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Stalked by My Mother (2016)
Bleagh....could have been better. Good twist/idea, but poorly executed
Too many things were too convenient, too contrived, too many unlikable characters, too much revealed a little too soon. I guess that's pretty typical of many Lifetime movies.
Some people have claimed that they routed for the psycho and I can't say I blame them. She was the smartest one there and was more sympathetic than the creepy dumpsterfire helicopter parent "heroine". Claire(crappy mother) reminds me a bit of the girl from Atonement: someone so certain of something that they falsely accuse someone and end up ruining their lives. The difference is that in Atonement, there is regret and the heroine in that case tries to "Atone" for it. Claire does no such thing and still has nightmares about her daughter being kidnapped despite that not actually happening.
Then again, she's up against someone VERY vengeful and murderous. She knows what the psycho is capable of and yet falls for the "remorse" when she really should have ran out of the house and leave the psycho in there to get "hoisted by her own petard"(psycho just had to plant a bomb for some reason). Doesn't make sense for someone holding on to a false accusation she made years ago, supposedly not caring if the teacher ended up killing himself because of her accusations. She also learns nothing in the end and remains the kind of parent who will wonder why her kids want nothing to do with her. Or, if there's the sequel to this, ends up finding herself bunked with Gina in prison. That would be quite fitting since they are both crappy people.
As for the psycho...well, as usual, slipped up somehow and ended up a bit ridiculous and over the top. I guess that's why she's a Lifetime psycho instead of Dantes of the Count of Monte Cristo. Maddie's father is an uncaring moron, the detective is okay, but is killed(of course), Maddie herself is understandably resentful of her mother and the fact that she's quick to accuse her own mother of murder speaks volumes. Beyond that, she's a typical collage kid in a very bad situation all around.
The ending is typical. Tied a little too neatly, a little too happy for what happened, and the characters to too unlikable to even want a happy ending for them, but it's Lifetime, so one shouldn't expect too much.
Unwanted Guest (2016)
As usual, not the best, not the worst. Love to hate villain though.
Honestly, this is just typical Lifetime stuff. There's worse out there, so this is basically a middling sort of movie. I think it was badly acted (felt wooden/phoned in for the most part), but I don't deny the actors' talents. The "psycho"(really, she's just plain evil) is basically pretty damned obvious just by LOOKING at her. Well, for the viewer, that is. The "mousy" thing is an act as, imo, she's a con artist. People complained about the anti-climatic ending, but I don't think it was. Fridge logic tells me that it's poetic justice. She died the way she lived: with drugs. I wish the targets got more shots on her as she is one of those vile people who deserve to suffer as she had NO redeeming qualities, but they just wanted her gone and they got what they wanted.
As for her motives, I think they were plainly obvious, just like it was with Iago, which is why neither one of them never had to say anything. She didn't get a chance to and you KNOW she would have because she had excuses for everything and always saw herself as the victim, but Iago felt like he shouldn't have to say anything because you should have already figured it out.
Anyway, by the numbers formula movie. Great for die hard fans of tawdry stuff/Lifetime stuff. For every one else, eh, there are plenty of other options and this will be one of the many "psycho" movies that end up piled under better movies.
New Best Friend (2002)
Yet another "not the best, not the worst"
Geez, another Lifetime movie, but once again isn't exactly the worst movie in the world, but far from the best. I think the main problem is that it's pretty obvious who is responsible for what, and it's generally fairly predictable. Worse yet, some of the flashbacks ended up being confusing, and the viewer is left wondering "Okay, how much am I supposed to care?" One thing I did like is that the movie goes to show you that it's never THAT simple as "the good guys are good and the bad guys are bad", and sometimes it IS evil vs evil rather than good vs evil. Hadley didn't do what she did out of a sense of justice, she did it because she considered herself entitled to a job for being family, AND to eliminate the competition. As for Alicia, it simply proves that a victim isn't always a good person. Some of them really do "have it coming", even if "it" was a painful, horrible death. "The Burning Bed" is a great example of this, but the difference is that the vile man in "The Burning Bed" got exactly what he deserved. But, did Alicia "have it coming"? Some will say that she did, but others don't agree, and the law generally doesn't either.
As for acting, it's a mixed bag. Some do a good job, like Mia, but others just came across as indifferent to their roles. They were mostly wooden or simply not convincing. The music was pretty cool though and some of the scenes are nice and steamy, especially if you like girl/girl action. The movie isn't badly shot at all, but given its glaring weaknesses, the strengths are in background, unfortunately.
I've heard rumors of a sequel, but given the years, I doubt it'll happen. But, I wouldn't be surprised if a sequel suddenly appeared. If Alicia is as EVIL, conniving and horrible as people say, then I don't think she'll be thinking, "YAY! I woke up from a coma! Oh, Hadley was responsible? Oh! That's okay! I totally forgive her and want the charges dropped!" No way Hadley would be in jail for long anyway, if she even does any time since no murder actually happened.
Anyway, worth checking out at least once!
Hush (2005)
Not the worst, but not the best.
I caught this movie while doing something else online, and I generally found myself wanting to see some scenes, but ended up mostly listening until the end. All I can say is that it's worth seeing maybe once when there's nothing better on, but beyond that? Obviously there's better, more intelligent movies out there.
What I liked about this one is that it wasn't over-the-top like similar movies nor was it full of screaming and explosive intensity. Cellie was a but more subtle and "tightly coiled" in her obsession and rage. In fact, Victoria Pratt was the only great actress in the movie. I viewed Cellie was more sad creepy than scary creepy, honestly. Sure, she's still a creep, but she's much more understated than many other obsessive characters. Everyone else is generally okay and Tori Spelling does a fairly good job as Nina.
The movie felt more like a drama than anything. However, the ending...gah. Here's where Cellie turns into a Voldemort, and basically throws out any devious intelligence that she had in the beginning. Sure, she's still soft spoken in her rage, but apparently her brain got burnt because she just does things that even a bumbling fool wouldn't think of doing. Here's a few hints: 1. People that kill/ruin/commit crimes against others WITHOUT getting caught don't say anything to anyone about it unless the other person is dying or dead. 2. They don't just make threats like, "If you do this, then I'll"...nope. They just DO IT. Leave no witnesses and they NEVER tip their hands. 3. They do things themselves and never turn their backs on their enemies. Then again, if she really was so brilliant, then the movie would have ended halfway through with a "it was an accident, I'm so sorry. She slipped from my grasp." *sob*.
Honestly, it's not that bad, but there's a reason why it has the rating that it does.