A Deadly Obsession (2012) User Reviews

I'd happily watch Katee Sackhoff read the ingredients list off a cereal box but...

[george-841 · 4/10 · 15 November 2018]

I watched this film for Katee who is the quintessence of sexiness. Loved her in Longmire. But even she has a hard time making this palatable. The law enforcement storyline is pretty unbelievable, as other reviewers have pointed out. I also wondered what's with SWAT taking so long to show up and the cop allowing a random Marine to take over the scene! I wonder if the budget for this movie was so tight they had no money for 4 extra guys in SWAT gear.

The worst was at the end when the psychopath forces Katee to take the gun, hoping to bait her into shooting him and fulfill his death wish: "death by amore." But the cop shows up and orders the psycho to the floor. Katee drops the gun to the floor, WITHIN TWO FEET OF THE PSYCHO and walks away. The cop keeps pointing his gun at the psycho but makes no effort to secure the pistol lying right on the floor within arm's reach of the psycho. To emphasize the situation the camera pans back and forth more than once between the gun on the floor and the prone psycho's eyes looking intently at the gun. Finally the psycho makes a move for the gun and the cop kills him. I can't perceive this script having enough depth to believe that the cop intended to let the psycho make that move so he could kill him. If that had been the writer's intent the camera would have panned from gun on floor to psycho's eyes to cop's eyes---about five times! No, the writing just had the cop make no effort to secure the gun nor to handcuff the psycho! Aren't these the first things cops do in such situations on every cop show?! And probably IRL too!

I suggest a better ending by far would have Katee shoot the psycho, since they had established that she had a lot of turmoil in her upbringing, she was seeing a shrink herself and her own brain scans were showing signs of Charles Manson-like psychosis! But it would take real creative daring to have her kill the psycho (such as rarely seen in a daytime TV movie), despite his deserving it. He had committed multiple murder at this point including killing Katee's teacher/mentor and one of her students, both in cold blood and right in front of her. I'd call this justifiable homicide!

If they ever decide to remake this movie they're free to use MY alternate ending... NO CHARGE!

See this movie if you like Katee Sackhoff... but that's really about all the reasons I can offer myself. It's reason enough though if you're a fan...

Absolutely Terrible!!!!

[jw-127-678109 · 1/10 · 8 October 2014]

*** SPOILER ALERT***

I seldom review movies, so little that I forgot my profile log in info, but I had to create a new account so I could say something about this terrible movie.

First, we will get past the poor calibre of acting. It is a 'B' movie, so we expect poor acting. But............. OK, something really jumped out at me and it grew from there.......

During the hostage scene, the police lieutenant in charge asked where swat was, he was told 45 minutes out. The highest priority goes to any school hostage situation. If there truly is no swat available, state troopers, national guard, the FBI and the military are called in to action. --- Then, some random guy walks up to the police lieutenant (The heroines boyfriend, unknown to the cop). Random guy says "I was a marine", so the cop bows down to him and lets random guy take over. Asks if he is armed and random guy shows a sidearm. Then cop lets random guy with a gun take over and go in the school alone. ------ WHAT??????? Some random guy walks up with a handgun and claims to be a former marine and the cops let him take over, and enter the school alone?? WHAT?????

This movie was quite poor leading up to this, then it turned into this complete mess. Did the writer research anything about law enforcement? Are we, the public, perceived by the writer and director to be so gullible?

In my 48 years on this earth, I have watched hundreds, possibly thousands, of movies. This is a true contender for one of the worst I have ever seen.

'Sigh.."

[crystalwaters-52622 · 1/10 · 10 June 2020]

I was willing to give this film a fair try, but it didn't last long.

As the gunmen is shooting, he fires through a bookcase into the next room. All the students run for cover but a bullet hits a student.who slides to the floor. His friend rushes over and seeing the blood says "oh no, what happened?", (like duh!!!).

I couldn't take it seriously after that. I've made it as far as the marine squaring up to the cop. I have it on pause wondering if I can be bothered to continue, but since I've now read the reviews, they confirm that I will probably be wasting my time.

Average TV Thriller - Though Would Be Great If It Were Darker.

[P3n-E-W1s3 · 6/10 · 26 July 2017]

My main motivation for watching this movie was Katee Sackhoff. I find that she's a strong actress who brings a power and intensity to her roles and she does that here.

Suzanne is a psychologist and tutor who is trying to help Conner resolve his issues; unfortunately, Conner is in love... with Suzanne. When she drops him as a client and recommends him to another psychologist he decides to prove his love for her in a rather violent fashion. However, Suzanne is also under psychiatric observation as her troubled past has her worried that she too might possess violent tendencies similar to her mothers.

This being a TV movie, Weissman writes it as such. This would make a great thriller if it were as dark as the premise suggests, though as a TV movie it's a fair shade lighter, though it still comes off well, though this is down to both the leads, Sackhoff and Harvey.

The direction is pretty standard fare for television, there's nothing new in either the camera work or scene settings. However, Stimpson does a good job with the pace of the film. It's slightly faster and punchier than average which keeps the audience interested and the story flowing. There are some drawbacks though as the students are your stereotypical kind and they are pretty annoying at times, especially when in the boiler room. This is the time you're hoping the killer finds them. Also, John Shea is very two dimensional as the other psychologist, though I've never rated him as a great actor ever since I saw him as Lex Luthor in Lois and Clark. Luckily, Lively's character and her flirtatious interactions with campus security guard Olsen, played by Bates Wilder add a nice warm hearted feeling and a more relatable point of view for the audience.

This is a watchable and an enjoyable thriller which could have been better. Though it is worth at least one viewing and I'd recommend it to anybody who likes psychological thrillers. It's perfect for evening or Sunday afternoon viewings when you just want to relax and chill out.

Pretty entertaining for what it is

[MattyGibbs · 7/10 · 26 February 2017]

A former student in love with a Professor goes on a gun rampage at a school.

This is a made for TV movie and expectations should be set at a lower level when watching the film. There is relatively little violence for the subject matter but still more than in most TV movies.

Grant Harvey does a pretty decent and believable job as the psychotic ex student looking for revenge. The rest of the cast are OK but nothing outstanding.

The film switches between the past meetings between the Professor ( Katee Sackhoff ) and Harvey. This is to tell his back story and work pretty well. The hostage situation is well filmed and at times pretty tense.

You can pick holes in the film and plot but if you watch the film as pure entertainment then this is still entertaining enough. One of the more interesting TV movies which at least isn't as predictable as most.