Une vie brisée

DEMONS FROM HER PAST (TV movie 2007) 3 out of 10 stars Time to Read: 3:30 min

BASIC PLOT: Allison Buchanan (Alexandra Paul) was robbed of the best years of her life, and what's worse, they were stolen by people she thought were her friends. The summer after high school was supposed to be about carefree adventures, something to enjoy before the obligations of her full ride scholarship weighed her down with responsibilities. But sometimes dreams can vanish in the blink of an eye, or be purloined by well placed lies, and that's what happened to Allison on a sunny afternoon in 1981.

Always responsible, Allison was driving three friends home from the lake, where they had been drinking all day. By late afternoon, the three boys, K. C. Hollings (Rob Stewart), Quentin Baxter (John Ralston), and Jeremy Warner (Kevin Jubinville) were all intoxicated, and acting stupid. On the way home, K. C. grabbed the wheel from Allison, and stepped on the accelerator, causing the car to hit a small child on a bicycle. While Allison ran to the child's side, and held his hand as he passed away, her "friend's" all ran away. They concocted an alibi with Quinton's brother, Ray (Michael Woods), who was a few years older, and had bought them the alcohol. They all claimed they were never with Allison in her car, but were together playing football. Allison paid a debt that wasn't hers, spending three years in prison. She let sleeping dogs lie for thirty years, but now she's ready to clear her name, and correct a terrible injustice that befell her, and the young boy on the bicycle.

Allison's determination to right this wrong is leading her into a perilous quagmire of blind corners, and impassible pitfalls.

Those irresponsible boys are now (for the most part) powerful men, with lots to lose. Their lie looms like a shadow over their successful and prosperous lives. They will do whatever it takes to stop Allison from achieving what she wants most - retribution.

WHAT WORKS: *ACTING IS ABOVE AVERAGE FOR A MADE-FOR-TV MOVIE This script is a waste of Alexandra Paul, John Ralston, Michael Woods, Cynthia Gibb and Rob Stewart's acting talents. It's also not worthy of Christine Conradt, who I know can do better than this.

WHAT DOESN'T WORK: *IF SOMEONE'S GRABBING THE WHEEL, WHILE YOU'RE DRIVING, WHY DON'T YOU SLAM ON THE BREAKS? Why would you continue to drive, and let him push on the gas? Why didn't Allison put both feet on the brakes, and hold them there?

*HILLBILLY POLICE HARASSMENT DOESN'T WORK IN MODERN TIMES If this was 1969, and we were watching Easy Rider (1969), I'd believe this type of hillbilly police brutality & abuse of power. But it's not, it's 2007, and this plotline does not work in the modern age. She's a woman on a mission - to take down powerful men. She'd know who to call when the harassment began, the state police, the justice department, the governor's office etc. She'd have a plan in place for their retaliation. If she didn't, she's an idiot, and deserves to die. Second, why do the preparators not have a plan for Allison's return? Why are they winging it, like planting guns on her, and expecting the arrest to stick? (How are you going to arrest someone for possession of a gun, when her fingerprints wouldn't be on it? It would be thrown out of court because the arresting officer had a grudge etc. Etc. Etc.) These inane plotlines are stupid, and JUST DON'T WORK Christine Conradt!

*WE'VE HAD THESE THINGS CALLED P-O-L-Y-G-R-A-P-H-S FOR OVER 100 YEARS They are tools the police and attorneys love! Allison, or her lawyer, would have demanded she take one to determine who was telling the truth. That would go a long way to proving who's right, especially if the results were leaked to the press.

*WE'VE HAD THESE THINGS CALLED B-R-E-A-T-H-A-L-Y-Z-E-R-S SINCE 1954 But we're supposed to believe Allison didn't have access to a breathalyzer either, they just convicted her for vehicular manslaughter with what? Magic fairy dust? Alien death rays? Those are about as believable as this terrible script.

*THE POLICE HAVE HAD THIS TOOL CALLED F-I-N-G-E-R-P-R-I-N-T-I-N-G SINCE 1910 But we're supposed to be believe the police didn't fingerprint Allison's steering wheel or car to verify her story?!

*WHY DOES BRIGITTE NOT KNOW WHO JC IS? One of Allison's betrayer's is now a prominent doctor, Dr. Warner, who has a fiancée, Brigitte. Dr. Warner plays poker every Wednesday night with K. C., so how come Brigette doesn't know who he is? Doesn't she wonder where her fiancée goes every Wednesday? Didn't she ever ask?

*SHERIFF BAXTER TOOK DRUG MONEY FROM A DRUG BUST, BUT HIS CAR DEALER FRIEND SAVES HIM FROM INTERNAL AFFAIRS? We're supposed to believe Internal Affairs took the word of a convicted drug dealer about stolen drug money, and that IA was going to press charges against Sheriff Baxter, on the drug dealer's word alone? Really? We're also supposed to believe Sheriff Baxter's friend, K. C. Hollings, a car dealership owner, somehow stepped in with IA, and saved him? How would someone who runs a car dealership be able to do that? Why would the audience believe it?

*VOICEOVER IS A LAZY SCREENWRITER'S TOOL Especially, when it begins suddenly at the hour and half mark.

TO RECOMMEND, OR NOT TO RECOMMEND, THAT IS THE QUESTION: *I cannot recommend such a flawed script to anyone, and it's a shame, because the acting is above average for a made-for-tv movie. But Christine Conradt, the screenwriter, often leaves these types of giant plotholes in her scripts. You can't pretend there's no CSI, or police investigation tools, like polygraphs, fingerprints or breathalyzers in 1981, because THOSE TOOLS EXISTED. Police relied on those tools, more than they relied on a scared teenager's word. So, if your whole premise is so flawed, as not to be believed, it doesn't matter how good your actor's are. They aren't going to make your script watchable. I don't understand why Christine Conradt keeps making these kinds of mistakes, when there are workarounds. It's a shame, and after this many flawed scripts, she can't blame it on inexperience anymore. If you're looking for quality made-for-tv entertainment, and you're a fan of Rob Stewart, try La vérité sur mon passé (2012). If you're a fan of Cynthia Gibb, try Dans les griffes de mon sauveur (2017), and if you're a fan of Alexandra Paul, try Born and Missing (2017). Trust me, those are all quality made-for-tv movies, and this is not.

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.

Allison (Alexandra Paul) returns from Paris to her hometown Gilroy for the funeral of her grandmother after an absence of twenty-five years. On 10 July 1981, while driving her car on the road with her friends Quentin (John Ralston) and K.C. (Rob Stewart) that are drinking beer supplied by Quentin's brother Ray (Michael Woods), the wasted K.C. takes the wheel from Alison and steps on the accelerator, hitting and killing the boy Patrick Jason Connelly. However, they leave the crime scene; call their mate Jeremy (Kevin Jubinville) to give an alibi and commit perjury in the trial, telling that they were playing football and Allison was driving alone. She is convicted and spends three years in prison, destroying her life. Now that her grandmother is gone, Allison wants to prove her innocence and clear her name, but Ray is the local Sheriff; Jeremy is the director of the hospital; and K.C. is running the elections for senator. Quentin becomes the hope of Allison to get a confession and achieve her objective, but K.C., his wife Ellie (Sophie Gendron) and Jeremy decide to silence Allison.

"Demons from He Past" has an interesting premise – an innocent woman that decides to clear her name. The beginning of the story is intriguing, disclosing the present and the past of Allison. However, in a certain moment the story becomes a predictable television movie with the usual collection of clichés, one-dimensional characters and absurd situations, like the naiveness of Allison or the attitude of Jeremy as a doctor. Nevertheless, "Demons of Her Past" entertains and is not a bad movie, and the beautiful Alexandra Paul has a good performance. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Passado Negro" ("Dark Past")

I like Alexandra Paul's Lifetime movies. This one is about average though. A couple of boys cause a girl to crash a cat and kill a young kid. They flee and leave her to take the fall which she does. Years later she comes back to town and proceeds to get them to fess up. Not that convincing how the sheriff changed to a good guy.

Ok but nothing special.

'Demons from Her Past' isn't actually that terrible, but the poor acting and dumb character behaviour hampers everything else down.

The premise is more than decent, but the way the characters are portrayed just doesn't make sense a lot of the time - they have an annoying knack of explaining their plans straight to their enemies in private settings, before reacting with shock that it led to bad things for them.

The acting doesn't help either, with none of the cast giving anything memorable. I didn't connect with the supposed protagonist, Alison (Alexandra Paul), all that much, despite the obvious nature of the antagonists. Another negative is the music, which isn't bad but it's definitely overused; it felt like every scene needlessly had a dramatic score behind it.

Not an awful film, just not a good one at all. The concept does hold potential, though.