AKA: Homewrecker
Directed by: Tom
Vaughan
Starring: Mayra Leal,
Matt Lusk, Sarah Prikryl, and Craig Welzbacher
Genre: Thriller,
Suspense
Rated: Unrated (R equivalent)
Newlyweds Mitch and Jen McKenzie have just bought their
first house. Danny, Mitch’s best friend, moves in to help out with the mortgage
payments. All is well until Danny meets Blair, a beautiful young woman who is soon over at the house all the time. Blair claims to be in love with Danny, but she
is after more than she is letting on, and that puts everyone in the house in
danger.
This film is very predictable. It is yet another “crazy girl
wants man and will destroy whatever gets in her way” flick, and poorly done at
that. Blair is so obvious about her intentions; I don’t understand how the
other characters are so fooled by her. She blatantly flirts with Mitch the
minute she meets him, right in front of Jen. She sashays around the house in
her underwear or a button-down revealing her cleavage, and nothing else; swims
naked in the pool; uses every opportunity to create chaos within the household,
and uses her looks and silver tongue to manipulate everyone. Jen is the only
one who sees through the act to some degree, and that is because she feels her
relationship with her husband is threatened by Blair’s presence. I assume she
doesn’t speak out because she’s afraid she’ll seem jealous and paranoid, but
she should have because she had every right to feel those things. It’s obvious
from the beginning who Blair is REALLY after, and it’s not Danny.
The men in this film are incredibly stupid – Mitch more so
than Danny. With Danny, it’s understandable. He has a gorgeous girlfriend who
loves to cook for him, play video games, and have lots of sex. He’s smitten.
Mitch is just fooled by a pretty face and a “please take care of me” pout. Jen is
intelligent and independent. She is a successful chef who has recently been
offered her own restaurant. This upsets Mitch because he wants to spend more
time with her, and Blair is there whispering in his ear that a good wife is
home when her husband arrives and makes an effort to enjoy everything he does.
How Blair is able to talk him into doing some things is beyond me - and somehow
this man is a doctor.
There are just too many moments of idiocy to make this a
decent film. If you suspect a person of murder and have let them on to that
suspicion, why would you allow yourself to be alone with them? How did Blair clean
up gallons of blood with one large kitchen sponge? It’s pretty clear she has no
idea how to clean up a crime scene, yet the tile is spotless. Why would you
allow a woman you know nothing about to move into your home? A woman who seems
to have no job or means of paying rent? At least Jen was in her right mind about
not wanting Blair to move in, but once again, Mitch makes her feel like an ass
and she backs down.
The acting was okay at best, with Prikryl and Lusk being the
most believable. Leal does well with the seduction scenes, but she’s rather
laughable when committing murders. I’m sorry, I’m not buying her as a
sociopathic killer. Welzbacher is probably the worst of the lot, being rather
stiff in his portrayals of most emotions. Unless he’s conveying anger in some
capacity, it’s hard to tell what his character is supposed to be feeling. Is he
stressed? Is he happy? Who knows?
All of the kill scenes are done out-of-frame or off screen,
so the viewer skips out on most of the violence. There’s also little to rate
the special effects by, but the pool of blood was done well. There is plenty of
nudity from Mayra Leal, for all of you hoping for some T & A. Otherwise,
the film has very little to offer.
Overall, another weak, direct-to-DVD/Blu-ray entry into the
thriller genre. It has quite a bit of nudity, which might appeal to some, but
otherwise it is predictable, full of stupid characters and off-screen kills.
Skip it.
3/10
