The 1997 film Too Close To Comfort tells the disturbing story of the Donahues.

Nick Donahue (Rick Schroder) is a young attorney, a law school grad who has just joined the bar and who is still making a name for himself as a defense attorney.  He’s good at his job and if you have any doubts, his mother Diane (Judith Light) will be there to tell you why you’re incorrect.  Diane and Nick still live together.  They have the type of relationship where Diane casually walks into the bathroom to talk to Nick while he’s in the shower.

In short, they have a very creepy relationship.

Nick talks about needing to get a place of his own but his mother says that it’s too soon for him to spend all that money.  Nick wants to fall in love and marry a nice girl and start a family.  Diane doesn’t want Nick to have a life separate from her.  When Nick does end up marrying the sweet-natured Abby (Sarah Trigger), Diane snaps.  One night, Abby is abducted and is later found murdered.  Nick sobs and Diane holds her son and she doesn’t mention the fact that she’s the one who arranged for Abby to be killed.

The police figure it out, of course.  Diane wasn’t that clever.  When Diane is arrested and put on trial for murder, Nick is shocked.  With his mother facing the death penalty for murdering his wife, Nick steps forward to defend his mother in court.

Agck!  This movie!  Admittedly, this is a made-for-TV movie but it’s still creepy as Hell.  If anything, the fact that it was made for television make it even creepier than if it was a uncensored feature film.  Held back by the rule of television, the film has to hint at what would probably otherwise be portrayed as explicit.  That makes all of the little moments that indicate Diane’s madness all the more disturbing and frightening because they could be read several different ways.  This is a film where every line is full of a very icky subtext.  Diane is more than just an overprotective mother.  Her feelings for Nick are on a whole other level.

Fortunately, Judith Light is one of those actresses who excels at communicating subtext.  She delivers every line with just enough of an inflection that we know what she’s saying even if she doesn’t actually say it.  From rolling her eyes when Nick asks her to turn around when he gets out of the shower to the scene where she flirts with Nick’s new landlord, Light leaves little doubt as to what really going through Diane’s mind.  Rick Schroder has a far more simpler role as Nick but he still does a good job with the role.  He’s sympathetic, even when he’s refusing to accept the truth about his mother.

This film is all the more disturbing due to being loosely based on a true story.  The real Diana Donahue was named Elizabeth Ann Duncan and she was convicted of killing her son’s wife in the 1950s.  (Too Close To Home is set in the 90s.)  Her son really did defend her, all the way until her execution.  In real life, her son continued to practice law until 2023, when he was disbarred by the state of California.

As for the film, it’s a classic true crime made-for-TV movie that features Judith Light at her disturbing best.