Newlywed and Dead (2016 TV Movie) User Reviews (10)

A wedding to die for, I wouldn't want to be in this wedding party.

[Ed-Shullivan · 6/10 · 15 February 2019]

This drama/thriller is an okay time waster. It's no (1987) Fatal Attraction quality but I found the acting to be relatively decent for a made for TV film. I thought too much footage and time was wasted on showing how the young pre-teen Jay caused his mothers death and then 20 years later as a wealthy adult with big plans of developing the thousands of beautiful wooded acres he owns Jay continues to be a ruthless SOB.

Jay's new bride Kristen is by no means dumb, and her mother is a deputy sherrif so (think like a) criminal instincts run in the family but yet she agrees to marry this killer without even inviting her mom to her wedding, or having Jay's past researched?

The muscular Jay also has an accomplice who he plans to blame for the murders he is planning on committing, and then his evil plans are thwarted when Kristen and her mom get the upper hand on Jay by hiding a gun behind the legal papers Jay wants Kristen to sign. Okay so it is not the slickest drama/thriller but the acting is decent so it was worth a watch. Thus the 6 out of 10 rating which is pretty good for a made for TV film.

Morgan! (A Suitable Case for Naming)

[wes-connors · 3/10 · 23 October 2016]

A misbehaving boy doesn't want to spend another long night in the basement. We don't see much bad stuff there, but the basement must be an insufferable punishment. The boy pushes his mother down her long and winding staircase with his baseball bat. In our lad's defense, she did ask him to, "Give me the bat." She got the bat. Many years later, our blond lad has grown up to be dark-haired Christopher Russell (as Jay Morgan). He's now getting married, to beautiful Shenae Grimes-Beech (as Kristen Ward). While it was a sudden marriage, but Mr. Russell is model-perfect and lives in a paradise filled with spacious rooms and champagne. This type of teleplay seldom turns out well for the bride, but Ms. Grimes-Beech apparently doesn't watch "Lifetime" TV movies...

One interesting error involves Russell's aunt, Venus Terzo (as Barbara Morgan). She is Jay's married mother's sister, but also has "Morgan" as a surname. This could mean she also married Mr. Morgan or his brother. That would have made the story more interesting, but we're told she was not married. Then, she could have simply been Jay's father's sister. Too easy. While dining on the lovely new Morgan patio, Ms. Terzo explains, "Jay took his mother's maiden name Morgan when he turned eighteen." Okay, you're snickering because Jay is clearly younger than 18 when he's called "Jay Morgan" in the opening. You should be thinking that another reason he changed his name to "Jay Morgan" is because that is what they were always calling him. Doesn't that make sense?

*** Newlywed and Dead (2016) Penelope Buitenhuis ~ Shenae Grimes-Beech, Christopher Russell, Samantha Ferris, Venus Terzo

Another "bad" husband gets his in the end

[mitchellfinesod · 2/10 · 21 August 2016]

Oedipal complex run amuk. Turns out, ALL the characters in this movie are "BAD".....We have the bad corrupt Sheriff that helps cover the aunties murder. We have the bad mothers: The mother of the bad son regularly locked him up in the basement. The mother of the bad wife hates marriage and is against her daughters marriage without knowing the husband. We have the bad assistant that helps his boss with murder. We have the bad auntie that enables her nephew to get away with the murder of his mother and attempted murder of his girlfriend and than is later murdered by her nephew for needlessly destroying his business plans(didn't see that coming did ya? lol). We have the bad wife(the heroine of this bad movie) that gives us the funniest line in the movie. She says, "I'm supposed to be able to trust my husband"........Meanwhile she's conducting a full-scale background investigation, behind his back, on him. lol. The ending was the most predictable, you know, the bad husband gets his comeuppance. Another 2 hours wasted on mindless crap.

Appalling acting and writing

[celticwarrior_amazonwoma · 1/10 · 28 February 2020]

The story line is done to death. Pun pun. Really there are many cookie cutter formula movies and we take them at face value because they're not especially well written, or new story material. Some are better crafted than others, however. I mean we don't expect some mysterious plot twists for 2 hours before you figure out whodunit, but come on. The acting is horrible. The characters are all completely one sided and flat and colorless, and if there were shades of predictable, Christopher Russell makes my eyes bleed or ears, or both. Come on, writers. We don't expect War and Peace, but let's make our characters minutely more human and complex. And Shenae is so beyond dumb, every other character. AKKKK I cant even fathom the credentials of whoever wrote this drivel. If I had eaten before watching this I would have lost my lunch. Steer clear. Far clear. Far away. Do not pass go.

Another psycho husband film

[nightroses · 3/10 · 18 May 2018]

There are so many of these films with a nutcase killer spouse. This is just one of them and not even a mystery thriller. Just a "run away from killer" thriller. We know what happened in husband's murky past, but fill in the gaps so we understand he was responsible for the death of his mother when he was just a kid. As a kid he lived in a manor house with portraits of ancient royals, suits of armour and stained glass windows. There are stone lions outside in the garden, which often appears in scary films to do with ghosts and psycho nutter killers. There are some elaborate details like this including the fountain of lion heads, but it's a tired story and with so few characters. The acting was very good, but I don't think the heroine's sheriff mother was that great. The husband is super rich and doesn't care what people in the valley want. They want their homes, while he wants to turn the land into a golf course. Any dispute with that causes him to go full psycho.

***1/2

[edwagreen · 9/10 · 9 July 2016]

A woman quickly weds her boss of 2 months and the mayhem starts. Immediately, it is seen that she resembles his late mother, who he managed to push down the stairs to her death years before.

The guy is a loving, caring young man but a real psychopathic killer on the other hand. Wealthy, he is fighting with his aunt and others over what he wants done at the huge property that the family owns.

The bride's mother is a sheriff who is always on the ball and immediately mistrusts her new son-in-law.

He conveniently gets rid of his aunt and bribes officials to call it a suicide.

The main surprise here is the aunt's will so we know how the guy is going to react towards his wife.

Interesting tale with good acting by all.

Bad

[leestanton829 · 3/10 · 24 August 2018]

Rubbish acting (especially Jay), couldn't bare to watch it anymore!

Murder and Mayhem in Paradise Valley

[lavatch · 8/10 · 2 August 2020]

Jay Morgan has just met, fallen in love with, and married Kristin Ward, who is the spitting image of the beautiful, kind, generous, and abusive mother whom he pushed down the stairs to her death as a little boy. As an adult, Jay also physically disabled and subsequently paid off a former spouse, Ashley Brown. When Kristin moves in with Jay in Paradise Valley, she does not realize that she has just entered the gates of Hell.

No sooner than the newlyweds get settled than Jay's Aunt Barbara decides to file an injunction against Jay's plans for development in Paradise Valley, including a golf course that would displace thousands of middle-class residents. One thing leads to another, and Jay "accidentally" kills Barbara.

By now, Kristin is suspicious of her controlling and rage-a-holic husband. After she pays a visit to Ashley, who was crippled in another one of the "accidents" that befall the women in Jay's life, it is apparent to Kristin that she has married a monster.

My favorite characters in the film were Gus, Kristin's good friend at the Paradise Valley lodge, and Kristin's mom Annie, a clever deputy sheriff, who knew from the start that Kristin should not have rushed into her marriage with Jay. Both are suspicious of the slick and oily Jay Morgan.

The former Jay Adams changed his name to the maiden name of his mother Evelyn. Jay always held his mother up as an ideal, searching for women like Ashley and Kristin who resembled her physically. But in his twisted mind, he had no difficulty in pushing two of them down the stairs and attempting to shoot the third. It was due to the wise Aunt Barbara that her will was changed, leaving the entire Paradise Valley property in the name of Mrs. Kristin Morgan.

Due to the resourcefulness of three savvy women (Kristin, Annie, and Barbara), Paradise Valley will remain in good hands and will continue to be the idyllic retreat of an Elysian Fields in the Pacific Northwest.

Missed items

[ilovelucy-78400 · 10/10 · 3 November 2018]

At the end of the movie when Kirsten is congratulating her mom she was wearing the huge strand of pearls but when they walk out of the lodge to get into the vehicle she isn't wearing them. Lol

Harsh Reviews

[MonicaChristineWilkie · 9/10 · 13 May 2022]

The reviews for this movie are pretty harsh considering the type of movie this is. This is a lifetime made for TV movie. That being said, I give it a 9/10.