Believe Me: The Abduction of Lisa McVey

Horribly hard to watch in so many ways (almost everybody except Lisa McVey is an absolute a$$hole), but so empowering also. If this movie is even close to accurate compared to the real story then Lisa is a true hero. All of the actors are talented and the characters are intriguing, but by FAR the standout is Katie Douglas who plays Lisa. I'd never heard of her before watching this, but I'm now a huge fan. She was only 19 or 20 when she played this role but already had the rare skill of what I call "silent acting", the ability to relay emotion with nothing but facial expressions, eye movements, body language, and meaningful silence. She's a phenomenal actor. The other standouts are David James Elliott, who plays Sergeant Larry Pinkerton (one of the few good guys), and Rossif Sutherland (Donald's son) as the terrifyingly-disturbed and violent rapist/killer. Impressive cinematography, lighting, scoring, and overall direction add to the power of this movie. If you can make it through the first half of pure evil, you should be as impressed as I with Katie Douglas' portrayal of a truly remarkable young woman.

I started watching this with no expectation, and after about 30 minutes I was really engrossed in the story. Whilst there were some parts that suffered from acting that wasn't so great, overall I thought this was done really well and was suspenseful. What a truly horrific person to have done those crimes and what an incredibly strong and clever woman to have gone through all that she did.

So I googled the true story after watching this as I thought for sure they must have dramatised it but its actually all true! I absolutely agree with the other reviews that it does feel like.. a TV movie the way its filmed (for UK people kinda felt like a channel 5 movie) however, that HONESTLY didn't take away from the story at all. Completely gripping, brutal but honest. Really good film.

This is a made for tv movie about the abduction of a young girl and her amazing ability to keep cool. This is based on a true story.

Lisa McVey lives a life that is overflowing with adversity but she has a strength that keeps her hopeful for her and her younger sister. While she lives with her grandmother and her sister is living with her mother, she is being sexual abused by her grandmother's live in boyfriend. She works at a small doughnut shop and even the money she makes is being taken away by her grandmother's boyfriend. Her mother and grandmother both know what is going on but seem to be indifferent to the situation.

After leaving the doughnut shop after a late shift, she is abducted, raped and taken to her rapist's home. There he continues to abuse her but she does her best to play along and begins to manipulate his emotions. He finally reaches a point where he is ready to dispose of her but she manages to convince him to spare her life. In the long run, this will be the saving grace in all aspects of her life and his downfall.

This is a great story. Kudos to McVey. She did an amazing job and most likely saved a lot of lives in the long run. You know, they say that you never know your own strength until strength is your only option. This is a testament to that.

The quality of this seems like it may have been a Lifetime movie. I don't know for sure but I don't have a problem with Lifetime movies so that's not an issue for me. The lead actress did a great job in my opinion. I think that movies based in reality have a stronger impact on me. I appreciate the small miracles that are happening all around us on a daily basis yet we never knew they were there.

It is a great story. The script and quality are made for tv so this isn't an epic film with a huge budget. It was worth watching for me though.

Parts of this were very harrowing, and the courage displayed by the main character was astounding. The script and concept are great, and the ending had me in tears. Though it would be much better if it were grittier and directed with more flare. It has a strong TV movie feel, is very clinical and the direction is plain. Both sound editing and score are held back way too much. The casting and acting by the protagonist and primary antagonist are spot on though, well done with getting these two for the film. Thanks for teaching us about courage.