The film is titled "Deadly Suspicion." This is the story of a matriarch who is abruptly widowed. After the funeral she has to accept a prospective daughter - in - law into the fold. One of the worst movies ever -absolutely dreadful. The matriarch appears to be wise enough to cover her tracks by staying friends with the local police for decades and by appearing to be the grieving widow, yet halfway through she suddenly begins shooting at everything on two legs! The acting was hammy -if it wasn't over the top, it was flat and wooden. I'm referring in particular to the son. The story was poor and the dialogue pretty dreadful. There were some nice moments watching the Southern Californian countryside, but I can watch that in a travelogue. I've seen countless excellent thriller/domestic drama -type movies -this wasn't one of them. Stuck with it till the bitter end and wished I hadn't!
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rtaggart-121 July 2009
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Deadly Suspicion is an absolutely dreadful 2008 movie starring Marilu Henner as the widow of a murdered man. And how did I know the distributor of this dreck was none other than Lifetime? It had its particular stamp - less than mediocre.
This is one of those films that, ten seconds after it starts, you know the entire story, including any subplots that haven't been mentioned yet.
Henner wants her son (Matt Kesslar) to enter politics like his father, but he comes home with a fiancée who is a doctor (Emily Bergl), and neither of them are interested in public political life.
Meanwhile, the governor's daughter Hayley is in a mental institution, overdrugged.
The acting is beyond awful. Marilu Henner is a lovely woman but just doesn't make it as a domineering matron.
The ending is more like a horror movie, but then I could say that the whole thing was one big horror. -
sol121828 March 2011***MAJOR SPOILER ALERT*** It doesn't take a genius to figured who blasted former Governor Duke Black away within the first five minutes of the movie. Duke's old lady Ann's grieving widow act is so phony, as well as her self-inflicted shoulder injury, that the film doesn't for a moment try to keep the audience guessing if she did it or not!
Wanting Duke out of the way to both get her hands on his money and property as well as getting Jr. Nathan a top spot on the ticket as the states Attorney General Ann has a problem in that Nathan isn't all that interested in his mom's future plans for him. There's also the sticky matter of the late Gov's teenage daughter Hayley who may well have witnessed his murder who's after being tracked down by local Sheriff Carl Lovett was placed in a mental institution and doped up to the point where she can't even remember her own name much less the identity of her father's killer. What really gets Ann hot under the collar is Nathan's fiancée Dr. Heather McManus who's keeping him from going into politics by refusing to quit her job at the local hospital where she puts in 18 hours shifts. Nathan like Heather feels his mission in life is to help people in his job as a public defender not throw them behind bars as the state's new Attorney General!
Ann gets dressed in this real sexy black riding outfit and gets the house's drunk and horny handyman Keith Sila to terrorize Heather into leaving the Black residence by trying to both drive her off the road as well as rape her in her and Nathan's apartment. As for Ann she takes care of some unfinished business by getting pesky reporter Jill Quigly out in the middle of nowhere, on the vast Black estate, and instead of giving Jill the exclusive interview that she promised her blast her away before she can get her tape recorder operational! Things soon start to fall apart for Ann in that Heather not only recovers her memory but escapes from the mental institution and is now ready to expose her as her father's murderer!
Still trying to cover all the bases Ann gets handyman Keith, who has a habit of talking too much, good and drunk and then blows him away making it look like he committed suicide! Ann also goes so far as planting the idea in Nathan's head that his future wife Heather was fooling around behind his back by being pregnant with another man child!
****SPOILER****What really tips the scales of justice against Ann is when she went as far and murdering the one legged ranch-hand Bill who after him and his meek wife Vera took all he abuse that they could stomach from her attempted to blackmail Ann in revealing,from what the on the run Heather told him, that she's the person who murdered the Gov her husband! This just about flipped Ann out in not only murdering the defenseless Bill but in overplaying her hand as the innocent and grieving widow. Rushing over to the Black Mansion Ann now tries to stage a fatal accident for the very badly injured,from the car smash up that Keith forced her into, Heather that had both Nathan and Sheriff Lovett show up and catch Ann in the act and finally put an end to her madness! -
dbborroughs10 December 2009The governor is killed and his wife summons their son to her. She begins her scheming in the hopes of consolidating power. Then more murders happen.
Weak TV movie of the week does no one connected to it any favors. The weak script is under cut by sub-TV production (you can feel the crew standing behind the camera). The only one who seem to be doing more then walk through their paces is the cast, but while they are mostly game, they have nothing to work with. I'm sure this looked good on paper but on screen it plays badly. I'm still trying to work out what made me think this would even be good to rent. -
owepar2 January 2009This was one of the stupidest movies I had ever watched. When it was over I couldn't believe I wasted my time watching it. The ending was too abrupt - the main character should have at least been tortured some before just being shot. The fact that Marilu Henner made this movie just makes me think less of her, she's been a fairly good actress in the past and I believe she could find better work. The scene toward the end where she shot the maid's husband was uncalled for and was not integral to the plot at all. They must have had 5 minutes to fill so they threw that part in. Don't waste your time with this one. I don't think any of the "new faces" will be building on much of a career with this movie.
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cheesyturd27 August 2011Wow! Just. Wow!!! talk about ten out of ten quality!!!!! Deadly suspicion left the audience with a tingling suspicion (ironic don't you think), what and amazing sound track to accompany this edge of your seat thriller!!! world class acting indeed!!!! why did this film not win an Oscar??? where has this film been all my life?? My vote: a movie for all ages and a definite watch :) this is the rise of the next generation of prime acting, i like the way the director puts across a very leading and tempting trail of events throughout the movie. suspicious. and quite creepy indeed. a few screams in this movie which is to be expected with actors like marilu henner and emily bergl :)
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rah-853013 December 2022What a totally awful movie! The acting was appalling from every single actor, especially the mad Mother-in-Law who just became more ridiculous as she became madder, and Heather who looked about 12 years old and was completely unbelievable. The son was simply wooden and did not vary his expression the whole time. A terrible script didn't help and the awful music during the 'dramatic' scenes was horrendous.
The plot was obvious from the first scene and so was the ending. Pity Mad Ma-in-Law didn't kill them all in the first 5 minutes and spare us the rest of this miserable affair.
What an horrendous mess! -
phd_travel31 October 2019Marilu Henner is watchable as the Governor's Wife / homicidal mother in law to be from hell.
The story gets too outrageous as she offs people without restraint. Doesn't ring plausible. -
Wow! This is a great film. You sit there mesmerized by the wonderful performance of Marilu Henner as a manipulative, vicious murdering woman, who will do anything to keep her lifestyle as a queen and son all to herself.
Henner gives a terrific performance. Her very eye contact is the absolute embodiment of evil here and she has a field day in the same genre that Gale Sondergaard had during her years in film.
Henner stops at nothing to get what she wants. She has killed her 2nd husband after he apparently threatened to leave her. Her unbalanced step-daughter witnesses this and is institutionalized. The head of the institution fears Henner and will do anything she says. While she has an Oedipus complex regarding her son, she hates her prospective daughter-in-law and will do or say anything to eliminate her, even so far as to bring back a former girlfriend of the son.
The bodies begin to pile up as Henner begins eliminating 2 workers, and a newspaper reporter as well, all of whom threaten her very existence.
Henner is cunning and sly to the hilt. She gives a truly outstanding performance, certainly her best and one that she should be respected for.