Tag Archives: Jennifer Taylor

Lifetime Film Review: Twisted Twin (dir by Jeff Hare)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

I always love a good killer twin movie and Twisted Twin is one of the best that I’ve ever seen.

The twins in question are Tess Houston and Sammy Crain, both played by Lauren Swickard (or Lorynn York as she was credited at the time this film was produced).  They were separated at birth and, until recently, neither knew about the other.  Tess grew up in a nice, middle-class household and became responsible and trustworthy.  Sammy grew up in a wealthy household and …. well, she’s totally evil and insane.  I guess you can’t have a good twin without a bad counterpart.

(For the record, I’ve known a few twins and most of them were absolutely charming ….. except for the Ashvins, who we won’t talk about.)

When Tess leaves for her college orientation weekend, she’s shocked to meet Sammy.  Sammy says that it’s just a coincidence that they both ended up on campus at the same time but we know that Sammy has actually been stalking Tess for a while.  Sammy and Tess quickly bond.  Soon, Tess is sleeping over at Sammy’s mansion and Sammy is taking Tess’s Spanish exam for her.  Sound great, right?

Except….

Well, it turns out that there are two dead bodies in Sammy’s house.  Someone murdered Sammy’s adoptive parents and, when the police arrive, Tess is there and the cleaning crew swears that Tess is actually Sammy.  Because Tess actually has been pretending to be Sammy, the police are skeptical when Tess explains that she’s actually Tess.  Meanwhile, Sammy has gone off with Tess’s adoptive mother, Patricia (Jennifer Taylor), and is now having to pretend to be Tess.

So, I absolutely loved this film, largely because it just totally went for it.  There was no worrying about being subtle.  There was no concern about trying to make us believe that the film was meant to be a serious examination of what it’s like to be either a twin or adopted.  Instead, Twisted Twin fully embraced the melodrama and just went totally insane.  Listen, you have to love a film like that.

But, I know what you’re saying.  “Lisa, Lifetime has aired a lot of films about killer twins.  What sets this one apart?”

Well, first off, you’ve got some nerve questioning my opinion.  That said, the thing makes Twisted Twin one of the best killer twin movies ever made is Lauren Swickard’s wonderfully demented performance as Sammy and Tess.  Swickard does a remarkably good job of playing both these roles and it’s a lot of fun watching both Sammy and Tess struggling, at various times, to play each other.  I especially liked it when Sammy suddenly found herself having to make coffee for her mom, despite not knowing where anything was in the kitchen or how Patricia even takes her coffee.  It’s a fun little comedic moment.

It’s an enjoyable Lifetime movie.  It made me wonder what I would do if I ever discovered I had a twin.  I’d probably ask her to live far away from me, to be honest.  I’m not that good at sharing.  Plus, I’ve seen enough Lifetime movies to know that suddenly discovered twins are always bad news.

Film Review: Like A Country Song (dir by Johnny Remo)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

So, stop me if this sounds familiar.

You’ve got an old country boy named Bo (played by Billy Ray Cyrus) who, years ago, reacted to a family tragedy by abandoning his wife and son.  He’s spent the last decade on the road, drinking and doing drugs and basically being totally irresponsible.  Now, he’s returned home and he’s trying to be sober and he’s hoping that he might even be able to reconnect with his family.

And then you’ve got Jake (played by Joel Smallbone), who is an up-and-coming country music star.  He’s cocky.  He’s arrogant.  He’s still in love with his ex.  He’s returned home because he’s lost.  He’s also Bo’s son.  Years ago, his mother (Jennifer Taylor), told him that Bo was dead.

So, now, Bo and Jake are both wandering around the same town.  Do you think there’s a chance that Bo and Jake might meet each other?  And maybe Bo’s going to see that Jake is heading down the exact same bad road that Bo’s spent the last few years traveling?

Does that sound just like a country song?

Superficially, yes.  However, there are a few differences.  For one thing, 2014’s Like A Country Song was rated PG-13 and clearly made for a family audience.  That means there’s far less sex in this movie than you’ll find in the average country song.  This is one of those films were characters are described as being wild but they’re also rather chaste.  Jake’s ex (and perhaps future) girlfriend, Becca (Kerry Knuppe), is too busy volunteering to feed the homeless to spend much time doing anything else.

Also, since this is a faith-based film, there’s considerably less cursing to be found here than in the mildest of country music.  I may be mistaken but I don’t think I even heard a single “damn” in the film.  Trust me, I’ve spent a lot of time around country folk and even the most religious of them can turn profanity into an art form.  If you really want to attend a symposium on creative ways to use the f-word in casual conversation, go hang out with a bunch of retirees in Arkansas.

Traditionally, this would be the point of the review where I write about how, despite being from Texas, I’m not a huge fan of country music but actually the music in Like A Country Song isn’t that bad.  Say what you will about Billy Ray Cyrus, he can sing.  So can Joel Smallbone, for that matter.  Neither one is a bad actor, either.  They’re believable as father and son, except for a few instances where Smallbone’s native Australian accent breaks through.

Anyway, this is one of those films that won’t surprise you but it deserves some points for 1) being exceedingly pleasant and 2) not being as preachy as some of the other faith-based films out there.  Though the film was made on an obviously low-budget, it makes good use of its country setting and the cast does their best to bring some life to the material.  It’s a good-natured movie and sometimes, that’s enough.

 

Cleaning Out The DVR: Family Vanished (dir by Mark Sanderson)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

I recorded Family Vanished off of the Lifetime Movie Network on July 6th!

“Give me my wedding ring, you white trash bitch!”

— Lisa (Kelly Packard) in Family Vanished (2018)

Here’s two lessons that I learned from Family Vanished:

  1. Be careful how much information you post online.

Seriously, Lisa (Kelly Packard) thought it would be a good idea to post how much she had sold a painting for online.  She also thought it would be a good idea to let the world know that she, her husband (Madison Dirks), and her daughter (Elisa Luthman) would all be in Hawaii on a work vacation.

What happened as a result?  Well, Mike (Todd Cahoon), Carol (Jennifer Taylor), and their daughter (Megan Littler) saw Lisa’s posting.  And they decided that Lisa and her family must have a lot of money.  So, they broke into the family’s house.  They lived there for several days.  They tried on everyone’s clothes.  They slept in everyone’s beds.  They made the house their own and, since they never took off their black gloves, they managed to do it without leaving behind any DNA or fingerprint evidence.

Of course, they quickly discovered that Lisa and her family wasn’t as rich as they assumed.  In fact, a quick perusal of Lisa’s diary revealed that the family itself wasn’t particularly happy.  Still, Mike and Carol were determined to get something for all of their trouble so they stayed in the house until Lisa and the family returned from their vacation.

Second lesson learned:

2. You can only push people so far before they snap.

Sure, Mike and Carol had a lot of fun tormenting Lisa and her family.  They revealed that Lisa had been unfaithful.  They forced Lisa’s husband to bark like a dog.  They taunted Lisa’s daughter for having won so many trophies in school.  Mike and Carol had a lot of fun but they failed to consider just how far some people will go to get revenge.

When their initial ordeal finally ended, Lisa and her husband were not happy to learn that the police had no real leads as to where Mike and Carol went off to.  So, they decided to investigate on their own.  And when they did track down Mike and Carol, well, let’s just say that even the most normal-seeming people can be pushed too far…

So, Family Vanished was a film that I had mixed feelings about.  I’m not a huge fan of movies about people being held hostage.  Films about hostage situations are always a bit too predictable for me.  It always starts with the hostages pleading for their lives and then the nosy neighbor comes over and there’s the big tense scene where the main hostage has to try to get rid of him while someone stands behind the front door with a gun or a knife pointed at his back.  The hostage takers always start taunting the hostages.  I’ve seen it so many times that I just automatically get bored with the situation.

So, the first half of Family Vanished didn’t do much for me but then Lisa and her husband set out to get revenge and it became this totally different, wonderfully over-the-top movie!  I loved watching Kelly Packard and Madison Dirks get mean and vengeful.  Kelly Packard has appeared in many Lifetime movies but I think this is the first one where she actually gets to kick some ass and both she and Dirks seemed to be having a lot of fun with the role reversal.  Add to that, Mike and Carol were so obnoxiously cruel that it was impossible not to get some guilty pleasure out watching Lisa demanded the return of her wedding ring.

With its theme of a terrible crime leading to an even worse revenge, Family Vanished is what I imagine a Wes Craven-directed Lifetime movie would have been like.   It’s Lifetime’s Last House On The Left.