I wish the sister died instead of the brother shes stupid!
9 Reviews
Her possible future
marcusman4829 March 2019
Warning: Spoilers
I was very surprised to learn that this made-for-TV movie was based on a novel. I would have expected the script to have been written by, well, some hack. But when you actually watch it, you learn pretty quickly that this is not just another psychopathic killer thriller.
Believe it or not, it can be said with a straight face that BAD STEPMOTHER is quite a bit like Herman Melville's MOBY DICK. Not only do both have the name of the antagonist in their title, but in both cases the antagonist is more or less a background character who is never fully developed.
Verity Hawking (Sofia Vassilieva) is no Captain Ahab, but when we first meet her she is still profoundly flawed. She is a spoiled heiress looking to cash in on her family's fortune, and at first she sees the murder of her divorced father as an opportunity to do just that.
Not that Verity was herself responsible for her father's death, of course. Even supposing she had wanted to do so, somebody has beaten her to the punch. And Verity's confrontation with this somebody is what puts her on the path to moral reform. Because sometimes the best way to find redemption is by defeating an even worse version of yourself.
That's where Verity's father's killer comes in. Louise Hawking (Kristy Swanson) is just as greedy and opportunistic as her stepdaughter; but, unlike Verity, she does not hesitate to cross ANY line to get what she wants. Looking almost hag-like behind a thin spackle of "old-woman" makeup, Swanson is terrifying as the homicidal gold-digger, contributing a chillingly modulated performance that easily could have become cartoonish. Rarely has there been such a loathsome woman in a low-budget film. As a hip dude from the 1970s might put it, Louise is a mother of a mother!
Louise is precisely what Verity could have become if she hadn't been fortunate enough to be born into money and if she had no moral compass. And in rejecting that path, Verity proves she is worthy of the family fortune. When Louise falls to her death at the end, Verity's shameful past dies with her.
Believe it or not, it can be said with a straight face that BAD STEPMOTHER is quite a bit like Herman Melville's MOBY DICK. Not only do both have the name of the antagonist in their title, but in both cases the antagonist is more or less a background character who is never fully developed.
Verity Hawking (Sofia Vassilieva) is no Captain Ahab, but when we first meet her she is still profoundly flawed. She is a spoiled heiress looking to cash in on her family's fortune, and at first she sees the murder of her divorced father as an opportunity to do just that.
Not that Verity was herself responsible for her father's death, of course. Even supposing she had wanted to do so, somebody has beaten her to the punch. And Verity's confrontation with this somebody is what puts her on the path to moral reform. Because sometimes the best way to find redemption is by defeating an even worse version of yourself.
That's where Verity's father's killer comes in. Louise Hawking (Kristy Swanson) is just as greedy and opportunistic as her stepdaughter; but, unlike Verity, she does not hesitate to cross ANY line to get what she wants. Looking almost hag-like behind a thin spackle of "old-woman" makeup, Swanson is terrifying as the homicidal gold-digger, contributing a chillingly modulated performance that easily could have become cartoonish. Rarely has there been such a loathsome woman in a low-budget film. As a hip dude from the 1970s might put it, Louise is a mother of a mother!
Louise is precisely what Verity could have become if she hadn't been fortunate enough to be born into money and if she had no moral compass. And in rejecting that path, Verity proves she is worthy of the family fortune. When Louise falls to her death at the end, Verity's shameful past dies with her.
Miss Verity's Dilemma
lavatch26 January 2020
Warning: Spoilers
At the start of the film, Miss Verity Jane Hawkins is a young alcoholic residing in Los Angeles. She receives a fateful telephone call informing her of the death of her father, Richard, who has been supporting her financially from the family home in New Orleans. Miss Verity travels to the Big Easy where she will become enmeshed in domestic drama, murder, mayhem, and madness.
Miss Verity's father clearly died under suspicious circumstances. He was in perfect health, yet somehow died of (a) a heart attack and (b) an impossible tumble over the railing of his balcony, culminating in his death. Miss Verity's brother Jonathan, who is an attorney, smells a rat in the figure of Louise, the former family secretary who only recently has married Richard Hawkins.
A major problem with the film was the unlikable characters. With the exception of Brother Jonathan and his fiancée April, the characters were unpleasant, including Miss Verity. She has a perpetual chip on her shoulder that is supported by her constant sipping from a flask of vodka. But nothing can prepare an audience for the likes of the golddigger Louise Hawkins and her chip-off-the-old-block son Eric.
Brother Jonathan hires a private investigator named Gary Simms, who searches for clues in the death of Richard Hawkins. The compulsive eater Simms finds a mountain of evidence suggesting that Louise had drugged her husband to simulate a heart attack, then sent him over the balcony railing into his death spiral.
Another sleazy character is the attorney Eugene, who is the executor of Richard's will, yet carrying on an affair with Louise. They are plotting to embezzle millions from the trust left to Miss Verity and Brother Jonathan. Unfortunately, Jonathan dies on a boating venture, clocked on the head and sent overboard by Eric.
Miss Verity has an extremely abrupt transformation when April informs her that she is pregnant with Brother Jonathan's baby. Suddenly, Miss Verity swears off alcohol, decides not to sell the family home, and cries out in exultation, "I'm about to be an aunt!!!" This abrupt change in her character was just as unconvincing as the clumsy narrative and the over-the-top characters in one of the most diabolical mother-son combinations ever to grace a Lifetime film.
Miss Verity's father clearly died under suspicious circumstances. He was in perfect health, yet somehow died of (a) a heart attack and (b) an impossible tumble over the railing of his balcony, culminating in his death. Miss Verity's brother Jonathan, who is an attorney, smells a rat in the figure of Louise, the former family secretary who only recently has married Richard Hawkins.
A major problem with the film was the unlikable characters. With the exception of Brother Jonathan and his fiancée April, the characters were unpleasant, including Miss Verity. She has a perpetual chip on her shoulder that is supported by her constant sipping from a flask of vodka. But nothing can prepare an audience for the likes of the golddigger Louise Hawkins and her chip-off-the-old-block son Eric.
Brother Jonathan hires a private investigator named Gary Simms, who searches for clues in the death of Richard Hawkins. The compulsive eater Simms finds a mountain of evidence suggesting that Louise had drugged her husband to simulate a heart attack, then sent him over the balcony railing into his death spiral.
Another sleazy character is the attorney Eugene, who is the executor of Richard's will, yet carrying on an affair with Louise. They are plotting to embezzle millions from the trust left to Miss Verity and Brother Jonathan. Unfortunately, Jonathan dies on a boating venture, clocked on the head and sent overboard by Eric.
Miss Verity has an extremely abrupt transformation when April informs her that she is pregnant with Brother Jonathan's baby. Suddenly, Miss Verity swears off alcohol, decides not to sell the family home, and cries out in exultation, "I'm about to be an aunt!!!" This abrupt change in her character was just as unconvincing as the clumsy narrative and the over-the-top characters in one of the most diabolical mother-son combinations ever to grace a Lifetime film.
Over-dramatic
emilyhollycole27 July 2018
After reading phd_travel's review I watched this movie without having 'high expectations', however still i was disappointed by this movie. It seemed very amateur, didn't have much depth to the movie, and it is almost impossible to connect with the characters and share any kind of emotion.
Still, give the movie a try, maybe you'll like it.......
Still, give the movie a try, maybe you'll like it.......
Annoyed
ryleilove26 June 2022
The acting is horrible especially from the kids especially the daughter (whose character is a bumbling idiot btw). I just suffered to 38 minutes and have been annoyed since at least 10 min in. Me and my will to finish what I start. Gets me in trouble every time. Someone gave this a 9...definitely someone involved whether employee or supporter.
Fun for this kind of movie
phd_travel15 January 2018
This is one of those entertaining Lifetime thrillers that is fine if you don't expect too much. It's quite engrossing and fast moving and doesn't take itself too seriously. An errant daughter comes home to New Orleans after her father dies shortly after marrying his secretary. She gets involved with her stepmother's son. But her brother is suspicious.
The trashiness of some of the characters is funny. Kristy Swanson is always a welcome presence and she does a good job as the Bad Stepmother. She looks slimmer than she has for some time. Her stepdaughter is played by Sofia Vassilieva. Her character is so frustrating that it's laughable.
Worth one watch.
The trashiness of some of the characters is funny. Kristy Swanson is always a welcome presence and she does a good job as the Bad Stepmother. She looks slimmer than she has for some time. Her stepdaughter is played by Sofia Vassilieva. Her character is so frustrating that it's laughable.
Worth one watch.
Watch only if you like soap operas!
dainamariebradley19 July 2021
I expected a real movie. This is just pathetic and laughable even for Lifetime. Cutting costs? Down to rock bottom. Awful cinematography, so cheap-looking, one minute it looks like VHS (soap opera tape!) And next, not even sure, it's so weird. Where did these actors come from, casting call rejects? Abominable in every category. I was too distracted by awfulness to discern the plot but noticed the Token Black Servant that just has to be in any New Orleans-set film. As a life-long resident and native of that city I can assure you of the ridiculousness and untruth of this and it is offensive. I rarely mention anything of this nature but after seeing this in multiple movies I just can't ignore it anymore. I don't write reviews all that often but this joke of a movie is just sad. The only redeeming thing in it is the beautiful local scenery and sets, like the house, of course and the ferry that takes passengers between the east and west banks of the Mississippi River. Ruined by awful actors. Watch if you want to laugh or cry, not at the plot but at the terrible actors. I can't seriously recommend this, watch at your own risk!
Street savvy world in which elite is lost
drystyx17 September 2021
This movie begins as a drama, and unfolds with a story about a true psycho.
It's not a spoiler to state that the "bad stepmother" is deranged. I don't think I have any "spoilers" in this review.
The murder of a wealthy man is how this begins. We know the stepmother is the killer. Within the first five minutes of this film, she meets with the two children of the man she killed. Her own son is also there to meet the two children.
To any street savvy person, much of what later takes place is obvious. This story is actually a theatrical drama about the elite in the world of street savvy people, in a culture where the dividing line no longer exists.
There are many important characters in this story. We even understand the posthumous character of the father, who chose someone out of the gutter that he felt could be his new wife.
There are the two siblings, a brother, obviously older, and very responsible, and a sister, who has many flaws and lives for the moment. The stepmother, her son, the lawyer who is executor, a maid, a private investigator, and a very quiet fiancee of the brother make up the bulk of the story. Two other very pivotal characters make brief appearances.
What really draws us in to the story is the older brother, the strength of the story. As an elite member of society, he has learned some street savvy, and it's obvious. His sister thinks she has street savvy, but doesn't. The brother is almost an "everyman" thrown into the situation of a wealthy man thrust into a world where there really is no protection from danger. What is perceived as "protection" is a facade that already most everyone knows is a facade. That's what makes it so easy for human monsters like the stepmother to become a very outspoken part of society.
This makes some events even more important to us later on. We're following the brother, whose instincts born of experience are correct. His fiancee is assisting him.
There is a parallel between the gold digging stepmother and the man's daughter. Both are venturing into the world with no cares. The stepmother is haggard, and one wonders how she fools so many people. Actually, haggard people are much more likely to "con" people than the elite realize. That's where two people in this story make fatal errors.
How does she fool him? How does she fool other characters? That's one thing this screenplay doesn't go into. Given another half hour, the writer and director might delve into that.
That's one of the strengths of this movie, to simply show the homicidal maniac for what a homicidal maniac is, and not try to gloss over it for the Beavis and Butthead crowd who want to identify with homicidal maniacs.
This movie does so by giving us the appearance of a parallel between characters, only to show that this parallel never truly existed. This film is one of those that has more than is evident at first glance.
It's not a spoiler to state that the "bad stepmother" is deranged. I don't think I have any "spoilers" in this review.
The murder of a wealthy man is how this begins. We know the stepmother is the killer. Within the first five minutes of this film, she meets with the two children of the man she killed. Her own son is also there to meet the two children.
To any street savvy person, much of what later takes place is obvious. This story is actually a theatrical drama about the elite in the world of street savvy people, in a culture where the dividing line no longer exists.
There are many important characters in this story. We even understand the posthumous character of the father, who chose someone out of the gutter that he felt could be his new wife.
There are the two siblings, a brother, obviously older, and very responsible, and a sister, who has many flaws and lives for the moment. The stepmother, her son, the lawyer who is executor, a maid, a private investigator, and a very quiet fiancee of the brother make up the bulk of the story. Two other very pivotal characters make brief appearances.
What really draws us in to the story is the older brother, the strength of the story. As an elite member of society, he has learned some street savvy, and it's obvious. His sister thinks she has street savvy, but doesn't. The brother is almost an "everyman" thrown into the situation of a wealthy man thrust into a world where there really is no protection from danger. What is perceived as "protection" is a facade that already most everyone knows is a facade. That's what makes it so easy for human monsters like the stepmother to become a very outspoken part of society.
This makes some events even more important to us later on. We're following the brother, whose instincts born of experience are correct. His fiancee is assisting him.
There is a parallel between the gold digging stepmother and the man's daughter. Both are venturing into the world with no cares. The stepmother is haggard, and one wonders how she fools so many people. Actually, haggard people are much more likely to "con" people than the elite realize. That's where two people in this story make fatal errors.
How does she fool him? How does she fool other characters? That's one thing this screenplay doesn't go into. Given another half hour, the writer and director might delve into that.
That's one of the strengths of this movie, to simply show the homicidal maniac for what a homicidal maniac is, and not try to gloss over it for the Beavis and Butthead crowd who want to identify with homicidal maniacs.
This movie does so by giving us the appearance of a parallel between characters, only to show that this parallel never truly existed. This film is one of those that has more than is evident at first glance.
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