Vengeance à domicile

We've have seen it all before. A person, often a female, gets angry about something that stands in her way of success or plain satisfaction. We saw that in for example "The Temp", "The Secretary", "Daddy's Girl" and "Fatal Attraction" by naming a few.

This time it's a nurse who infiltrates herself into a family where she holds the dad responsible for her own family's death. He has ended up in a wheelchair, totally invalid, still understands everything, but can't make himself heard. She plans how to kill his whole family right in front of him.

The main stars of the movie is Lisa Zane (Billy's sister) who plays the psycho-nurse. Beautiful Janet Gunn is the daughter who is the first to sense that things isn't alright with the new nurse. John Stockwell is the son who becomes attracted to the new nurse.

Even if I've seen everything before I think the movie is both exciting and fun to watch. Not a masterpiece, but also far from the opposite. An entertaining little movie.

The story has been done before (of course) but 'The Nurse' without being entirely original hits a few high notes and certainly keeps you gripped into the watchable, yet predictable series of events. Lisa Zane is fantastic as the black widow, typed nurse, out for the complete revenge.

If you're expecting 'The Hand That Rocks The Cradle', please don't watch this, because even if it's got near enough the same plot, it Definitely isn't in the same league. That said, this is still a very gripping, and in places, darkly comical thriller.

Lisa Zane stars as a professional nurse, who gets a call from her father while working, who says that 'she has got to be strong'. However, he implies that he is going to do something terrible to himself, his wife and his son. Sure enough, he picks up a gun, loads it with bullets, and shoots his wife and his son (both whom are asleep). Lisa gets home just in time to see her father shoot himself on the stairs... Lisa blames her father's boss for these terrible events, as he has filed a case against her father for embezzling. When his boss hears about the shootings, he suffers a stroke, which leaves him totally paralysed. On being taken home, Lisa sees her opportunity to get revenge. The man needs a nurse to take care of him. However, before Lisa can scheme her way in, another Nurse is hired. The solution to the problem: kill the nurse. Soon after this death, she weasels her way into the family, and there, she begins to stage her ultimate revenge...

If you're in the UK, you can catch this on Zone Thriller some time, as I did last night. If you're in America, there is a DVD of this film which is quite cheap to buy, so no-one has an excuse for missing this.

If you get the chance, tune in!

Let's start by saying this. It's not going to leave you guessing.

The plotline is as deep as your average puddle but it's well shot and, for the most part, well acted. It's one of those "stock" mid 90s movies with pretty people doing bad things. At no point do you feel for the protagonist and likewise the antagonist.

You get what you pay for really (assuming you paid which you really shouldn't) which is a slick production of a clunky script with no surprises.

The interaction between Janet Gunn and Lisa Zane carry the film and make it more than a predictable nurse-hates-patient story. Sure there are major flaws, like the nurse (Zane) kills the reporter and there is no investigation. But let's skip the small stuff. The movie is worth watching on a rainy or cold winter night. I gave it a 7 because of the technical flops, but the plot is a solid 8.