3/10
The film starts out on a sad note, as we see a nurse named Laura Hanniman's father kill himself and his son and wife, because of an embezzlement scandal that was going to put him in jail for years. This scene is absolutely heartbreaking to watch, because of the pain that everyone is going through. The man that was responsible for the scandal's beginning then finds out about the tragedy, and he suffers a massive stroke that will leave him paralyzed. I actually felt sympathy for this man, whom is named Bob Martin, because he never wanted this to happen at all, and this was such a blow to him. Laura is them seen hard and angry after the funeral, and she said that she hopes that Bob dies, and she ends up "treating" him at the hospital, where she threatens him and wishes that he suffers terribly. This really set the tone that this movie was going to be intense, and I felt it was much needed.
The movie really starts to get crazy when Laura kills the nurse that was taking care of Bob by shooting her up with a bunch of Potassium Chloride. While this scene is completely bloodless, it is still pretty brutal in nature, and it was a great first kill. The thing that makes it very painful to watch is paralyzed Bob in the back of the car, because he had nothing that he could possibly do at all to help himself or Jane.
One of the impressive factors of the film was the cast. The lead role of Laura; played by Lisa Zane was very well done, because she had a very great way of putting on a fake self to hide her pyschopathic nature. I think it was a good choice to have a lesser known actress in the role, because it give more of an authentic feeling. Another actor that I found to be very good was John Stockwell as Jack Martin. He portrayed a very likable character, and he was extremely pretty realistic in his portrayal. Although Michael Fairman doesn't have many lines in his role of Bob, he has a really great way of showing his anger with his facial expressions as he looked at Laura. The words were not needed at all, and he was a character that I felt a lot of sympathy for.
While the plot of the story is interesting for the most part, the film really has the vibe of a Lifetime movie. This turned me off a lot, because this took away from the quality greatly, and it was harder to take the film seriously. One of the biggest factors in this flaw is the music. It is so cheesy in every possible way, and it has been used in about 1000 horrible TV movies.
Quite honestly, I don't get why this film was rated R. The violence was actually extremely weak. There was not one drop of blood, and there was nothing too brutal. For a horror movie, I would expect a lot more, especially for the era it was made in. While I think the suspense that is built kind of makes up for this in a sense, I still wish that things were a little crazier. The one scene that I will call an exception to this was when Laura slit a man's throat open. While it wasn't gory, there was still a very gruesome feeling to the scene.
The ending of this film lacked immensely. There was so much potential for something really crazy to happen, but like any other crappy horror film, they had to take the easy route and make a happy ending. I can't stand when the movies do this, because it takes away any of the shock that happened before, and makes the finished product feel like a fairy tale.
Overall, there was a couple things I liked about this film. There was a really great cast, and a decent enough plot, but the movie in general sucked. There was a very unprofessional feel to it, and I won't ever understand how it became a motion picture. The film was also lacking in shock, and it had one of the worst endings I've ever seen. Please do not waste your time with this overlong piece of crap, because it is not worth it at all.
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