Maternal Instincts

Executive produced by Delta Burke, she is a pregnant woman who loses her baby when it is discovered she has cancer of the left ovary, and her doctor Eva Warden (Beth Broderick) performs a hysterectomy rather than remove the ovary. Burke then seeks vengence on Dr Warden - her home, her practice, her husband, her baby, and her life. Burke throws herself into all this with abandon, playing along with the campy direction by George Kaczender. Styled in her own Design wardrobe, she looks beautiful, a bit like Roseanne, particularly when wearing a red seductress dress with plunging neckline. Burke is very funny whether having a tantrum in a toilet stall or throwing pencils over her shoulder after she stubs out the point. The teleplay by Lisa Friedman Bloch and Kathy Kirtland Silverman makes Burke infantile in her anger, with a large doll collection, the kind of person who yells when they attack. That she has such good fortune in carrying out her plans makes the denouement disappointing,and the end definitely suggests a sequel was contemplated.

How does one go about adding to a genre where every scenario has been done, every point made, and most important of all, all of the details, plot items and twists so often done in a similar fashion that they tend to become clichés? One makes a campy throwback to the genre, using and spoofing the clichés and in no way venturing on any new ground. I can't imagine that this film was supposed to be taken seriously. The negative reviews seem to do so, hence their less than favorable reaction and view of the movie. The lead character finds that she's unable to give birth, robbing her of her dream of a family. So what else to do than try to avenge her situation... through a wide selection of manipulations as well as several hissy fits. I don't think it actually gets any more formulaic than that. Same goes for the cinematography and for the most part, the editing. There's very little ingenuity or creative energy put in, there. I did think the score was fair, with a delightfully ultra-campy addition... in at least two pieces of music, I noticed the tones and rhythm of the "Mockingbird" lullaby(which the main character is heard singing several times, altering the lyrics to fit the immediate scene) that had been mixed in, almost seamlessly. The acting is mostly overdone, making supposedly serious scenes funny, intentionally or not. The intense scenes are done OK, but as most everything else about the film, they're mostly good for a laugh. The dialog almost sounds smart, at times, but there's not far between the really silly exchanges. The plot just barely holds up, but it certainly doesn't surprise(or really draw you in). The pacing is OK. In spite of having watched this before, I wasn't terribly bored(then again, I couldn't remember or recognize much of what I saw, either). Really, from the opening scene of Delta Burke singing earlier mentioned lullaby, there's little doubt that this is campy... and I'm almost certain that it was on purpose. Know what to expect from this one. I recommend it to fans of camp and spoof films that disguise themselves(badly) as serious entries in the genres that they parody. 6/10

This movie was very good. Mostely because of Beth Brodericks (Dr. Eva Warden) acting. The movie aren't so very predictable and that keeps the excitement going til the end. I really really liked this movie and I have seen it several times. Brodericks acting is great throughout the whole movie and she makes it worth seeing.

Delta Burke pulls quite a Jekyll & Hyde in this TV-made rip-off of "The Hand That Rocks the Cradle". A childless woman, desperate to have a baby, must undergo an emergency hysterectomy to save her life; upon recovery, she feels her chances at having a family have been stolen and goes after the female doctor who performed the surgery, systematically ruining the woman's life and career. Exploitation of real-life horrors is played to the hilt by Burke, twinkling like an evil, overgrown pixie. Still, it's shameful swill, and one is almost embarrassed to get caught up in the outrageous plot contrivances, amusing as they are. That said, the climactic showdown doesn't quite work (it's the only sequence which is awkwardly staged) and the "Psycho"-inspired tag at the end pushes the seriousness of the subject (revenge, kidnapping, etc.) into camp territory that renders the rest of the movie cartoonish.

I loved this movie. The actors were great. Beth Broderick is Dr. Eva Warden and she is very good at the role. Delta Burke was Tracy and she really got into the role. Garwin Sanford was great as Eva's husband. There were moments that you would wonder where something came out of such as when Eva gives birth and she gets worried about Gary( you have to see the movie) her partner pulls out a seditive like he knew that she was going to go alittle cuckoo. This is a movie that I would recommend for everyone except young children.