Thrill of the Kill

If you like mystery/thrillers, this is a good one & keeps you guessing almost to the end. The acting was very good by all and each had a clear identity that gave one pause to wonder, "was it him?" Very enjoyable and held my interest from beginning to end and a good job of a movie made for television by all. Definitely entertaining which is WHY some of us STILL DO watch such movies that give us a thrill and chill at the same time.

Kelly Holden (Shiri Appleby) is still haunted by her sister Alison's murder a year ago. She reads Graydon Jennings (Chris Potter)'s latest murder mystery and is shock to see so many similarities with her sister's murder. When she talks to Graydon, he reveals that the murder is based on another murder. They go off together to investigate Alison's murder. Kelly discovers Alison's diary with the name Cicero. The code name alluding to the Roman senator leading them to the modern day Senator Darren Hartford (Matt Cooke). Also there is Alison's former boyfriend Hank (Paul Hopkins) who could be a suspect.

This is a Lifetime TV movie in every ways especially the production value. Shiri Appleby does really well as the damsel in distress. However there is just a few nagging plot points that is never addressed. When Graydon mentions the other girl, there is an obvious serial killer angle that is missed. Also Graydon as a suspect is dismissed almost immediately. These need to be explained much better. The plot has some possibilities as a standard murder mystery, but it's not quite good enough to recommend.

Thrill of the Kill began ok, and most of the movie was adequate. It seemed puzzling that it looked like her and him practically moved in together. It went downhill when the senator spilled his guts to the girl. Why would he do that? Do what senators always do....lie! It was nice and convenient he was even there too. But biggest shark jump came with about 10 minutes to go. That was when the real murderer made his confession, pointlessly. The gun shot heard from the kitchen was a really stupid scene. Then, run to the barn, climb the ladder. Good idea since there's no way out then. Or is there??? This is not my spoiler but my cliffhanger!!!

Dumbest female protags I've ever seen in a movie. Unbelievably so. Cheesy horror movie dumb. I didn't realize this movie was so old as I'd caught it during first weekend of lockdown on either NF or AMZPrime. I only watched it bc of Shiri and Chris Potter. Two faces I recognized. This chick is DUMB and it just got worse as the movie progressed. I found myself getting mad at her throughout the film and wanted to turn it off, but past a certain minute mark, I felt compelled to finish.

I won't spoil anything because the movie is not worth rehashing in that way. What would have been a surprise is if the villain turned out to not be the villain, but Kelly was such an idiot that it had to be on purpose and would have made no sense for her to not be playing right into the villain's hands. The parts with the politician were cringe and it was like she was in denial over not knowing what her sister was involved in. But as I said, she does a lot of things that irked me. There were so many signs practically hitting her over head that the only thing more obvious would be a cartoon DANGER sign flashing in her face.

This was a disappointing movie, and I think I napped afterwards. That's how bored I was. I will give the movie kudos for some of the creep factor. No matter how bad the movie, a person home alone and unknowingly at the mercy of the villain always gets to me. But Kelly was hard to root for because she lacked all common sense.

It's not your high budget movie but it's a good paced and good movie which has some interesting twists and turns. Worth a watch. And definitely beats some high end Hollywood flops.