I picked up this DVD for a cheap price and love any movie which deals with adoption issues. The movie was exciting and well acted with some good dialog with black humor and some shocking scenes.Donald Sutherland was as always very good.I thought Lesley Ann Warren who played the unsuspecting birth mom did a good job expressing her emotions about her past and the secret she never told her husband.It is the first movie i've seen Christian Tessier who plays "Chris",and even though he only had a small role,I liked him and don't know why he's not in more films.William McNamara was very convincing in this film as "Jeremy" an angry adoptee who wreaked havoc on his blood relatives and their family.He looked so innocent but had no conscience,and gave a realistic and chilling performance.This film showed every negative aspect and emotion of being an adopted person. Everything from anger of being abandoned to genetic sexual attraction.Of course this is only a fictitious movie and not the reality of most adoptees. The end credits gave it's statistics about how troubled adopted kids are or can be,and gave extreme examples.I am adopted and understand how it feels to grow up with it.I was lucky to have a loving and supportive adoptive family and a good upbringing and this isn't always the case.However I still suffered the stigma of it and had my issues with it like we all do.The main problem I have with this movie was at the end where it boldly says that in most places adoption records are sealed.I found that offensive because the majority of searching adoptees want their medical info and wanna know where they came from(what their roots are)and have a right to know.This movie was made 11 years ago but today records are finally being opened more and more. I did enjoy the movie,but feel it was a bad representation of an adopted person.Still it is a very dramatic experience from all sides and there should be more movies about it.
7 Reviews
Fairly engaging, yet derivative thriller
vidalia153 November 2001
Natural Enemy is not unlike a plethora of similar revenge type of movies involving a character with considerable "damaged goods" out to destroy those he feels is responsible for his twisted state.
Here, William McNamara is the son of adopted parents who abused him and apparently ruined his life. To retaliate, McNamara has tracked down his natural parents and slowly begins to ruin their lives.
While the story is uninspired, it does move at a fairly fast pace. While McNamara does not possess the emotional range of many other actors in his age group, he is fairly convincing here and does send a few chills our way.
Perhaps the most disappointing element of the film is that, in its own way, it tries to shed light on the fact that many adopted children often grow up to be emotionally scarred for life, if not worse, (McNamara's character being an extreme example.) Although this is a noble undertaking, we can't respect the movie enough to care about this aspect of it. In addition, the movie falls way too short of taking itself seriously enough to double as a legitimate "message picture" in this regard.
Ultimately, we are left with not a whole lot to think about.
Here, William McNamara is the son of adopted parents who abused him and apparently ruined his life. To retaliate, McNamara has tracked down his natural parents and slowly begins to ruin their lives.
While the story is uninspired, it does move at a fairly fast pace. While McNamara does not possess the emotional range of many other actors in his age group, he is fairly convincing here and does send a few chills our way.
Perhaps the most disappointing element of the film is that, in its own way, it tries to shed light on the fact that many adopted children often grow up to be emotionally scarred for life, if not worse, (McNamara's character being an extreme example.) Although this is a noble undertaking, we can't respect the movie enough to care about this aspect of it. In addition, the movie falls way too short of taking itself seriously enough to double as a legitimate "message picture" in this regard.
Ultimately, we are left with not a whole lot to think about.
Mother's Day
sol121819 February 2006
**SPOILERS** With a much better then average cast, for a straight to Video movie, you would have expected the film "Natural Enemy" to be a lot better then it actually is but only ends up just being just another psycho with an grudge flick that has young William MaNamara as stock market whiz kid Jeremy Harper out to get even with those who abandoned and kicked him around.
After murdering a number of people including his both adopted and surrogate fathers by setting them on fire as well as having his natural dad, who's young wife Jeremy was having an affair with, murdered by hanging him on the chandlers of his home this out of control psychotic sociopath ends up getting nailed in the end by Chris, Christian Tessier; who unknown to him happens to be Jeremy's step or half-brother.
With his mother 17 and pregnant in high school she has her new born child, Jeremy, given away to an orphanage. It's there where Jeremy ends up being adopted by some three different sets of parents, one of whom he sets on fire at the beginning of the movie. Jeremy always wanted to get to meet his real mother and show her just what he thought and felt about her and after years of searching that magic day was about to come true.
Reaching adulthood the psychotic young man plans a get together with his real mom the now Sandy Robards, Lesley Ann Warren, that's to take place on his 25th birthday the following Saturday November 30th. Jeremy plans give her a Mother's Day present that she'll never ever forget even if it kills him and her.
Working like a maniac studying finance and the world of stocks and bonds Jeremy becomes a market genius graduating at the top of his class at the prestigious Harvard Business School. All this hard work is so that Jeremy can get close to him mom and her husband Ted Robards, Donald Sutherland, who's a stock broker and what better way to do that then he himself be a big wig and expert in the stock market and end up working for Ted. Getting a job with Donald's firm for half the salary that he could normally get anywhere else Jeremy want's to destroy Donald's business and his wife's Sandy's home life like he feels that Sandy destroyed his life by abandoning him as an infant.
Worming his way into the Robards home as well as his business, like a rat gnawing through a cement wall, Jeremy is now in the perfect position to do what he was planning to do for so many years: get even and get even BIG for what Sandy did to him.
I for one was shocked not only to see beautiful Tia Carrere have such a small part in the film as the missing and adopted child investigator Christina D'Amello but also get killed off so early without ever being giving a chance to show off her breathtaking natural and physical attributes to an eager audience just dying to see them.
Jeremy as sick as a man infected with rabies and on crack/cocaine plus LSD added into the mix goes out to break Ted financially by making it look like he's hiding something from the FBI and Securities and Exchange Commission investigators. That sleazy action by Jeremy has the poor and confused man blackballed out of the stock brokerage industry.
Jeremy murders both his natural father Stanley Knox ,Viasta Vrana, whom he also destroyed financially and his fathers young wife as well as Jeremy's mistress Gina ,Lenore Zann. It's then that this low-life creep also has to murder the gorgeous and unsuspecting Christina D'Amello who's body he threw down a garbage disposal shoot after having the whole sick and disgusting event secretly video taped in order to show and "impress" his natural mom Sandy.
On the eve of his birthday, November 30, Jeremy planned to have his mother Sandy murdered for all the pain and suffering, that's only inside Jeremy's sick and diseased mind, that she caused him after having already murdered her husband Ted. Jeremy made just one big mistake that brought his demented and insane plan to a complete halt and turned him into a king size pin cushion. The lowlife murdering creep decided not to murder his wimpy half-brother Chris but to torture and humiliate him instead! It was that sadistic streak in him that put Jeremy Harper away for good in a place where he can't hurt or murder anyone anymore.
After murdering a number of people including his both adopted and surrogate fathers by setting them on fire as well as having his natural dad, who's young wife Jeremy was having an affair with, murdered by hanging him on the chandlers of his home this out of control psychotic sociopath ends up getting nailed in the end by Chris, Christian Tessier; who unknown to him happens to be Jeremy's step or half-brother.
With his mother 17 and pregnant in high school she has her new born child, Jeremy, given away to an orphanage. It's there where Jeremy ends up being adopted by some three different sets of parents, one of whom he sets on fire at the beginning of the movie. Jeremy always wanted to get to meet his real mother and show her just what he thought and felt about her and after years of searching that magic day was about to come true.
Reaching adulthood the psychotic young man plans a get together with his real mom the now Sandy Robards, Lesley Ann Warren, that's to take place on his 25th birthday the following Saturday November 30th. Jeremy plans give her a Mother's Day present that she'll never ever forget even if it kills him and her.
Working like a maniac studying finance and the world of stocks and bonds Jeremy becomes a market genius graduating at the top of his class at the prestigious Harvard Business School. All this hard work is so that Jeremy can get close to him mom and her husband Ted Robards, Donald Sutherland, who's a stock broker and what better way to do that then he himself be a big wig and expert in the stock market and end up working for Ted. Getting a job with Donald's firm for half the salary that he could normally get anywhere else Jeremy want's to destroy Donald's business and his wife's Sandy's home life like he feels that Sandy destroyed his life by abandoning him as an infant.
Worming his way into the Robards home as well as his business, like a rat gnawing through a cement wall, Jeremy is now in the perfect position to do what he was planning to do for so many years: get even and get even BIG for what Sandy did to him.
I for one was shocked not only to see beautiful Tia Carrere have such a small part in the film as the missing and adopted child investigator Christina D'Amello but also get killed off so early without ever being giving a chance to show off her breathtaking natural and physical attributes to an eager audience just dying to see them.
Jeremy as sick as a man infected with rabies and on crack/cocaine plus LSD added into the mix goes out to break Ted financially by making it look like he's hiding something from the FBI and Securities and Exchange Commission investigators. That sleazy action by Jeremy has the poor and confused man blackballed out of the stock brokerage industry.
Jeremy murders both his natural father Stanley Knox ,Viasta Vrana, whom he also destroyed financially and his fathers young wife as well as Jeremy's mistress Gina ,Lenore Zann. It's then that this low-life creep also has to murder the gorgeous and unsuspecting Christina D'Amello who's body he threw down a garbage disposal shoot after having the whole sick and disgusting event secretly video taped in order to show and "impress" his natural mom Sandy.
On the eve of his birthday, November 30, Jeremy planned to have his mother Sandy murdered for all the pain and suffering, that's only inside Jeremy's sick and diseased mind, that she caused him after having already murdered her husband Ted. Jeremy made just one big mistake that brought his demented and insane plan to a complete halt and turned him into a king size pin cushion. The lowlife murdering creep decided not to murder his wimpy half-brother Chris but to torture and humiliate him instead! It was that sadistic streak in him that put Jeremy Harper away for good in a place where he can't hurt or murder anyone anymore.
WHY do they make movies like this??
nytebyte10 October 2001
This is one of the most hateful and cruel movies I've seen in a long time. Sadly I was duped into sticking with it, since Donald Sutherland's presence misleadingly gave it some credibility. [That's the last time that'll happen.]
Lesley Ann Warren's character was annoyingly whiny and as stupid as they come. There were smarter characters than hers who were killed in the film. Thats just one of many things in this movie that made me ask, "Where is the justice?"
Why is late-night cable so filled with sadistic garbage filled with pathological mayhem? Most of these films seem to have a particular problem with women, and seem to focus on them being terrorized and murdered. This film could have been every bit as suspenseful without being sick and twisted in the process. All it ends up doing is turning the viewer's stomach with its sickness, and insulting the viewer's intelligence.
The cast is misleadingly good. My guess is that they BAGGED Sutherland first, and used him to lure the others like lemmings into this.
I'm kicking myself for wasting time, giving this piece of garbage a chance.
Lesley Ann Warren's character was annoyingly whiny and as stupid as they come. There were smarter characters than hers who were killed in the film. Thats just one of many things in this movie that made me ask, "Where is the justice?"
Why is late-night cable so filled with sadistic garbage filled with pathological mayhem? Most of these films seem to have a particular problem with women, and seem to focus on them being terrorized and murdered. This film could have been every bit as suspenseful without being sick and twisted in the process. All it ends up doing is turning the viewer's stomach with its sickness, and insulting the viewer's intelligence.
The cast is misleadingly good. My guess is that they BAGGED Sutherland first, and used him to lure the others like lemmings into this.
I'm kicking myself for wasting time, giving this piece of garbage a chance.
Doesn't anyone read the script before signing up?
smatysia27 November 2006
I won't mention any of the plot, because, although it would be highly predictable anyway, the one notable plot twist is given away everywhere, in the movie comments, in the plot summary here, and even in the synopsis on my Netflix envelope. I might have enjoyed it more if I hadn't known that. Maybe. This film has a deceptively good cast, most of whom did creditable acting with the rather limited material at hand, including Donald Sutherland, Lesley Ann Warren, and Tia Carrere and Rosemary Dunsmore in smaller parts. It was impossible to like William McNamara, but that was clearly by design. And there were a couple of quick nude scenes by the callipygian Lenore Zann. But none of this brings the slightest recommendation from me. Don't any of these fine actors actually read these scripts before signing on?
Fatal adoption.
mark.waltz4 January 2023
Warning: Spoilers
This is a fascinatingly campy bad thriller, reminding me of those types of movies that started with 1981's "The Fan" and continued later in the decade and beyond with films like "The Hand That Rocks the Cradle", "The Temp" and "Sleeping with the Enemy", films that were a bit different from neo noir like "Body Heat", "Fatal Attraction" and "Basic Instict". It's delightfully trashy in its unrealistic approach to the subject matter of how an adoptee reacts upon discovering who his real mother is. William McNamara is a fantastic villainous psychopath, somehow managing to get a job with broker dealer Donald Sutherland and insinuating his way into the life of his family which includes second wife Lesley Anne Warren and a son from previous marriage (Christian Tessier). But it's obvious from the start that he intends on destroying everything good about that family even though apparently he had a good family life with the people who adopted him. This leads to several very shocking murders, some of which are very disturbing in the way they are presented and one sick twist that is truly deranged.
I couldn't help but the intrigued and how this was unfolding, as McNamara goes from sweet and charming, smart and seemingly dedicated, to finally very dangerous. Lenore Zann is appropriately trashy as his oversexed girlfriend, while Rosemary Dunsmore is very funny as Warren's old pal from high school, expressing a lust for McNamara, while Tia Carrare gets in on the action as an investigator of adoptions for parents wanting to find their adopted children and adopted children wanting to find their real parents. This film has some moments that definitely keep the audience interested, but there are many elements that are eye-rolling, and others that will make other viewers despise it with all the fiber of their being. But for those who can get past all the elements of absurdity, it's an enjoyable if extraordinarily farfetched thriller that can only end one way. Perhaps the writer saw the classic Greek play "Oedipus Rex" too many times and decided to take their own twist on it. Looking at it from that aspect, I found this absolutely delightfully demented, with Sutherland and Warren managing to make interesting characters who become unknowing victims to a fascinating over-the-top psycho.
I couldn't help but the intrigued and how this was unfolding, as McNamara goes from sweet and charming, smart and seemingly dedicated, to finally very dangerous. Lenore Zann is appropriately trashy as his oversexed girlfriend, while Rosemary Dunsmore is very funny as Warren's old pal from high school, expressing a lust for McNamara, while Tia Carrare gets in on the action as an investigator of adoptions for parents wanting to find their adopted children and adopted children wanting to find their real parents. This film has some moments that definitely keep the audience interested, but there are many elements that are eye-rolling, and others that will make other viewers despise it with all the fiber of their being. But for those who can get past all the elements of absurdity, it's an enjoyable if extraordinarily farfetched thriller that can only end one way. Perhaps the writer saw the classic Greek play "Oedipus Rex" too many times and decided to take their own twist on it. Looking at it from that aspect, I found this absolutely delightfully demented, with Sutherland and Warren managing to make interesting characters who become unknowing victims to a fascinating over-the-top psycho.
Honest, real awfulness
nzpedals26 October 2016
Warning: Spoilers
A text message at the very end, after the credits, tells us that adopted children get psychiatric problems a lot more than others.
I wish I had seen that before the starting to watch - the early scenes show some really awful stuff.
When she was 17, Sandy (Leslie Ann Warren) gave birth to Jeremy (William McNamara) but gave him up for adoption. The very first scene shows him setting fire to one of his adoptive parents! Much later, he says he has spent his whole life trying to understand why he wasn't good enough to keep.
Inspite of the awfulness throughout the movie, it does raise all sorts of issues and deals with them well. It does help to have faultless acting from the whole cast, and excellent production and direction and appropriate locations - mainly a stunning house somewhere in Montreal (although the story says Boston and Dover.)
I found it so hard to give a rating. Awfulness usually gets a 1 from me, but a second watching after reading the end message, requires a big rethink, so now it's a 9.
I wish I had seen that before the starting to watch - the early scenes show some really awful stuff.
When she was 17, Sandy (Leslie Ann Warren) gave birth to Jeremy (William McNamara) but gave him up for adoption. The very first scene shows him setting fire to one of his adoptive parents! Much later, he says he has spent his whole life trying to understand why he wasn't good enough to keep.
Inspite of the awfulness throughout the movie, it does raise all sorts of issues and deals with them well. It does help to have faultless acting from the whole cast, and excellent production and direction and appropriate locations - mainly a stunning house somewhere in Montreal (although the story says Boston and Dover.)
I found it so hard to give a rating. Awfulness usually gets a 1 from me, but a second watching after reading the end message, requires a big rethink, so now it's a 9.
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