tony, and it is obvious that the best man won. Ritter is great at playing menacing, as noted in Lethal Vows (1999), but Winkler really sheds his Fonzie skin and brings a sort of deliberate madness that makes him seem all too real.

Less slick than its theatrical counterparts, The Only Way Out is still woefully underrated and deserves a wider audience. [Amanda Reyes]

PROJECT: ALF

Director: Dick Lowry

Starring: Miguel Ferrer, William O’Leary, Jensen Daggett, Martin Sheen

Airdate: February 17, 1996 Network: ABC

Picking up where the series ALF left off, the wisecracking alien finds himself captured by the US government.

The most shocking thing about Project: ALF, the 1996 feature made six years after the ending of the ALF television series, isn’t that the Tanner Family, the band of generic sitcom archetypes that served as a foil to the fuzzy Melmacian’s antics, is nowhere to be seen. (If the behind-the-scenes gossip is to be believed, the actors didn’t care much for being second fiddle to a wisecracking puppet either.) The most shocking thing is that My Favorite Martian star Ray Walston appears as a hotel clerk, and despite several interactions with ALF, there is no reference made to the actor’s most noteworthy alien-centric series.

This is particularly odd because Project: ALF is exactly the sort of movie that loves its quick-witted cultural references. Written by ALF writers Tom Patchett and Paul Fusco, Project: ALF provides references to such timely material as Marion Berry, Jeffrey Katzenberg leaving Disney, “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” and Carl Sagan’s pronunciation of the word “Uranus,” and it’s to the credit of the performers and director Dick Lowry that even the nods to things that might go right over the heads of anyone under the age of thirty still seem funny.

The film picks up shortly after the series left off. ALF is in the hands of the military, and has made quite a life for himself, becoming friends with the troops and starting a gambling ring in his giant suite. Sure, there’s the occasional scientific testing (featuring cameos from Ed Begley, Jr., Charles Robinson and Mama’s Family’s Beverly Archer), but overall, he’s got things under control, so he has to be drugged when well-meaning Captain Mulligan (O’Leary) and Major Hill (Daggett) sneak him off base.

This deception needs to be done, however, because ALF’s life is in danger due to a personal vendetta against aliens harbored by Colonel Milfoil, played by Martin Sheen three years shy of The West Wing. Milfoil wants ALF destroyed, and Mulligan, Hill and ALF do their best to make their way to safety in their form of a former alien expert and creator of passive-aggressive robots Dexter Moyers. This may not be such a good idea, as Moyers is played by Miguel Ferrer, the man who delivers the best-unamused face in film.

Intervening years have turned ALF from a spewer of punchlines to a punchline itself, the embodiment of all things ridiculous and eighties, so it’s easy to forget that ALF was actually a fairly funny, quick-witted show when it wasn’t bogged down in sitcom minutia, and that wit is much more evident here in a feature form without a laugh track. The character of ALF is at his best when everyone else around him is frustrated by his antics, and his gags are meant to be smirked at, not to be met with forced laughter—a fact alluded to in the film with a bit of a meta-gag as ALF mimics the condescending laughter his jokes are greeted by.

Sure, plenty of the gags don’t work, but Lowry’s direction ensures that even a dud doesn’t have much impact on the pace. The same can’t really be said for the “will-they-or-won’t-they” subplot involving Mulligan and Hill, but every time ALF is actually on-screen, Project: ALF delivers. For once, the change in format from sitcom to feature actually benefits the writing, and Project: ALF is a rare case in which the delayed postscript to a television series actually surpasses the series upon which it sprung. [Paul Freitag-Fey]

QUICKSILVER HIGHWAY

Director: Mick Garris

Starring: Christopher Lloyd, Matt Frewer, Raphael Sbarge and Missy Crider

Airdate: May 13, 1997 Network: FOX

On an open stretch of deserted highway, Aaron Quicksilver regales those who enter his curiosity store with macabre tales.

An unremarkable and half-assed attempt to unite contemporary horror fiction’s two heavyweights, Stephen King and Clive Barker, this compendium movie (unambitiously comprised of just two short stories) disappoints from the outset by having selected examples of their weakest works for adaptation.

The first tale, ‘Chattery Teeth,’ taken from King’s collection Nightmares and Dreamscapes, is about a family man who stops by a gas station in the desert and impulse buys a strange novelty toy for his son’s birthday—an oversized pair of metal teeth—only to then immediately pick up a dangerous hitchhiker who is able to outwit the man, but not his fiendish new possession.

As any of his constant readers know, King’s work largely falls into two categories, very good or very bad, and this is an example of the latter. A possessed inanimate object that avenges at his master’s bidding? Come on, this is a retread of Christine, and, being set against the backdrop of a vicious hitchhiker story, it’s suffice to say that this isn’t the master of imagination firing on all cylinders.

Hokey plot elements aside, the hammed-up performances do nothing to endear this instantly forgettable slice of low rate chills that are otherwise best reserved for kiddie-friendly shows like Are You Afraid of the Dark and Eerie, Indiana. Honorable mentions however go out to Veronica Cartwright; excellent in a small role as the gas station owner, and to the glistening set of teeth themselves—a neat looking prop woefully underused in a tired tale that lacks bite.

The second story is derived from Barker’s ‘The Body Politic,’ and is about a doctor whose own hands turn against him, and, once severed from his body, begin a revolution of their own. The tongue-in-cheek handling of the material better suits this tale than the previous one, and although it’s every bit as maudlin, and even as unoriginal as the King yarn, it does boast some relatively fun—if terribly dated—special effects, as an ever growing population of dismembered hands unite for an ill-fated uprising.

Director Mick Garris is used to adapting horror for the small screen, with mixed results, but this is surely the worst of them. The production seems under-budgeted, the screenplay disturbingly unpolished and the acting unforgivably irritating, especially by the usually solid (if rarely impressive) Lloyd; he is given the unenviable task of being the central character in the pointless wraparound that given the film’s title—ironically perhaps (but that’s doubtful)—goes nowhere.

All things considered, Quicksilver Highway is not worth the detour—even for the most discerning fans of horror anthologies. [Kevin Hilton]

REAR WINDOW

Director: Jeff Bleckner

Starring: Christopher Reeve, Daryl Hannah, Robert Forster, Ruben Santiago-Hudson

Airdate: November 22, 1998 Network: ABC

Paralyzed Jason Kemp passes time looking out of his apartment window and becomes convinced that one neighbor is a murderer.

First things first: this new version of Rear Window is inevitably going to be compared to the classic 1954 film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, which starred James Stewart and Grace Kelly. Interestingly, this adaptation, written by Eric Overmyer and Larry Gross, is credited as being based on the original short story by Cornell Woolrich, with no mention of the Hitchcock film. While this new version lacks the thematic depth, quirky humor and unique style of Hitchcock’s original, it is still of interest if viewers can put aside their preconceptions.

Undoubtedly, the chief reason many will watch this version is to see the late Christopher Reeve playing a role that reflected his real-life circumstances. Reeve was always a dignified and strong presence, as shown in his most famous role of Superman, and that quality is evident in his role here as architect Jason Kemp, whose life is devastated by a car accident, but who is determined to overcome adversity. Early on, the viewer is shown how vulnerable Jason is when a “pop off” occurs, with a tiny tube popping out of his breathing apparatus. Not only does this moment show how helpless Jason can be when his lifesaving equipment doesn’t function, it also sets up his vulnerability later in the film.

Soon, Jason is settling into his spacious apartment, with parts of his home controlled by his voice, as he operates a wheelchair—and later a video camera—by breathing through a pipe. When Claudia (Daryl Hannah), a work colleague, enters the picture, she offers Jason the possibility of both a personal relationship and an eager assistant in his sleuthing. While Claudia’s presence mirrors Grace Kelly’s role in the original film, this update also offers Jason a range of equipment to help him in his detective work. The use of computers and video cameras adds another dimension to the story, with the technology becoming an extension of Jason’s character, helping him out in many ways, but also putting him in danger when he uses it to spy.

Visually, the film rarely evokes Hitchcock’s original. Maybe this was a conscious—and perhaps wise—directorial decision by helmer Jeff Bleckner, as any shot even vaguely resembling something by the Master of Suspense may draw unfavorable comparisons and detract from the new story being told. Still, like the original, the scenes with Jason spying on his neighbors are memorable, with one highlight being a woman across the way lighting a cigarette in the dark, looking at Jason, then blowing out the match, creating a ghostly, unsettling image.

Ultimately, this updated film is not Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window, but Christopher Reeve’s Rear Window. Watching the film in 2014, it represents a testament to Reeve’s own life, taking a familiar premise and molding it to fit his personal circumstances. The film is also a moving tribute to a man that embodied an iconic superhero and became a symbol of real-life heroism.² [Martyn Bamber]

THE STEPFORD HUSBANDS

Director: Fred Walton

Starring: Donna Mills, Michael Ontkean, Cindy Williams and Louise Fletcher

Airdate: May 14, 1996 Network: CBS

An unhappily married couple moves to the idyllic Stepford, whose townswomen harbor a secret that has terrifying consequences.

The fourth entry in the original Stepford cycle disappointingly ends the series with a whimper. Arriving nearly ten years after the previous chapter, it’s hard to understand the reasoning behind yet another jaunt to Stepford, and although the switch in gender from wives to husbands has some interesting potential, none of it is explored and even less (especially for those who appreciate continuity in their franchise) is explained.

A relatively starry cast of female veterans familiar from both big screen and small have little to do but reel off hamfisted dialog and knock into each other as mindless exposition turns into badly staged action and back again until events reach a conclusion that is neither satisfying nor logical.

The horror and satirical elements that were integral to the narrative in the original, and then double charged in the sequel, were severely watered down in the third movie, and are all but nonexistent in this episode. As a result, the plot unwinds with the sapped enthusiasm of a standup comic setting up jokes that the audience already knows the punch line to. It’s a sad demise to what could have been a return to greatness.

At the helm of this wasted opportunity is director Fred Walton, a journeyman in the made for TV thriller—but certainly no hack—responsible for some truly exceptional output that includes the original theatrical release When a Stranger Calls (1979), its belated small screen sequel When a Stranger Calls Back (1993) and the daft but fairly enjoyable Trapped (1989).

At the time of writing, The Stepford Husbands remains his last foray behind the camera, leading one to presume (perhaps wrongly) that the movie was as joyless to make as it is to watch.

All things considered, the Stepford saga remains a fun and unjustly neglected curiosity for fans of the original movie. Classics they ain’t, and oftentimes their low budget reveals their limitations, but for followers of such things, it’s all part of their charm. Viewed back to back (which isn’t necessarily advisory), it’s a terribly uneven series of films—and fashions! But for the most part, is still vastly more enjoyable than the 2004 mega budget remake that served only to make the Stepford title mud in Hollywood, and quite possibly the reason why these titles remain so hard to find on current formats. [Kevin Hilton]

TWILIGHT ZONE: ROD SERLING’S LOST CLASSICS

Director: Robert Markowitz

Starring: James Earl Jones, Amy Irving, Gary Cole, Patrick Bergin, Jack Palance

Airdate: May 19, 1994 Network: CBS

Two new stories from The Twilight Zone. In one, a woman sees her life on the big screen, in the other a doctor makes a death defying discovery.

These two new stories by Rod Serling, creator of the classic original anthology Twilight Zone TV series (1959–64), were produced between the two revivals of the show in the eighties (1985–89) and the noughties (2002–03). While not as gripping, moving or surprising as many tales from the classic era of the show when Serling was involved, these two resurrected stories are still fascinating examples of how The Twilight Zone can be updated for viewers, as well as being items of historical interest, representing hitherto unseen examples of Serling’s work.

The first story, ‘The Theater,’ is a teleplay by Richard Matheson (writer of many classic Twilight Zone episodes), based on a story by Serling. Both Amy Irving and Gary Cole are strong leads, but the intriguing premise feels underdeveloped and consequently there is not much for the actors to work with. ‘The Theater’ is the shorter of the two tales, and while many original episodes benefitted from being thirty minutes or less, this seems too short to fully explore its central idea. Perhaps a longer running time and an expansion of the core theme, that of someone’s life passing them by and experiencing more from films than they do in their own life, would have been more effective. The ethereal, almost otherworldly setting of the movie theatre is spooky, but it feels too isolated from the rest of the locations depicted in the story, which are more realistic.

‘Where the Dead Are,’ written by Serling, is the stronger story, with the expressive lighting and eerie feel seeming less self-conscious and distracting in the period setting of 1800s Boston. Patrick Bergin stars as the obsessed professor has an intensity that suits the role, while Jack Palance embodies a strong willed character of a doctor who is nevertheless exhausted by the knowledge of what he has done. Palance’s doctor has found a way to extend life, which initially is interpreted as a blessing but is actually a curse; both for him and for the people he apparently saved.

Intriguingly, both stories share common threads; those of living one’s life to the full and of the inability to cheat death. While the absence of Serling’s iconic on-screen introductions and voiceovers is keenly felt, James Earl Jones has a natural authoritative presence and memorable voice as the host. Both stories feel like morality tales from a bygone era, like many of the episodes from the original series. This is not a criticism, though; just an observation that this type of storytelling, and its presentation in an anthology format, is a rarity on contemporary television. While there seem to be rumors of a new The Twilight Zone film every so often, the format could still work on the small screen. Perhaps a series of TV movies, with a new creative team honoring Serling’s intentions, could follow the example of this pair of stories and update the show for a new generation.³ [Martyn Bamber]

TWISTED DESIRE

Director: Craig R. Baxley

Starring: Melissa Joan Hart, Jeremy Jordan, Daniel Baldwin, Meadow Sisto

Airdate: May 13, 1996 Network: NBC

A teenage girl convinces her boyfriend to murder her parents.

Jennifer Stanton (Hart) is a spoiled teenager with a domineering father and a submissive mother. Bound by what she perceives to be unfair curfews and prudish behavior, she struggles to keep up with the in-crowd at her school, and as a consequence, is dumped by her boyfriend. Hopelessly distraught, she secretly begins to defy her parents, lying about her whereabouts and her out of school activities. Her increasingly reckless behavior leads to a chance meeting with Nick (Jordan)—a local ex-criminal—and the two begin a romantic relationship that is brought suddenly to a halt when they are found sleeping together in her parents’ bed. Outraged, her father forbids them from seeing each other. However, this decision has devastating consequences, for at Jennifer’s bidding, Nick murders her parents in cold blood. But as one problem is solved, new threats to their happiness emerge, and suddenly it seems that young Jennifer is far more cunning than her friends, lovers and even the police, could possibly imagine.

Easily watchable but just as easily forgettable, the only unpredictable element in this rigidly by-the-numbers made for TV true-life thriller is just how stupid everyone is. The setup, murder and the aftermath are so mind numbingly simplistic that one wonders how the real world perpetrators of the crime never stopped and said to themselves, “Wait! This feels too much like something I’ve seen on daytime TV.” In fact, like the horror movie Scream released the same year, so familiar are the sequence of events and dramatic twists and turns that it’d be nice to believe that the movie isn’t plainly run of the mill, but is actually more clever and subtly self-referencing. But I don’t think that’s the case.

Melissa Joan Hart, playing against type as the bad girl, is underwhelming, being too bratty to earn our sympathies as the innocent teen in the first act, and then later on, simply isn’t vampy enough to convince as the poisonous femme fatale that the rest of the film’s narrative demands.

Jeremy Jordan on the other hand is affecting as the loner from the wrong side of the tracks. His is a portrait of a rebel—not so much without a cause, but without a clue or even one iota of commonsense to see the lurking trouble so obviously in wait. But in the end, his characterization is letdown by clumsy writing that tries to make the audience forget that this person killed two innocent people and, instead, begs for us to see him as some sort of lovelorn dupe.

In regards to the technical talent, there are some pretty impressive hands on deck. Most notable is the writing team of Carey and Chad Hayes, the brothers behind recent big screen fare such as House of Wax (2005), Whiteout (2009) and their most successful effort to date (and also based on a true story), The Conjuring (2013). Furthermore, one time stuntman turned director Craig R. Baxley boasts a very strong résumé himself, his earliest efforts including such cult favorites as Action Jackson (1988), Dark Angel (1990), and Stone Cold (1991). However, he has primarily settled into working on small screen projects.

It’s an engaging story, worthy of a TV movie and worthy of your time, but having said that, it’s a little too daft a little too often, and given the pedigree of those involved, should really be better. [Kevin Hilton]

 

1This is enough in itself to warrant an amused snort from British viewers of a certain age. Britain’s David Bellamy was an eccentric TV naturalist with a speech impediment that was once part of every amateur impressionist’s repertoire.

2For further reading, visit Christopher Reeve Homepage, www.chrisreevehomepage.com/mrearwindow.html. Accessed Aug 4, 2014.

3For further reading, visit The Twilight Zone Archives, www.twilightzone.org/index2.html. Accessed Aug 4, 2014.