Dark Desire

This thriller has an intriguing wacko who seems possessive over his rich college roommate. When he goes too far and falls out with him he lets him drop off a cliff. Later he ingratiates his way into the wealthy mother's heart. But as can be expected the wacko side gets the better of him. Implausible at times but fairly exciting you want to see what happens. There is a bit of an explanation for his craziness.

The cast is quite good including Kelly Lynch as the grieving mother who can't say no. The wacko is well played by Nic Robuck.

Worth a watch.

Great movie! Well acting, directing and story. Congratulations to all cast. I really enjoyed it. In the beginning I didn't expect anything good, but I noticed a couple of definitely good actors, (Kelly Lynch and Michael Nouri), so I thought that maybe... and it was! WOW! Very good pace, interesting plot, full of suspense and I didn't miss anything, just stuck to the screen until the ending. That was really well written and satisfying.

I'm not saying anything about the story as I don't want to ruin the surprise, but I highly recommend to give a look to this movie, if you like thrillers, of course.

Maybe it doesn't deserve 9 stars, but not even it deserves few stars, so I'm trying to give it a chance.

Okay, I'm not a Lifetime fan... in fact, I'm one who typically makes fun of the kind of drivel Lifetime plays. But I stumbled on this one early on while flipping around and got a little hooked. The tension is well-played, and even small roles (the wife's best friend, the detective) are interestingly portrayed and realistic. Not your typical LMN fare, but deep and dark enough to draw you in. The interplay between the roommates is key to that tension, and I found myself genuinely torn between my alliances to the two. Kelly Lynch, who hasn't changed an ounce since her turn in Road House, stole the movie in a lot of ways, and her performance clearly guided those around her. In short, I really enjoyed it, and I'm not embarrassed to say so...

"Shane" (Nic Robuck) seems like a normal young man but under the surface he is a hot-tempered and mentally disturbed psychopath. As luck would have it, his new college roommate, "Brandon" (Brian Borello) makes the mistake of inviting him to his parent's house over a weekend. Once there, Shane takes the opportunity to embed himself deep into Brandon's family and like a malignant virus begins to spread destruction within it. Anyway, rather than spoil the film for those who haven't seen it, I will just say that for a film produced for "Lifetime" this one tested the boundaries just a bit when it came to a couple of passionate scenes. In that regard, I thought Kelly Lynch was terrific as the lonely and sexually starved housewife named "Caren". I also thought Nic Robuck did a pretty good job in his dark and volatile role as well. Now, while I would have preferred a format that was less restrictive this still turned out to be a slightly better than average movie in spite of it all.

We all know about Lifetime movies -or should I say Lifetime movie? These are variations on the same movie, which can admittedly take a (small) number of forms. Perhaps the most typical of these is the apparently ordinary but actually deranged individual who insinuates him- or herself into a family of innocents. Frequently the sicko will exploit an existing tension within the family for his/her own dastardly ends. Well, this is indeed what happens in this movie. But the similarity to a typical Lifetime movie pretty much ends there. This is no Anne Carlucci or Pierre David production. Nor is it directed by the ubiquitous, unimaginative, lifeless Douglas Jackson. Nor is the narrative punctuated with the characters' wholesome, sentimental, heartwarming chuckles. The film is directed with a sense of style, the actors are far above the level of mediocrity afflicting virtually all Lifetime actors, the camera work is relatively polished, the pacing and tempo never drag and the film is cut professionally. Armand Mastroianni is no star director, but he's way better than any of Lifetime's stable of inert "talents".

What prevents Lifetime from turning out something like this more than every 3 or 4 years? A restricted budget? An obsession with low-budget Canadian dreck? Probably something along those lines. Lifetime would surely broaden its audience were it to look to put together more movies of this calibre. Make no mistake, Dark Desire is not a first-rate film. But it's got a polish and professionalism entirely lacking in just about every other of the network's products. It starkly underscores the low-rent, shallow and amateurish quality of most everything else Lifetime has tossed our way. It's time to put Carlucci and David out to pasture.