Big Lies in a Small Town

Rhonda Dent stars as a mother who searches for her daughter, who goes missing after a car crash. Things get even more complicated as she discovers that many people died in mysterious circumstances following the car accident. She soon discovers a shocking possibility and needs to act quickly to get her daughter back.

This is a well-made thriller that benefits from some fine acting, especially by Rhonda Dent, who plays the mother role and is convincingly distressed and desperate to get her daughter back. It's sort of predictable halfway through in regards to who has abducted her daughter, though the why and wherefores isn't clear. There's a sense of foreboding and menace, thanks to the character and atmosphere.

This is one of many many Lifetime type "thrillers" wherein a child or daughter goes missing in a small tight knit town - typically after some sort of accident. The mother or relative immediately go searching.

As with all these movies, the sheriff is either involved or not involved, and you typically don't find out til the end. Nonetheless, the pleadings of the mother are almost immediately dismissed. The mother then posts a missing persons flyer on the sheriff bulletin board where oh my gosh there are tons of other photos of missing children there too. Surprisingly, that was not the case here.

Notwithstanding, the mother still falls into the same trappings of all the movies of this genre. She starts blabbing all her leads to anyone who will listen, breaks into houses looking for clues, and confronts people at their place of business accusing them of horrid crimes.

The movie does an admirable job of keeping you guessing "what's actually going on" and, to be fair, the "big secret" is not reasonably guessable. That said, it's a little perplexing that the villainous people allow her to prance around town stirring up suspicions with impunity - while on the other hand they were quick to kill people's at the drop of a hat if they display the least bit of intelligence or suspicion.

By the way, wouldn't you think an 18-19 year old fit-looking girl could outrun a 50 year old grumpy stumpy beer-bellied man on level terrain? I guess not.

Anyways, it was refreshing to see the baddie husband get a knife shoved into his neck and otherwise beat down rather than get shot by the sheriff coming out of nowhere at the last minute as is typical in these movies.

This is an above average LMN movie, but has a storyline that is really very similar to another LMN movie "Into the Arms of Danger".

Similarities:

1. Young woman ready to go college goes missing just before staring school.

2. Mother (parents) frantically search for her and go through all sorts of hurdles.

3. Police are of no help whatsoever (at first), and then they catch on.

Unique Points:

1. The Santa Claus-looking character that is an established "heavy" (where are his elves?)

2. The true perpetrators - some solid-gold screwballs that I did not expect.

If you saw "Into the Arms of Danger" and enjoyed it, you'll probably enjoy this.

It looks like the LMN group has a template that they reference when they make a move - this one is the girl ready to go to college goes missing and her parents try to find her.

6/10.

OK, we don't expect afternoon movies to be good and this one didn't disappoint.

Stopping at a dilapidated petrol station in the middle of nowhere is never a good idea in this type of film, particularly when it's staffed by creepy guys straight from Zombie Central Casting.

Have the almost identical mother & daughter (apparently the actors are only a few years apart in age) not watched the right films?

The mother's behaviour over her daughter's unexplained disappearance is strange: waking up in hospital, "Where's my daughter?" Is not the first but the last question she asks before roaming empty corridors opening random doors.

(Stranger still that she's not asked for her credit card or health insurance to settle the bill before wandering off)

Local sheriff instantly dismisses everything she says, totally uninterested in her story.

In fairness, as the townsfolk all seem to be barking mad, maybe a stranger in town reporting a mysterious vanishing daughter is just one more item to be crossed off his to-do list.

Don't waste your time on this one.

Rachel who's a single mom and Hannah, her daughter, are out in the middle of no man's land when they are ambushed on the highway by someone trying to run them off the road!

There's a crash and Rachel's in the hospital while Hannah turns up MISSING! Rachel is frantic and goes to the sheriff who does not quite believe her story since she or her belongings were in the car when it was recovered and turned into a repair shop. Of course, the shop owner, Gus, doesn't know anything. Right.... What happens after that, is quite a tale of twists and turns. What happened to Hannah, who kidnapped her, and why?

This is quite a good mystery headlined by a strong Canadian cast and a great script. Worth the watch and HIGHLY recommended!