Peter Porte | Through the Shattered Lens

When she was a teenager, Tara (Catherine Lidstone) was the only witness to the drowning of her brother, John (Michael Blake Kruse). He fell off a bridge after taunting her about her desire to be a professional photographer and telling her that their parents would be forever disappointed in her. Ouch!

Ten years later, Tara is still struggling with her brother’s death. She spends her time vlogging about photography, working a demeaning waitressing job, and carrying on a toxic relationship with Derek (Sam Krumrine). When Tara discovers that Derek has been cheating on her, she starts to spiral into depression. Fortunately, her best friend — Amy (Angela Gulner) — has a solution!

It turns out that Amy’s family owns a really nice house on the beach! Amy suggests that she and Tara spend a weekend up there, without phones, without WiFi, without any connection to the outside world. (Sure, how could that go wrong?) Tara is reluctant but she finally agrees to Amy’s plans.

At first, it seems like the perfect getaway. The house is big. The scenery is beautiful. And yet, Tara can’t help but feel that something is amiss. She hears strange sounds in the house. Some of her possessions end up disappearing. Even though she’s with her best friend, it soon becomes clear that there are some unspoken tensions between Amy and Tara. Amy is sick of Tara feeling sorry for herself. Tara feels that Amy is spoiled and has never had to struggle. Fortunately, since it’s only the two of them, they should be able to work through any issues pretty easily, right?

Then, Lucas (Peter Porte) shows up. Lucas is handsome and charming and really good at fixing things. He also says that he just happens to be a huge fan of one of Tara’s favorite books, Wild by Cheryl Strayed. When Amy says that she’s never heard of the book, Tara says, in shock, “But I did a whole vlog about it!” Hmmmm…..

Soon, Lucas is staying in the house with Tara and Amy. Tara likes him. Amy likes him. Does Lucas have an agenda of his own?

Of course, he does! And, let’s be honest, you figured that out as soon as I mentioned him. As I’ve said before, the best Lifetime films are always a little bit predictable. You don’t necessarily watch these films to be shocked. You watch them so that you can talk back to the screen as the characters in the movie make the most obvious mistakes possible. That’s part of the fun of a good Lifetime film. From the minute that Lucas shows up, it’s obvious that he’s not just some innocent hiker who happened to stumble across the beach house. It’s obvious to everyone but Tara and Amy.

But that doesn’t really matter. Though it may be predictable, Dead In The Water is still a lot of fun. In fact, it’s probably one of the more enjoyable films that I’ve seen on Lifetime recently. This film delivers exactly what you want from a movie like this — attractive people in attractive locations dealing with sudden melodrama and a lot of sexual tension. Director Nanea Miyata does a good job of generating suspense, especially early on in the film when Tara is struggling to figure out whether or not there’s really someone in the house or if her own paranoia is getting the better of her. In the two main roles, Angela Gulner and Catherine Lidstone both give good performances. You believe them as best friends, right down to their occasional disagreements. Seriously, the occasional disagreements are a key part of having a best friend. You love them even when you know you’re driving them crazy.

Dead In The Water was a lot of fun. Keep an eye out for it.

(I am currently in the process of cleaning out my DVR! It’s going to take forever because I’ve got over a 150 movies to watch! Anyway, I recorded The Good Nanny off of Lifetime on May 15th.)

Poor Summer Pratt (Briana Evigan).

No sooner has she gotten engaged to Clint (Ben Gavin) then she suffers a miscarriage, losing the baby that she didn’t even know that she was carrying. Before she has even had a chance to emotionally recover from her loss, Summer is offered a job. Lilly Walsh (Ellen Hollman) wants hire Summer to be her interior designer. Summer doesn’t particularly like Lilly, who drinks a bit too much, has a controversial past, and tends to come across as being just a little bit fake. In fact, Summer would rather not take the job at all but Lilly just happens to married to Clint’s boss (Peter Porte). Mostly in order to help Clint’s career, Summer takes the job.

While Clint goes out of town on business, Lilly moves into the Walsh mansion. (As one would expect from a Lifetime movie, the house is absolutely gorgeous.) It turns out the Walshes need more than just an interior designer. Their nanny has quit and they need a new one immediately. Summer takes the job and that’s where things start to get strange.

The Walshes insist that their daughter, Sophie (Sophie Guest), has borderline personality disorder and is accident prone. Summer, however, suspects that they are abusing Sophie and even comes to believe that they might not actually be Sophie’s parents. When she sees that Sophie’s shoulder is scarred, Summer grows even more concerned. And, of course, there’s the fact that Summer regularly talks about a mysterious girl named Sasha and she also sleeps with a pair of scissors.

(Admittedly, I used to do the same thing but that was just because I was sixteen and I was pretending that I was in a horror movie.)

Is Summer right? Are the Walshes abusing their daughter? Or, are the Walshes telling the truth about Sophie? Could Sophie be one of those crazy children who always seem to show up in Lifetime movies? Or could it be that Summer, herself, is imagining things? Has the loss of her own child left hrt susceptible to delusion? Are her frequent nightmares evidence of her own instability or do they mean something else?

I really liked The Good Nanny. It was enjoyably weird and over the top, featuring some memorably off-center performances, especially from Kym Jackson, who gives a ferocious performance as a character who I can’t say too much about. Particularly for a Lifetime film, The Good Nanny is gorgeously shot, with Summer’s nightmares being appropriate creepy and full of shadows and there’s a wonderful harshness to the look of the film’s beach-set finale. The film’s twisty plot will keep you guessing. Just as in real life, you’ll never be sure who is crazy or who is just obnoxious.

The Good Nanny is definitely one to keep an eye out for!