Caitlin Stasey absolutely nails her role as the obsessed and disturbed Sadie, a woman suffering undiagnosed schizophrenia who will stop at nothing to get the sole attention of her older sister.
Initially Sadie comes off as just the wayward quirky young at heart sister returning home to her older sister Chloe and Chloe's teenage daughter Nichole after a year of no contact and presumably very little in the previous years. We learn Sadie and Chloe were very close growing up, with Sadie seeing Chloe as dual big sister but also as a substitute mother figure, at least until Chloe got pregnant at a young age and then devoted all her attention to her daughter, Nicole. Nicole herself looked up to Sadie and saw her as a combination cool aunt/older sister. Initially Sadie seems to want to fill that role for Nicole and become the cool confidant, however, it becomes increasingly clear that what Sadie really wants is for things to go back to the way they were before Nicole came into the picture. Through a series of manipulations and eventual violence, she will do whatever she can to get Chloe all to herself. Or at least, that's what part of Chloe wants.
Now, I'm seeing several reviews here saying the movie is completely unbelievable because nobody ever knew that Sadie was mentally ill previously. Granted, there are flashbacks that show she was, at the very least, jealous, if not "troubled" at a younger age, perhaps her early teens, however, it's actually fairly common that schizophrenics not be diagnosed until later in life. Adult onset schizophrenia in women usually occurs between mid to late 20s (and in men, between late teens to early 20s) and Sadie celebrates her 26th birthday during the film, so that's exactly the right age. Also, again, she's been out of her sister and niece's lives for at least a year and her more obvious symptoms could have started in that time and may have even been the factor that lead her to return to her childhood home.
When Sadie initially re-enters their lives it doesn't take long for the audience to see that some of her mannerisms are odd, and later flat out manipulative and violent, but that's because we're seeing everything she does. As for the other characters, there really aren't many hints because she's laying seeds and trusting none of them will talk to each other about things. 3 of the characters being manipulated are teens and you can't tell me high schoolers don't fall for gossip. That puts it all on Chloe to notice, except that Chloe hasn't spoken to Sadie in at least a year and she already has her attention divided between her troublemaker daughter, who has just been suspended from school, and the secret relationship she's been having with a man who happens to be the father of Nicole's best friend. And she apparently works full time at some high paying job to afford that Mercedes. So when would Chloe have noticed? She and Nicole's relationship is strained so they wouldn't have talked about Sadie, and Sadie takes advantage of that. There's maybe one or two scenes where Chloe starts to notice that Sadie's behavior is odd, but she said herself that Sadie has always been immature, she she likely didn't think much of it. And Sadie covers herself well. In fact, I'd say that's the one downside to the overall plot. It's not entirely clear whether Sadie is schizophrenic or if she's suffering dissociative identity disorder, but her dominant side (for lack of a better term) does seem to recover almost immediately whenever she does seem to regress into her childlike mindset. Plotwise, that's likely why no one has caught on to her mental issues, but it does seem a little convenient.
Anyway, this is way longer than I meant it to be but I will agree with everyone that the end needed some work. As has been mentioned, they gave this great tease for a less conventional ending, but then gave it a wham-bam Lifetime ending after all. And I'd actually be cool with that ending too, but it needed a little more build in the last 10mins to get us from what we think is the ending to the actual ending.
So overall, I'll give it a 6. Not Lucky McKee's best, but far from bad and had some gore elements I wasn't expecting from a Lifetime movie. Caitlin Stasey was brilliant though and absolutely this is worth watching for her performance. Sasha Frolova, Thora Birch, and Macon Blair were also very good in their roles, but Stasey really leads this one.
Initially Sadie comes off as just the wayward quirky young at heart sister returning home to her older sister Chloe and Chloe's teenage daughter Nichole after a year of no contact and presumably very little in the previous years. We learn Sadie and Chloe were very close growing up, with Sadie seeing Chloe as dual big sister but also as a substitute mother figure, at least until Chloe got pregnant at a young age and then devoted all her attention to her daughter, Nicole. Nicole herself looked up to Sadie and saw her as a combination cool aunt/older sister. Initially Sadie seems to want to fill that role for Nicole and become the cool confidant, however, it becomes increasingly clear that what Sadie really wants is for things to go back to the way they were before Nicole came into the picture. Through a series of manipulations and eventual violence, she will do whatever she can to get Chloe all to herself. Or at least, that's what part of Chloe wants.
Now, I'm seeing several reviews here saying the movie is completely unbelievable because nobody ever knew that Sadie was mentally ill previously. Granted, there are flashbacks that show she was, at the very least, jealous, if not "troubled" at a younger age, perhaps her early teens, however, it's actually fairly common that schizophrenics not be diagnosed until later in life. Adult onset schizophrenia in women usually occurs between mid to late 20s (and in men, between late teens to early 20s) and Sadie celebrates her 26th birthday during the film, so that's exactly the right age. Also, again, she's been out of her sister and niece's lives for at least a year and her more obvious symptoms could have started in that time and may have even been the factor that lead her to return to her childhood home.
When Sadie initially re-enters their lives it doesn't take long for the audience to see that some of her mannerisms are odd, and later flat out manipulative and violent, but that's because we're seeing everything she does. As for the other characters, there really aren't many hints because she's laying seeds and trusting none of them will talk to each other about things. 3 of the characters being manipulated are teens and you can't tell me high schoolers don't fall for gossip. That puts it all on Chloe to notice, except that Chloe hasn't spoken to Sadie in at least a year and she already has her attention divided between her troublemaker daughter, who has just been suspended from school, and the secret relationship she's been having with a man who happens to be the father of Nicole's best friend. And she apparently works full time at some high paying job to afford that Mercedes. So when would Chloe have noticed? She and Nicole's relationship is strained so they wouldn't have talked about Sadie, and Sadie takes advantage of that. There's maybe one or two scenes where Chloe starts to notice that Sadie's behavior is odd, but she said herself that Sadie has always been immature, she she likely didn't think much of it. And Sadie covers herself well. In fact, I'd say that's the one downside to the overall plot. It's not entirely clear whether Sadie is schizophrenic or if she's suffering dissociative identity disorder, but her dominant side (for lack of a better term) does seem to recover almost immediately whenever she does seem to regress into her childlike mindset. Plotwise, that's likely why no one has caught on to her mental issues, but it does seem a little convenient.
Anyway, this is way longer than I meant it to be but I will agree with everyone that the end needed some work. As has been mentioned, they gave this great tease for a less conventional ending, but then gave it a wham-bam Lifetime ending after all. And I'd actually be cool with that ending too, but it needed a little more build in the last 10mins to get us from what we think is the ending to the actual ending.
So overall, I'll give it a 6. Not Lucky McKee's best, but far from bad and had some gore elements I wasn't expecting from a Lifetime movie. Caitlin Stasey was brilliant though and absolutely this is worth watching for her performance. Sasha Frolova, Thora Birch, and Macon Blair were also very good in their roles, but Stasey really leads this one.