Glass House: The Good Mother

Having lived with an abusive stepparent, this hit the nail bang on the head. DAMNED scary. Soundtrack was nice, acting superb all around, and the photography lush and brilliantly planned.

Actually, I'd rate this as an 8.5, because the enabling stepfather was just a little TOO accommodating, although the writing is otherwise well-crafted. The reason I gave this a ten is to offset the overly biased previous postings which don't give this movie its due. The visuals are truly stunning, the sets gorgeous, and the camera-work clever and innovative.

Oh, and the actresses are unbelievably beautiful. The "stepmother" is a latter-day Ali McGraw, and it's testament to her talent that she can go from dazzlingly, breathtakingly sexy to skin-crawlingly scary within a matter of seconds.

The "stepdaughter" is also great, absolutely believable and so pretty and vulnerable you know she's going to be a major heartbreaker as she matures.

Don't listen to the negative voices. Judge for yourself. A solid, high-tension, superbly-crafted thriller.

(And no, I have no connection whatsoever to anyone involved.)

One year after losing their son David, Eve Goode (Angie Harmon) and her husband Raymond Goode (Joel Gretsch) adopt the orphan Ethan Snow (Bobby Coleman) and his teenager sister Abby Snow (Jordan Hinson) and bring them to their mansion nearby a lake. Abby faces difficulties of adaptation in her new home, and she confronts Eve, who proves to be deranged and unstable. When Ethan gets sick, Abby tries to contact their friend, detective Ben Koch (Jason London), and she realizes that her brother and she are trapped in the house.

"The Good Mother" is predictable, full of clichés, but still a reasonable B-movie. The story has a tense beginning, but there is no previous development of the characters Abby and Ethan Snow or Ben Koch. The viewer does not know who they are or their relationship. The attitude of Abby when she moves to her foster house is totally ungrateful and unfair with her stepparents that gives a magnificent room in a wonderful house, triggering the insanity of Eve. It is difficult to understand teenagers most of the times, but there is no explanation for the feelings of Abby when she moves to the Goode's house without a previous development of her character. In the end, the forgettable "The Good Mother" is an enjoyable entertainment. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "A Casa de Vidro 2" ("The House of Glass 2")

In this sequel to the mediocre original, another teenage girl and young boy get adopted by a creepy couple after their parents pass away. At first, their new life seems idyllic, but as in the first film, things aren't always as they seem, and there are a few skeletons busting to come out of the closet.

Okay, for a start the main problem here is there is not a sympathetic character in the film. Mom is a psycho, Dad is a doormat, Abby (the girl) is a total biatch and the young lad has so few scenes we barely know what to think of him. Also, from the beginning it's pretty obvious that everything about this place spells *CREEPY* and yet, it takes Abby more than an hour of the movie to bother doing anything about it. That's after her foster mother purposely leaves broken glass in the sink for her to cut herself with, drugs her with tranquilisers so she spends days at a time in her room and forbids her to leave the house or speak to anyone on the phone. Even when her brother falls MYSTERIOUSLY ILL with 'food poisoning' and crazy mom won't take him to the hospital, she still doesn't twig. Fortunately, there's a convenient bedroom full of evidence of her past crimes and... Oh, wait, I'm getting ahead of myself here. If you're going to watch it, I suppose you want to discover the 'surprises' all by yourself. Lucky you.

The acting all round ranges from average to deplorable (especially in the later sections when things get REALLY over the top), there isn't an unpredictable plot twist in the script and most of the occurrences happened in the original, anyway. So why not do yourself a favour, see The Glass House again instead? Save yourself a rental fee. Or better yet, why not just dump both movies and go watch something classic from that Master Of Suspense himself, Sir Alfred Hitchcock? I recommend North By Northwest or The Birds. No, they weren't made this century, but I tell you what.. they beat ten shades of poo out of today's so-called thrillers. Exhibit A: this film. Life is short, after all.. 3/10

High class intense melodrama which had my attention.

Mother loses child and adopts two as replacement; yet the mother and her husband have dark secrets in a house full of them. And on one level this film goes further than child endangerment but into child cruelty and worse.

Excellent photography, generally very good direction with a few blimps near the end.

Super performances from the two female leads which makes the film.

The actress playing the mother is sensationally "bad".

Worthy of a sound: 7/10.

I rent a lot of movies. I find some unexpected gems, a lot that get categorized as idle entertainment, and some that make me curse myself for renting movies in the first place. This movie solidly fits into the idle entertainment category, as I could see the end result taking shape way too early in the viewing process. Without giving away anything, the one thing that stands out in this movie is the acting of Jordan Hinson. She was cast as what she is...a teenager. But throughout the entire movie, she goes above and beyond what (I would think) would normally be expected, and delivers an outstanding performance. I think she was the true star of the movie, though you have to look at the fine print on the back of the DVD to find her name. If you want to see a diamond in the rough, look here. She makes the movie worth viewing.