Carly Schroeder | Through the Shattered Lens

(I recorded Deadly Shores off of the Lifetime Movie Network on August 24th!)

Oh my God, isn’t life just perfect!?

That’s what Anna (Carly Schroeder) should be asking herself. After a whirlwind courtship and engagement, Anna has just married Richard Palmer (Phillip P. Keene), a famous mystery novelist! Not only is she a newlywed and it appears that she might soon also be newly rich. Her parents died mysteriously years ago and she stands to come into a lot of money!

Of course, nothing is ever as perfect as it seems. Her psychiatrist seems to be concerned about Anna acting too impulsively and he worries that she’s marrying Richard without even knowing him. When Anna arrives at her new home, she is struck by how coldly she’s treated by the housekeeper. Anna soon starts to feel that everyone is comparing her unfavorably to Richard’s previous wife, the one who died mysteriously at the lighthouse. And when Anna discovers that Richard has apparently incorporated his first wife’s death into his latest book, she is not amused. Even worse is how Richard reacts when Anna dares to wear a necklace that once belonged to dead wife.

And then there’s Beth (Kristin Minter), who seems friendly enough except that she’s awfully close to Richard. Of course, their closeness could have something to do with the fact that she’s Richard’s mistress. You know what they say: Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean that they’re not out to get you.

And, make no mistake about it, people are out to get Anna. However, what no one realizes is that Anna has got secrets and shadows in her past as well…

With all of the gothic scenery and the insecure wife and the hostile housekeeper, I was expecting Deadly Shores to just be another version of Rebecca. And, certainly, the first hour or so has much in common with that classic film. However, in the best grindhouse tradition, there’s a big twist that occurs during the final seven minutes of the film, one that totally turns the entire movie upside down. I won’t ruin the twist but I will say that it was a hugely satisfying one. In the end, Deadly Shores reminded me of one of those strange movies that Joan Crawford and Olivia de Havilland would have made for William Castle or Robert Aldrich back in the 1960s.

Deadly Shores is one of the many movies to have been directed by the prolific Fred Olen Ray. What his films often lack in budget, Ray makes up for in pure entertainment. Ray does a pretty good job directing this one, playing up the ominous atmosphere and giving Carly Schroeder enough room to go enjoyably over-the-top in the role of Anna.

All in all, Deadly Shores is an entertaining Lifetime film and one to keep an eye out for.

2004’s Mean Creek is one of those films that makes me cry every time.

The story that it tells is, at first glance, a rather simple one. It’s only as you start to dig beneath the surface that you discover just how complex the film really is. Sam (Rory Culkin) is being picked on by the school bully, the overweight George (Josh Peck). When Sam accidentally knocks over George’s video camera while George is filming himself playing basketball, George beats Sam up.

Sam’s older brother Rocky (Trevor Morgan) decided to get revenge and recruits two of his friends to help him out, Clyde (Ryan Kelly) and Marty (Scott Mechlowicz). Their plan is to invite George to Sam’s birthday party and to take him on a rafting trip. Eventually, they plan to challenge him to truth or dare, get him to strip naked, and then basically abandon him.

Needless to say, things don’t quite go as planned.

For one thing, it turns out that George is sincerely happy to have been invited to Sam’s party and he even shows up with a gift. George, it turns out, doesn’t consider himself to be a bully. Instead, he’s just an overweight kid who is insecure about his dyslexia and who doesn’t have any social skills. Once the boys and Sam’s girlfriend Millie (Carly Schroeder) are floating down the creek, they’re forced to reconsider their plans. Some want to forget about it and let George go. Some want to still go through with the plan.

And, meanwhile, poor George continues to be his own worst enemy…

Mean Creek is a fascinating film because George is such an unexpectedly complex character. When we first see him, it’s easy to dismiss him as just your standard middle school bully but, as the film progresses, it becomes apparent that there’s more to George than our first impressions may have suggested. And yet, every time that we start to feel truly sorry for George, he says the wrong thing or he displays some sort of behavior that reminds us of why he was invited to the birthday party in the first place. In the end, we’re as conflicted about him as everyone else on the boat. He’s a bully but he’s not a bad kid. Can we forgive him for being a bully or does he still need to be taught a lesson?

That’s the question at the heart of Mean Creek and the film’s final answer (or, perhaps I should say, lack of a final answer) makes me cry every time. I don’t want to spoil the film for those who haven’t seen it (and everyone should see it), so I’m not going to give any more details about the film’s plot. I’ll just say that Mean Creek is an important film and one that will leave you thinking about what you’ve just seen and how you feel about it.