Suitcase Killer: The Melanie McGuire Story

I hate that they had to overly embellish this storyline to suit a killer. She was an egotistical, self-absorbed female that opted for murder over divorce. Seventeen minutes into the film and I already see where this is headed. Poor little "Karen" is justified in murder because of blah, blah, blah.

These types of ridiculous plots, not based on any reliable facts, cripple the journalistic integrity of so-called "based on a true story" movies. When people watch these movies, we understand some things have to be included to fill in certain gaps, but this was utter garbage. I am appalled by this movie and don't recommend anyone to watch this crap.

This film twisted the actual facts to make the victim Bill McGuire appear an aggressive, philandering, gambling addicted husband and his premeditated killer to be victimized. This does not even mirror the convicted killer's own story. She was having an affair w her married boss for YEARS- including family outings with both families- before she killed Bill to pursue a life with him. That was her motive, period. Unprovoked. They had their first sexual encounter at work when she was 9 months pregnant in his office- not after both kids were born. The actual story was interesting enough without embellishing it with victim trashing. Pretty disgusted.

Too bad they chose to go with that instead of just showing the facts... People can watch it as fiction but unfortunately, people will watch this thinking this is based on the truth of the case.

Often when reading reviews regarding true crime, a thought in the back of my mind is some reviewers may have a stake in the game - someone who was impacted in real life {or even imagined} by a case, and as such, the review may carry a predetermined bias. Similar to when you read the 5-star or 1-star reviews of a product on Amazon.

Be assured I had no stake whatsoever in the Suitcase Killer case. I was in a true crime mood and came upon this one, but had never heard of the McGuire case before viewing it.

But I do have a motive in writing this review, and that is to note the continued slide of Lifetime beyond the cesspool into an ever deepening abyss. The vast majority of Hollywood has made it abundantly and increasingly clear for decades that they detest God and people of faith, and are more than eager to trash Him {and us} at every turn. Maybe Lifetime has been doing this for a while now without my knowledge, but here's a news flash to them, and multiple other networks: The majority of Americans dont find blasphemous language in a show entertaining, nor do we ever find it necessary, in any fashion. Lifetime is one network that used to show restraint in regard to this. No longer.

The lead actress was respectable in her role here, but everyone else was cookie cutter performance level. And all Lifetime did by choosing to blaspheme God repeatedly here was turn this one from forgettable to unwatchable. This is one viewer who wont be hurrying back to seek a repeat performance anytime soon. In reality, 1 star is 1 too many.

Wendy Malick as the DA Preziosi played the role with a sadistic sneer which was very annoying. The story line was very inaccurate in the parts of the actual story that were known to be true, based on documentaries and the court coverage. Of course what could you expect from a Lifetime Channel movie. Yes I know it was a "dramatization", but it would have been a lot better if it was truer to the known facts.