Vicini sospetti

According to the information here on IMDB, this movie was made in 2018. It also does not show it as being a made for TV movie. But the guide on my DVR says it is a 2020 movie. It sure feels like a TV movie, one that Lifetime would create.

My guess it that it failed miserably under the original title "A Deadly View", Lifetime got it, maybe did some editing, and re-released it as a 2020 movie with the new title "The Baby Stealer".

Regardless, it is pretty bad. A recycled plot, with someone trying to steal a pregnant woman's baby. Gee, how original. The only semi-interesting part was the "Rear Window" aspect, where the pregnant woman watches the goings-on in her neighborhood, and no one believes what she says she sees.

But as is so typical with these movies, the absurd ending ruined the entire movie. I'm only giving it 5 stars because of the "Rear Window" ripoff, which made it somewhat bearable. With that said, don't expect anything other than what you get from every other Lifetime movie.

Lead female was hard to,invest in & feel sympathy for. She was cold & unusual,as the neighbors themselves. For a pregnant woman ordered to bedrest,she was doing stupid stuff. Boyfriend(baby dad)& his mom dynamic was annoying,also he just didn't fit in this movie. He felt more like a quirky side character,not the lead male. Got"mildly"ok as the movie slowly crept,into around the remaining 30 minutes. This filled time until a better movie came on,just really was lacking for a decent storyline. The cinematography was good,so at least had that. Also Lifetime & title changes(not only this movie)gets bothersome,when looking up information about it.

Worst thing I've seen since I could use my eyes. Absolutely horrible. Please stop this people. Please.

Not really much to say, i thought it sounded interesting but it wasnt , it was just another mid afternoon pot boiler for stay at home mums - I was surprised Jane Seymour, Jaclyn Smith or Lorenzo Lamas didnt make an appearance lol

Nothing more than a bad tv movie hardly even a thriller.

Should have paid attention to the IMDB rating on this one - its right on the money if not 1 star above. I give it an extra star due to the half decent acting of the female lead!

'A Deadly View' drew me into seeing it, with a cool poster/cover, an oddly interesting but very potentially silly premise and as someone with a general appreciation for horror. That it was low-budget, which from frequent personal experience is rarely a good sign due to that there are so many poor ones out there, made me though apprehensive as well as the low rating and poor reviews.

It is sadly however yet another film seen recently, hence some reiteration because the exact same strengths and flaws those films have are present here, that to me was incredibly disappointing considering its potential which it doesn't do anywhere near enough with. 'A Deadly View' is weak, with so many enormous problems. Hardly anything is good here and a lot is wrong.

Lets start with the couple of positives. The lighting is sometimes atmospheric and spooky. Likewise with the setting.

The lead actress agreed was pretty decent, she didn't phone in and doesn't try too hard.

Unfortunately, they are not done justice by the rather direct to video schlocky way it's shot and edited and the drab colour palette, so much so it was hard to appreciate it, it was very clear that the film was made in a rush with no care or enthusiasm. The camera work is an eyesore.

Going on further to the negatives, the story does feel paper thin, disjointed and over-stretched and some of it feels vague, under-explained in the last third where the film especially became duller, more predictable, more senseless and less scary. Too many characters are too sketchy, very shallow and with nowhere near enough to make one want to endear to them. Their annoying and illogical decision making and behaviours frustrates.

Making the film feel bland and forgettable with not enough heart put into The sound quality is obvious and utilised cheaply (being too loud in the build ups and people's reactions and dreadfully recorded), the music is needlessly melodramatic and the acting is a mix of the indifferent and the histrionic, have not seen a worse acted antagonist in a while.

Dialogue can be stilted and rambling, with lots of clichés, and no depth whatsoever, while the pace goes to a standstill very quickly and drags on forever with very little going on worth caring about and useless padding, never recovering. This wouldn't have mattered quite as much if the character development was present or engaging, instead nowhere near enough is learnt about the characters, and the few attempts to do so are neither interesting or illuminating, actually dragging things down. Found too many of the supposedly shocking moments not surprising or unsettling and the supposedly sense of dread dreary. Due to the excessive obviousness, a lot of dumb and vague moments and explanations when attempted, the excessive melodrama and the lack of tension and suspense. Would not have minded the lack of originality (the film is extremely derivative and in a dumbed and watered down way), if the story and atmosphere were at least alright in execution, in reality they were both very poorly done. Twists and turns are few, and any attempts have no surprise at all and do little for the story.

A lot of 'A Deadly View' has a lot of undercooked moments lacking in any development or depth and often nonsensical and confusing character motivations, while too many of the things to make you shocked are far from creative or nail-biting and are pretty tame and easily foreseeable straight off the bat. The ending didn't satisfy and instead came over as dumb and the whole thing felt like an over-stretched-to-beyond-breaking-point short film.

The antagonist is obvious far too early and is not threatening, their over-acting made them come over as somebody not to be taken seriously. The film is completely unimaginative and more odd than creepy, with ridiculousness and implausibility being taken to the maximum extremes. Everything here is neither creative, suspenseful or nail-biting. Some badly sagging momentum too. The direction is leaden and like their heart was not in it or ill at ease, with the chemistry between the characters and actors coming over as constantly random and shallow. Suspense and creativity are zero, just non-stop predictability, monotony and dullness with overuse of unnecessarily gratuitous elements.

In summary, weak but have seen worse. 3/10 Bethany Cox