Into the Arms of Danger

Please note that my review is judging this film in the context of Lifetime movies, not movies in general (otherwise it would receive around a 3). If you enjoy cheesy Lifetime movies or are just looking for something entertaining to pass the time, this is a good choice. The premise (a young girl is kidnapped and taken to the home of an insane woman who misses her daughter) is definitely interesting. The acting isn't the best, but the plot is captivating enough and contains some pretty mature themes that makes this film stand out from other, more generic Lifetime movies.

My quick rating - 3,2/10. If the Lifetime channel wanted to get a bit darker than their normal stuff, they would've gotten this. Only their actors are typically better. After a woman is in a car accident on the way to visit some college, she is picked up by an ambulance and instead of a hospital, she is taken to the home of a twisted family led by Momma (Cathy Moriarty) There is really nothing here you haven't seen before in the old kidnap woman and keep her captive story. The family isn't insane in any manner such as Rob Zombie would give us. More or less the standard one son blindly following the mom, the other reluctantly following. Everything here falls right into place as you would expect and doesn't make for great viewing.

Don't listen to the other reviews saying this is a bad movie. It's one of those rare GOOD Lifetime flicks. It would've been even better with someone else playing Jenny's mother, since any one of my livingroom lamps can act better and show more emotion than Laurie Fortier (if that's her name?).

The story was unique and well done - my favorite genre: psychological thriller. Cathy Moriarty was excellent, as was Sam Meader, who I'd never heard of before but he practically stole the spotlight. The younger brother played by Joey Luthman was very good also - being torn between staying miserable but loyal to his family or breaking away from them and their criminal ways.

And as with all Lifetime movies, there has to be at least one good, caring character that gets killed off, unfortunately; in this case proving yet again that no good deed goes unpunished. But I rarely cringe when it happens in most of the other movies like I did this one.

Lastly, it's very interesting/intriguing that it was "inspired by a true story" as it said in the very beginning..

Loved this movie! The plot was a little predictable at times, but the cast carried it so well that I really enjoyed those 'expected' horror moments. My favorite character was Clyde - he was so hot and scary as the bad guy!! Sam Meader can kidnap me any day.

On a flyer, I watched this movie on LMN and was so pleasantly surprised that I felt the need to give it an (almost) ten-star review. If the storyline weren't so far-fetched, it would have gained all five stars from me.

Where the film triumphed, however, was the great cast of actors. Cathy Moriarty was fantastic as the deranged mother - a role I hadn't seen her play before - and AlexAnn Hopkins was equally a delightful heroin.

The standout for me was the role of Clyde, played by Sam Meader. He gave such a solidly chilling performance as the bad guy that he almost had me rooting for him. An actor I hadn't come across before, I look forward to seeing him in future movies.

Overall, a fun film if you don't take it too seriously - worth the watch!