User reviews

This is a made for tv movie about the abduction of a young girl and her amazing ability to keep cool. This is based on a true story.

Lisa McVey lives a life that is overflowing with adversity but she has a strength that keeps her hopeful for her and her younger sister. While she lives with her grandmother and her sister is living with her mother, she is being sexual abused by her grandmother's live in boyfriend. She works at a small doughnut shop and even the money she makes is being taken away by her grandmother's boyfriend. Her mother and grandmother both know what is going on but seem to be indifferent to the situation.

After leaving the doughnut shop after a late shift, she is abducted, raped and taken to her rapist's home. There he continues to abuse her but she does her best to play along and begins to manipulate his emotions. He finally reaches a point where he is ready to dispose of her but she manages to convince him to spare her life. In the long run, this will be the saving grace in all aspects of her life and his downfall.

This is a great story. Kudos to McVey. She did an amazing job and most likely saved a lot of lives in the long run. You know, they say that you never know your own strength until strength is your only option. This is a testament to that.

The quality of this seems like it may have been a Lifetime movie. I don't know for sure but I don't have a problem with Lifetime movies so that's not an issue for me. The lead actress did a great job in my opinion. I think that movies based in reality have a stronger impact on me. I appreciate the small miracles that are happening all around us on a daily basis yet we never knew they were there.

It is a great story. The script and quality are made for tv so this isn't an epic film with a huge budget. It was worth watching for me though.

I started watching this with no expectation, and after about 30 minutes I was really engrossed in the story. Whilst there were some parts that suffered from acting that wasn't so great, overall I thought this was done really well and was suspenseful. What a truly horrific person to have done those crimes and what an incredibly strong and clever woman to have gone through all that she did.

I thank my lucky stars to have been brought up by two hard working and loving parents. Although my own childhood and my four (4) siblings were brought up in a loving home with clean clothes and hot meals and much attention, some of our neighborhood friends were not so lucky. I realized at an early age what a neglected child who is continually traumatized can end up living a life much like Lisa McVey must have went through. I found the troubled childhood of Lisa McVey real and disturbing.

I give much credit to the actors who brought much realism to this fact based true life story. Those negative reviewers need to lighten up and realize how difficult it is for both the writer and director to encapsulate a harrowing real life child's drawn out trauma over multiple years into a 90 minute crime/drama made for TV movie.

Not all movies are meant to entertain but instead, to bring awareness to a particular horrible crime(s) such as murder, sexual child abuse, incest, kidnapping and/or rape. As for this film, the perpetrator, Bobby Joe Long, was convinced by his latest young victim Lisa McVey, to release her.

Lisa McVey now an adult, works in law enforcement and Bobby Joe Long was sentenced to death. Real life story. Real life drama. Real life outcomes. I give this made for TV film a highly deserving 7 out of 10 IMDB rating.

Ok sometimes Lifetime Movie Network movies aren't the greatest, BUT, I continue to watch them because occasionally they will hit one out of the park, and this is a perfect example. This is a true story, not exaggerated or dramatized, the real deal on what really happened and Lisa herself telling in her own words what happened here and there was a perfect touch. Amazing but horrific story turned into a great movie! & for Lisa, I am so happy Lifetime got this right as she is an amazing woman and Lifetime captured that perfectly.

This is an incredible story and very well done. Hard subject matter to handle but this story must be told and seen. This is a women's empowerment plot and it would be awesome if Netflix picked this up and did a wide release. These films don't get enough credit or viewership.

I was enthralled from the first 5 minutes. Netflix don't let this waste away in lifetime movie ether. License it and spread it. Will be good for society. 5/5

An intriguing story to say the least ... a very hard to swallow story to watch. Thankfully the movie does not delve on and does not linger around on the really upsetting scenes that happen. Since this is a true story, it is even more incredible. You may know or guess where this is going, but the way it unfolds and the things we learn ... it's quite something! The movie manages to hold your attention for sure - and the empathy level we have is quite high.

The actors involved are really good ... and I was on the edge of my seat. I have a thing for things that are morally right ... or justice in general. I know this really got to me ... quite the extraordinary story!

Parts of this were very harrowing, and the courage displayed by the main character was astounding. The script and concept are great, and the ending had me in tears. Though it would be much better if it were grittier and directed with more flare. It has a strong TV movie feel, is very clinical and the direction is plain. Both sound editing and score are held back way too much. The casting and acting by the protagonist and primary antagonist are spot on though, well done with getting these two for the film. Thanks for teaching us about courage.

I usually avoid 'Made for TV' films at all costs. They tend to be poorly written, poorly acted and poorly produced over all.

This film blew me away. It was somewhat hard to watch knowing it's a true story, but this is unbelievably well acted. I'd never heard of any of the cast members, but the Protagonist, Katie Douglas was just incredible. If this woman doesn't become a huge star, there's something seriously wrong in Hollywood. Her performance was one of the best leading roles i've seen in quite some time. The emotion and feeling she exuded was what took this film from 'good' to 'excellent'.

The supporting cast done their bit too mind you, this was an all round effort.

The story itself is heartbreaking. This woman, Lisa McVey has strength and courage beyond that which any human should possess. To come through the ordeals she has and continue to help others suffering similar treatment is an inspiration. This woman is a true super hero.

This is a must watch film.

Horribly hard to watch in so many ways (almost everybody except Lisa McVey is an absolute a$$hole), but so empowering also. If this movie is even close to accurate compared to the real story then Lisa is a true hero. All of the actors are talented and the characters are intriguing, but by FAR the standout is Katie Douglas who plays Lisa. I'd never heard of her before watching this, but I'm now a huge fan. She was only 19 or 20 when she played this role but already had the rare skill of what I call "silent acting", the ability to relay emotion with nothing but facial expressions, eye movements, body language, and meaningful silence. She's a phenomenal actor. The other standouts are David James Elliott, who plays Sergeant Larry Pinkerton (one of the few good guys), and Rossif Sutherland (Donald's son) as the terrifyingly-disturbed and violent rapist/killer. Impressive cinematography, lighting, scoring, and overall direction add to the power of this movie. If you can make it through the first half of pure evil, you should be as impressed as I with Katie Douglas' portrayal of a truly remarkable young woman.

Without a doubt is Lisa McVey a true hero and the kind of strength and resilience she displayed is awe inspiring. That's why her story deserved a great screen play, high calibre director and amazing actors.... None of this is being delivered here. In fact the acting and directing is so incredibly bad, it feels cheap and almost like an amateur production at times. All these 10* reviews here seem to rate the actual life story of Lisa McVey (which indeed deserves 10* for heroism) instead of rating the actual film!!! Otherwise I can't fathom why anyone would describe this car crash of a production as "masterpiece"..

So I googled the true story after watching this as I thought for sure they must have dramatised it but its actually all true! I absolutely agree with the other reviews that it does feel like.. a TV movie the way its filmed (for UK people kinda felt like a channel 5 movie) however, that HONESTLY didn't take away from the story at all. Completely gripping, brutal but honest. Really good film.

This movie honestly deserved a substantially longer run time. What's there is great and the lead actress, in particular, does a superb job.

Unfortunately, there isn't enough. The movie is only 1 hour and 27 minutes in total, when 2 to 2.5 hours would have done it justice.

It starts out well and spends a lot of time on Lisa's ordeal. This is important to the story and whilst quite a tough watch, it was definitely necessary. Afterwards, however, it seems like a race to the finish line. The story develops so quickly that the viewer doesn't really get time to dwell on or process anything.

Solid work from all involved, just needed a bit more time to breathe.

I almost skipped this on Netflix passing it off as a lifetime movie. So glad I didn't!

This is a story of a remarkable, brave, intelligent and courageous young lady who not only suffered sexaul abuse at the hands of her father, she then ends up being kidnapped and held hostage by a rapist. Survives that only to be disbelieved by not only her so called family members but also by the police.

It's what follows after this that makes this a truly remarkable story, one that had me in tears for many reasons.

The young lady who plays Lisa is an exceptional actress. So well acted and portrayed .A tough movie to watch at times but also couldn't miss a moment.

It was nice to see the real life Lisa at the end of the movie.

As I started to watch this I began to think that the script was simplistic and the acting poor.

However, as it progressed, I found the portrayal refreshingly straightforward; it is factual without the unnecessary addition of made-up dramatic twists that have become the norm because scriptwriters and directors seem to think their audiences need constant thrills.

It also has quite a retro 80s feel in terms of the writing, directing and acting, which adds to the overall effect.

Well worth a watch.

This was an absolutely great movie . You will be on the edge of your seat. You will chear for her to win. You will cry. Your heart will melt. This movie was better than what I expected. A+ Movie

This TV movie knows what it is, and uses inexpensive means to make itself appealing: careful cinematography and calm pacing of events.

This is not one of those action packed suspense movies, though it is hard not to watch it at the edge of your seat in the first half of the movie.

The real case of Lisa McVey is certainly the most amazing aspect of this little movie.

I very much appreciated the approach of the makers not to overproduce this.

The acting is ok enough for me, except for that cringy line at the tree (you'll notice...). That felt really awkward due to the writing.

Recommended watching due to the amazing story told.

This is the kind of thing you could imagine on a cheap movies channel.

The story was actually interesting enough but the acting was very wooden so it was difficult to get emotionally involved in the film. Plus the random black out edits from scene to scene made it feel like they had run out of ideas so just flipped to somewhere else in the story.

Still, I got to the end so it can't have been that bad. Perhaps one to watch during a pandemic when you've watched all the other films available on Netflix.

Good movie based on real events.

It's for one watch, probably not for watching twice. Or to be on favourites list.

I gave 7* for being based on real events.

Lisa is very likeable from the start. Poor kid was surrounded by a$$holes.