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So much average

A lot of fun.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

This couldn't have been a Lifetime movie. But it was. This makes two -as far as I know- Lifetime thrillers that are not essentially remakes of every other Lifetime thriller, and are unusually engaging. The reviews above give a good sense of the plot. And some of the irate and morally offended viewers give the quite reliable impression that this is a bent, unconventional and more-than-mildly-incorrect little picture. You don't expect stuff this dark in TV movies, and certainly not on Lifetime. But in this case that's what you get. The sordid plot is not the only virtue of this flick: it's very well put together montage-wise, and in this respect has the look of a good theatrical release. Julia Stiles is, as always, a thoroughly accomplished actor.The other unexpectedly good Lifetime movie to which I refer above is Ladies Night, with a remarkable performance by Paul Michael Glaser.

Schlock has its place, but schlock with highbrow pretensions like this mess of a film is just laughable. It's too overblown and ludicrous to even be truly offensive, nonwithstanding the scenes of the fourteen year old Ellie's post-coital spooning with her daddy. The twist ending will be no surprise to anyone who has ever seen a few episodes of "Law and Order." I'll give it two points for some unintentional humour, as when Ms Stiles hisses at her father about the telltale birthmark on his left "butt cheek" (making him whimper like a spanked puppy), but otherwise this film is nothing more than a waste of two talented young actresses.

Though this thriller (about a teenage girl who develops a dangerous crush on her father when her mom dies) has the feel of a cable movie, with few characters and most of the scenes shot in a couple of locations, it was well-acted and had a plot that kept my interest. The characters develop quite effectively and you're never quite sure whodunnit and why, until the end. Worth renting.

1st watched 12/28/02 - 5 out of 10(Dir-Michael Steinberg): Ridiculously unsupported ending blows what for the most part was a very stylish, well acted, well-done horror/thriller movie. Julia Stiles does a superb job with her role of a tortured child with violent tendencies and the direction is sly and cunning, but for some reason the filmmakers decided to throw a curve in the last half hour that works for some movies but for this one destroyed all that had been built up to this point. To tell you much of the story wouldn't really matter because, just remember, the end isn't what is expected or should be unless the actors & actresses are lying to you throughout it. This is basically about a mother who becomes killed apparently by a break-in but through the twists and turns of the story-telling we are being led to believe that one of the children has something to do with it. That actress is then put through the paces and shown to be a definite possibility to the murder even to the point of imitating her mother after her death and definetly wanting to take her place. The movie should have been more about why she wanted to do this but we only get small hints about this. Then, all of a sudden, instead of exploring what I mentioned in the last sentence the aforementioned `stupid' & `meaningless' ending was thrown at us from left field. I think I've said enough, Yes I'm upset.(but I'll get by). Hopefully Steinberg will as well.