Assumed Killer

I thought the story-line was good, the sound and cinematography was good. Barbie Castro is just excellent as always. The only thing, Van Dien's glances and stares were pretty creepy and his acting pretty poor. Assante was average!

I had the great misfortune of being 'treated' to this utterly contrived pompous piece of cinema at a friend's house. One often wonders what's in it for producers and the financiers - certainly not box office gold. The script is utterly lame, predictable and down right infantile in parts. T he dialog and acting are unbelievably wooden and amateurish. the main characters appear to have been brought together through a blind date and compelled to see it through to the bitter end. I think the main clue to all those who may be considering watching this film is CASPER. I think it is now a virtual guarantee that any film with CASPER in it is unwatchable unless absolutely inebriated to the point loosing consciousness. But when a film that casts CASPER and ARMAND together spells cinematic bubonic plague - any contact can be seriously injurious to human intellect and aesthetic sensibilities.

While surfing every channel there is each showing nothing interesting to watch I end up on the channel that was just about to start airing ASSUMED KILLER. I decided to quickly see what the plot was all about and saw that Casper Van Dien and Armand Assante was in it so I reckoned it might be worth a look. I was really very surprised by this film considering this is a made for TV movie it actually had a plot that drew my attention. It's the kind of plot that is not too complicated but it still requires your full attention, by that I mean if you're the type of person who likes to watch movies while texting you might want to put the phone down when watching this film and even though the overall concept isn't one of the most unique the good thing about it is it isn't entirely predictable.

The acting was excellent all around with the stand out performances given by Casper Van Dien, Barbie Castro and Armand Assante who were very well cast and they each play their parts very good from start to finish.

Lastly, there was one thing that almost made forget that this was a made for TV movie. Many other TV movies have a really cheap feel to them especially those in the same genre and the acting in many of these films range from not so good to not good at all and of course sometimes the dialog featured some very cheesy lines. Where with ASSUMED KILLER none of these factors are present. The production value is way above average and it doesn't look or feel cheap at all. The acting is excellent and the dialog is well thought out with no cheesy lines noticeable.

All in all, ASSUMED KILLER was a surprisingly good TV movie and happened to be a very nice find on a dark night with nothing else to watch.

Concorde Films and Barbie Castro have some great gems in their "killer" series and their first one Assumed Killer does not disappoint. This movie is suspenseful, exciting, mysterious and with an all star cast. This is a great watch that will leave you surprised with all the twists and turns until the very end. Don't miss out.

I watched the movie being made and thought this was a good movie when I finally got to see it. For an actress whose previous experience has mostly been in short films Barbie Castro is quite good and Casper Van Dien brings his usual talent to the movie. I really liked Christie Lynn Smith...both her acting and the character she played. The production is better than what you'd expect for a made-for-TV movie, maybe because it was originally planned to be an Indie theater release. As for the plot, I felt it had the right mix of suspense and drama and lush south Florida locations. Just when you think you have it figured out it goes in a different direction and it keeps you wondering. Perhaps it's not "Charade" but I would certainly recommend this movie.