Deadly Isolation

Audrey Horne is stalked by Alex Krycek. Actually it's Twin Peaks' Sherilyn Fenn being stalked by The X-Files' Nicholas Lea. Fenn plays a widow living in a remote cabin on a lake who's husband hid some stolen loot before committing suicide. Lea and his two scuzzy henchmen then scheme to get Fenn to invite Lea into her home by staging a yachting accident. It works and cat-and-mouse suspense ensues. I'm a big fan of Sherilyn Fenn and that made the film watchable for me, but honestly, this is a pretty standard cheaply made Lifetime Channel woman-in-danger movie (meaning bad). Non-fans will probably find this film pretty dull.

I have been a fan of Sherilyn Fenn since David Lynch's "Twin Peaks" (who hasn't?) and I've had a great deal of respect for Nicholas Lea because of his very decent work in "The X Files". Unfortunately, looks like time has not been merciful to either of the actors, and they are now being forced to pick up whatever lousy piece of script so-called screenwriters throw at them, not to mention directors who couldn't direct a tree to save their lives. It's a shame, really, because they do deserve better than this run-of-the-mill, "B" or "C" class made-for-TV pulp. The storyline is so thick you could cut it with a chainsaw. The dialogs are so pretentious that I seriously pity the actors who had to actually deliver them. The characters are puppets being jerked around on strings by some unknown force, their motivations having little to do with emotions, the laws of logic or the common sense.

It's hardly a good endorsement for a movie to say that I cared more about peeling dead skin off my heels than about how the film ended. Unfortunately, this happens to be the case with "Deadly Isolation". Use your time more wisely: go for a walk, or to sleep. At least you'll do something positive for your mind.

This film gets a star for each of my favorite actors, the third being a dog. (I thought of adding one for a gun, too, but that would be overgenerous.)

DEADLY ISOLATION (2005 TV movie) 4.8 out of 10 stars Time to Read: 2:55 mins

BASIC PLOT: Susan Mandaway (Sherilyn Fenn) is not recovering well from her husband, Ron's untimely demise. After years of happiness, Ron took his own life, without explanation. Susan has taken her grief to their remote island hideaway, and has shut herself off from the world. To make matters worse, unbeknownst to Susan, Ron was involved with a jewelry heist, and now the other two gangsters involved, have broke jail, and are coming after Susan.

One of the predators in her midst is "Jeff Watkins" (Nicholas Lea), a professed dot com millionaire, who was injured, and needs her help. He's really Patrick Carlson, one of the jewel thieves who escaped from prison, and will stop at nothing to find "his" diamonds.

Can Susan discover the truth surrounding her husband's death, and uncover "Jeff's" true Identity and motives, in time to save herself?

WHAT WORKS: *PERFECT CASTING Nicholas Lea is perfect as "Jeff Watkins", the villain with a smiling face, and Sherilyn Fenn is outstanding as Susan Mandaway, the vulnerable widow, living on the remote part of an isolated island. Even the ancillary characters are well cast. Marcel Jeannin does a fine job as Kirby Grantham, the boy next door cop, who's in love with Susan. And Andreas Apergis does his usual good job as the more evil half of the criminal duo.

*PERFECT ATMOSPHERIC The locations are beautiful, but with an impression of remoteness and isolation. There is an underlying feeling of vulnerability running throughout the movie, simply due to it's isolated locale. It's a hidden reminder of how defenseless Susan (Sherilyn Fenn) really is, living alone in such a secluded place.

*THE UNCOMFORTABLENESS (NRE) BETWEEN "JEFF" AND SUSAN IS DONE SO WELL that it makes the viewer uncomfortable watching them. That's a real credit to Nicholas Lea & Sherilyn Fenn as actors.

*PLOT DEVICES ARE WELL LAID There are several visual cues that alert Susan to "Jeff's" duplicity, and they work! So often in these types of movies, the visual cues and metaphors are cheesy, but not here. They are well placed, and believable.

WHAT DOESN'T WORK: *THE MOVIE NEEDS A HERO & IT DOESN'T HAVE ONE, and I think that's why there's such a low rating here. By the 2/3rds point in the movie, "Jeff" is still sweeping Susan off her feet, we expect more from him, and he disappoints. What's worse, there's no one who fills this role, making the viewer subconsciously angry at the movie as a whole (even though the first half is decent). But as any screenwriter knows, you have to wow them at the end, and this movie definitely does not.

*THE "HOW DO YOU KNOW WHEN YOU'RE IN LOVE" SPEECH DOESN'T WORK It's pretty cheesy, it's not how adults talk to one another, and just doesn't work. It's so bad, it disrupts the flow of the movie, ejecting the viewer from their suspension of disbelief.

*WHY WOULD RON, SUSAN'S LATE HUSBAND, KILL HIMSELF, AND LEAVE GANGSTERS AFTER HIS WIFE? It seems to me, no matter the reasons Ron had for killing himself, he would find a way to stop the gangsters from coming after Susan. Why would you leave in a way that puts the woman you love in peril? You're not going to save your wife in one way, just to put her in danger in another way. It's a pretty gaping plothole, & it doesn't make sense in any kind of real world way.

*WHO IS CAL? We never find out. Maybe he is some old friend of Ron's, but the whole scene he is in MAKES NO SENSE! I think they were going for trying to tell Susan something was wrong with Ron, but it's an EPIC FAIL! Why would Cal avoid talking to Susan after Ron's death? They need to tell us definitely who Cal is, and why he would avoid a grieving widow, because the whole scene is bizarre.

*PATRICK/JEFF ISN'T WEARING GLOVES DURING HIS RUN IN WITH KIRBY His prints would be everywhere, and could be a real problem for him. This could have been fixed easily, and I don't know why filmmakers leave plotholes like this.

*SUSAN'S LAST SPEECH RUINS THE WHOLE MOVIE It's bizarre to suddenly have voiceover (the lazy screenwriter's crutch) in the last 3 minutes, when there was none before. What's worse, you'd have an ok movie if it wasn't there. But it is there, and the last 3mins of Susan's voiceover RUINS THE WHOLE MOVIE! Why not have her find the diamonds, and get a reward for their return? Why does she need to leave the island, and hate on her dead husband? It's just a mess, and why the scores are so low.

TO RECOMMEND, OR NOT TO RECOMMEND, THAT IS THE QUESTION: *I can recommend this for the quality of acting, and for the efficacious use of location to produce a successful atmospheric. BUT, I recommend shutting it off BEFORE the last 3mins. If you watch the last 3mins, it will taint the whole thing for you, and it's better to just turn it off before you get there. It does have some problems, but compared to the dreck that's on these days, it's a breath of fresh air.

CLOSING NOTES: *This is a made-for-tv movie, please keep that in mind before you watch/rate it. TV movies have a much lower budget, and so your expectations should be adjusted.

*I have no connection to the film, or production in ANY way. This review was NOT written in full, or in part, by a bot. I am just an honest viewer, who wishes for more straight forward reviews (less trolls and fanboys), and better entertainment. Hope I helped you out.