"A Mother's Nightmare" was one of the most unpleasant film viewing experiences imaginable. Instead of exploring a premise of the perils of being a foster child, the film depicts the horrors inflicted on innocent young men by an orphan who should have been certified as clinically insane.
Vanessa Redlann had a fetish for luring teenage boys into unhealthy relationships. Two of the young men, Kale and Randy, died by suicide at the close of the associations with Vanessa. Her modus operandi is to entice the boys with promises of love, give them her father's ring, and coax them into taking their own lives by hanging themselves.
The main narrative of the film focuses on Vanessa getting her clutches into young Chris Stewart. The high school track star is eventually dropped from the team when Vanessa persuades Chris to spend time with her after school. She also takes advantage of the alcohol dependency issues that run in Chris's family in order to get him drunk and to pass out. On one occasion when she felt slighted, she filed rape charges against him. The final stretch of the film occurs in a park where Vanessa assists a drugged Chris in cutting his wrists.
The most important character in the film is the devoted mother of Chris. Maddie Stewart is tenacious in finding out the truth about Vanessa, who she learns suffers from "delusional disorder" with an obsession about death. For an inexplicable reason, that information was "sealed" and not disclosed to Vanessa's current foster parents, the personnel at Fairview Heights High School, or to the police.
While the love of a mother for her child was sincerely developed, the film as a whole was a depressing experience with little in the way of redeeming humanistic value. If there is a lesson to be learned, it is the clear and present danger of hanging out with Vanessa.
Vanessa Redlann had a fetish for luring teenage boys into unhealthy relationships. Two of the young men, Kale and Randy, died by suicide at the close of the associations with Vanessa. Her modus operandi is to entice the boys with promises of love, give them her father's ring, and coax them into taking their own lives by hanging themselves.
The main narrative of the film focuses on Vanessa getting her clutches into young Chris Stewart. The high school track star is eventually dropped from the team when Vanessa persuades Chris to spend time with her after school. She also takes advantage of the alcohol dependency issues that run in Chris's family in order to get him drunk and to pass out. On one occasion when she felt slighted, she filed rape charges against him. The final stretch of the film occurs in a park where Vanessa assists a drugged Chris in cutting his wrists.
The most important character in the film is the devoted mother of Chris. Maddie Stewart is tenacious in finding out the truth about Vanessa, who she learns suffers from "delusional disorder" with an obsession about death. For an inexplicable reason, that information was "sealed" and not disclosed to Vanessa's current foster parents, the personnel at Fairview Heights High School, or to the police.
While the love of a mother for her child was sincerely developed, the film as a whole was a depressing experience with little in the way of redeeming humanistic value. If there is a lesson to be learned, it is the clear and present danger of hanging out with Vanessa.