Stranger in the House (2016 TV Movie) User Reviews

Lifetime Folk Tale

[wes-connors · 6/10 · 14 April 2016]

An accident occurs...

"One year later," wealthy survivor John Novak (as Wayne Griegson) is left widowed. He has also lost the use of his legs and must use an inhaler occasionally, to breathe...

Understandably glum, Mr. Novak resists beautiful daughter Emmanuelle Vaugier (as Jade) when she suggests hiring a caregiver so she and perfectly muscled Matthew MacCaull (as Marco) can go away for a honeymoon. Surprisingly, their spectacular seaside mansion has no visible hired help, so they hire plain and frumpy Jordana Largy (as Samantha) to look after Novak. While the newlyweds are in Hawaii for a month, Ms. Largy starts more and more curvaceous skin. Turning pretty, she develops a taste for plunging necklines and short-shorts. This attracts Novak's attention. Suddenly, he's a new man. By the time Ms. Vaugier and Mr. MacCaull return, things have changed...

There is nothing new about this story. Writer Roslyn Muir follows the "Lifetime" TV movie formula very closely, completing her assignment with high scores. The lush setting and cinematography, by Neil Cervin, is attractive and steady. "Stranger in the House" doesn't take any risks, but director Allan Harmon and his crew manage to make the familiarity feel like a pair of comfortable old shoes. As they check off each cliché, you feel the release of knowing transmitters in your brain. These variations don't always work, but this one looks nice and respects its viewers. When you know what's going to happen, you're still interested to see how the characters are going to make each stupid move...

They make you feel smart.

****** Stranger in the House (4/9/16) Allan Harmon ~ Emmanuelle Vaugier, Matthew MacCaull, Jordana Largy, John Novak

That's my family's house

[nogodnomasters · 4/10 · 20 September 2017]

Wayne (John Novak) is a acquitted Ponzi scheme operator who is in a wheel chair due to a car accident which killed his wife. His daughter Jade (Emmanuelle Vaugier) is going on her honeymoon and has hired Samantha (Jordana Largy) to be a caretaker. Now we know one of 2 things are going to happen. Samantha is either going to kill Wayne because she lost money or marry him. Since this is a Lifetime film...they decided to use both options and then give us the expected twist.

Lifetime has their fans and I am sure this installment will have a loyal following. I found things to be too predictable once they exercised the double option. The acting and soundtrack I didn't find overly appealing either.

Strangers

[nightroses · 4/10 · 18 May 2018]

The message of this movie is not to marry someone you hardly know. The old businessman in a wheelchair married his new carer while his daughter went away on a trip with her new husband. No one knows anything about the new carer, Samantha except she started off as a shy bespectacled girl with a colourful CV. After she was taken on as carer, daughter Jade went on her honeymoon with somewhat meek husband Marco. On their return, dad is married to Samantha who turned into femme fatale of the Century. The house is enormous, but wheelchair-bound dad is killed, and Samantha is now owner of the estate. Jade is grieving, while suspicions raised, but her smirking husband is nowhere near taking her side. There are a couple of mini twists in the film by halfway, but after that, it's just basically predictable, and a cat-and-mouse, hunting game with Jade drugged and persued by killer.

Booooooooo.

[wandernn1-81-683274 · 3/10 · 26 February 2022]

Seems like another one of those Lifetime movies here for old people that like a good PG rated mystery. Caretaker seduces Old Rich Guy and Rich Guy Dies leaving a hastily changed Will and all the money goes to new caretaker/ Wife. It's really an overused premise since like what? 1990? You want to see a good one? See uh... Intolerable Cruelty. Haha. That's a good one.

Anyways, just regurgitated filler here. 3/10.

Partly predictable but entertaining Madoff Lifetime thriller

[phd_travel · 7/10 · 8 January 2017]

The villain du jour is a Madoff like Ponzi scheme financial guy gets off the hook but there is more in store for him.

His daughter is played by Emannuelle Vaugier - a Lifetime movie familiar face. She is quite good as she watches helplessly as a gold digger from hell caregiver marries her father. Doesn't get much help from her boyfriend who looks like Paul Ryan.

Things point quite obviously to the bad guys or in this case the bad guys with a bit of a justification. But things move along quickly and it's quite fun to see things unfold.

It's a bit of wish fulfillment for victims of financial fraud.

"He's My Rock!!!"

[lavatch · 8/10 · 20 November 2019]

"Stranger in the House" is a well-scripted and well-performed melodrama-mystery. At the heart of the screenplay is the relationship of Jade Griegson and her husband Marco, a poor boy who has risen to make quite a catch in the heiress Jade.

Jade's father, Wayne Griegson, had bilked investors in a Ponzi scheme, and his high-priced attorneys enabled him to beat the rap. Wayne was disabled in an auto accident that took the life of his wife. As Jade and Marco depart on their honeymoon, they retain a physical therapist to look after Wayne full-time. But when they return, they discover that the caregiver Samantha has won the heart of Wayne and married him. Jade does not believe her father robbed the cradle, but that Samantha is a gold-digger.

What follows is a concatenation of events in which Samantha has connived to disinherit Jade. Wayne dies of an apparent fall. Shortly thereafter, Samantha is stabbed to death, and Jade is arrested for first-degree murder.

The filmmakers skillfully weave suspense into the attempt of Jade to clear her name. The two most important men in her life are Marco and Luke Harper, the police detective who arrests Jade, then helps her to prove her innocence. And for Jade, Marco is one constant in her life, the man she describes as "my rock!"

The strong performance by the lead actress playing Jade helped to sustain the suspense and resolve many unanswered questions. While the film's premise was fairly predictable, the action moved fast, and all the characters were well-developed. It was especially Samantha's gold-digger that turned the film into an intriguing whodunnit and a "guilty pleasure" type of film.

***

[edwagreen · 8/10 · 22 April 2016]

While I was seeing the film, I was scenes ahead accurately predicting what would occur and who the accomplice was to that manipulative woman.

There needed to be shown why the old boy was vindicated at his trial at a time of financial collapse in the country. From a deathly sick male depending upon an inhaler, that manipulative woman seemed to have worked wonders and miracles while seducing him into a marriage and cutting his daughter out of immense wealth.

Yes, I was even able to predict who the cohort of this woman was but did not realize what her fate would be.

Isn't it interesting that one year into a marriage and our heroine first starts asking question about her husband's parents?