Made-for-TV movies are all a sort of junk food in the movie genre, but you can easily classify them into two types... ones that resolve themselves satisfactorily, and ones that are aggravating to watch. This is the second type.
*SPOILERS AHEAD*
First, let me be positive and say that the acting wasn't entirely ridiculous... and Marne Patterson makes a good villain. I can't fault the plot entirely, because the movie was based on a true story... yet the movie still manages to suck based on how the plot was rearranged and how the true story was structured.
Good thriller-stalker movies play out like "Fear" or "Fatal Attraction". Sure, the main characters go through pain, but the villain always gets what is coming to them. Of those kind of movies, the annoyance factor depends on how believable and/or intelligent the protagonist(s) is(are).
However, this is more of a "True story about a terrible tragedy + thriller" kind of movie. TV movies almost exclusively fill out this subgenre of thrillers. There's a reason that major motion pictures are not about innocent people that get murdered by people who eventually get caught and sent to jail. Because people would be disgusted leaving the theater. At least on cable TV, there's always gonna be people too lazy to change the channel once the movie is going.
You can make a movie about murderers who kill bad people, or about murderers who kill innocent people but then get killed themselves by a hero, or perhaps you can go the "Natural Born Killers" route and make a movie about murderers who get away in the end. Likewise, you can make a movie about a good guy who dies in the end, like "Braveheart" or "American Beauty", but the resolution has to be happy somehow... both of those movies managed to do that through plot devices (William Wallace died heroically and the armies charged in his honor at the end; Lester Burnham softened the audience at the beginning of the movie with the news of his impending death and then managed to make us feel happy for him at the end of the movie).
You CANNOT, though, make the good guys walk right into the hands of the villains for a whole movie, have the villains get their way eventually at the expense of the good guys, and then simply have the villains go to jail for the crime. It's an empty way to end a movie, and it only serves to get people angry. But TV movies do this repeatedly, and this is one of those movies that does that.
Of course, if you know where the plot goes, and you can't avoid that ending, then the people behind the movie (writers, directors, producers, editors) should be held accountable if the movie has a bad ending. There are ways to deal with bad endings that can still leave a good taste in the audience's mouths. However, this movie simply makes all the good guys miserable and defeated, with the villain only getting the "criminal justice" type of retribution. Simply imagine "Fatal Attraction" ended with Glenn Close killing Michael Douglas, and then the movie ends with her trial, a "guilty" sentence, and a shot of her behind bars being unapologetic . Yea, that's what happens here.
At least the "Amazing Grace" montage is done well, but that was around the point in the movie where I was thinking "This stupid movie now has no chance to redeem itself." Again, it's based on a true story, but it's a true story told badly.
Just about as bad as the main resolution of the plot for the major characters is the resolution for the supporting cast. Basically, you have a bunch of good people standing around feeling guilty and empty because of their tragic loss. Bleh.
And to further the insult to the audience, the climax is carried out OFF camera... and then shown to us later as a collection of dispersed gory scenes! What a horrible thing to do to the audience! I mean, it's supposed to really deliver the point of the movie for it's dumb resolution, but that doesn't make the resolution better, and it only makes the tragedy worse.
Of course, if you're like me at all, you'll get sucked into the movie when it's just beginning, you'll follow it along, then you'll get increasingly angry at the villain, and finally you'll watch in disgust as the movie carries out its plan to show you a tragic story where everyone loses, and loses big. There's a few good things interspersed, and the movie isn't ALL bad for a TV movie, but be prepared for the fact that this is a movie with no heroes, only victims and a villain. Stories like these should be left to "Dateline NBC".
*SPOILERS AHEAD*
First, let me be positive and say that the acting wasn't entirely ridiculous... and Marne Patterson makes a good villain. I can't fault the plot entirely, because the movie was based on a true story... yet the movie still manages to suck based on how the plot was rearranged and how the true story was structured.
Good thriller-stalker movies play out like "Fear" or "Fatal Attraction". Sure, the main characters go through pain, but the villain always gets what is coming to them. Of those kind of movies, the annoyance factor depends on how believable and/or intelligent the protagonist(s) is(are).
However, this is more of a "True story about a terrible tragedy + thriller" kind of movie. TV movies almost exclusively fill out this subgenre of thrillers. There's a reason that major motion pictures are not about innocent people that get murdered by people who eventually get caught and sent to jail. Because people would be disgusted leaving the theater. At least on cable TV, there's always gonna be people too lazy to change the channel once the movie is going.
You can make a movie about murderers who kill bad people, or about murderers who kill innocent people but then get killed themselves by a hero, or perhaps you can go the "Natural Born Killers" route and make a movie about murderers who get away in the end. Likewise, you can make a movie about a good guy who dies in the end, like "Braveheart" or "American Beauty", but the resolution has to be happy somehow... both of those movies managed to do that through plot devices (William Wallace died heroically and the armies charged in his honor at the end; Lester Burnham softened the audience at the beginning of the movie with the news of his impending death and then managed to make us feel happy for him at the end of the movie).
You CANNOT, though, make the good guys walk right into the hands of the villains for a whole movie, have the villains get their way eventually at the expense of the good guys, and then simply have the villains go to jail for the crime. It's an empty way to end a movie, and it only serves to get people angry. But TV movies do this repeatedly, and this is one of those movies that does that.
Of course, if you know where the plot goes, and you can't avoid that ending, then the people behind the movie (writers, directors, producers, editors) should be held accountable if the movie has a bad ending. There are ways to deal with bad endings that can still leave a good taste in the audience's mouths. However, this movie simply makes all the good guys miserable and defeated, with the villain only getting the "criminal justice" type of retribution. Simply imagine "Fatal Attraction" ended with Glenn Close killing Michael Douglas, and then the movie ends with her trial, a "guilty" sentence, and a shot of her behind bars being unapologetic . Yea, that's what happens here.
At least the "Amazing Grace" montage is done well, but that was around the point in the movie where I was thinking "This stupid movie now has no chance to redeem itself." Again, it's based on a true story, but it's a true story told badly.
Just about as bad as the main resolution of the plot for the major characters is the resolution for the supporting cast. Basically, you have a bunch of good people standing around feeling guilty and empty because of their tragic loss. Bleh.
And to further the insult to the audience, the climax is carried out OFF camera... and then shown to us later as a collection of dispersed gory scenes! What a horrible thing to do to the audience! I mean, it's supposed to really deliver the point of the movie for it's dumb resolution, but that doesn't make the resolution better, and it only makes the tragedy worse.
Of course, if you're like me at all, you'll get sucked into the movie when it's just beginning, you'll follow it along, then you'll get increasingly angry at the villain, and finally you'll watch in disgust as the movie carries out its plan to show you a tragic story where everyone loses, and loses big. There's a few good things interspersed, and the movie isn't ALL bad for a TV movie, but be prepared for the fact that this is a movie with no heroes, only victims and a villain. Stories like these should be left to "Dateline NBC".