Ties That Bind

Let's see. How many points can we give this presentation for originality?

1. Lifetime flick. 2. Lead actress from Canada (probably many of the support cast, too). 3. Filmed in Canada. 4. Nefarious female tenant/neighbor up to no good, and intent in causing havoc to her neighbors/landlords. Neighbor has designs on lead actress' husband. 5. The villainess has a dark past, missed by all until late in the flick. 6. Lead actor/husband (object of nefarious neighbor), while presented as an educated, competent professional, is a total clueless dolt. 7. Huge knife (larger than used by Capt. Ahab when whaling) wielded towards the end.

I think somewhere there is a little man in a dungeon office, with a laptop, pre-programmed with the above parameters: he simply fills-out the "form" for a new ensemble of actors, with the story's characters' names, professions, and fictional locales --- sends it to Vancouver, and the script for the next Lifetime flick is ready to go (to be filmed in Canada - probably Vancouver - regardless of the movie's purported locale).

However, these films do provide a benefit for all of us to gauge our mental health. Should anybody ever watch one and begin to feel empathy for these repetitive, cardboard characters - much less ever begin to believe that the events portrayed bear any resemblance to reality --- then some psychiatric counseling should be sought, before all sense of reality is lost.

Not bad for a TV thriller involving a fairly predictable story yet executed with skill by TV director Terry Ingram and a competent cast headed by Nicole de Boer and Brian Krause. Some parts of the story are incredulous but if the viewer keeps an open mind, most of the plot works.

To get some extra spending money, a professional couple lease out the guest house on their newly purchased property. Leasing the guest house includes the sharing of the swimming pool and hot tub. The wife is more sold on the accepted applicant than the husband. One reason the husband has concerns results from the lessee being an ER nurse at the same hospital where the husband is a surgeon. Added to the reservations is the obvious beauty and seductiveness of the lessee. Problems with the new tenant escalate to the point of eviction. The new tenant, however, is determined to make her stay more permanent even if it means violence. A more thorough check on the tenant's background leads to more suspicion which culminates in a showdown.

Though the viewer has seen it all before, the script by newcomer Andy Callahan is well written and the direction is fast-paced, making for an entertaining made-for-TV film. But I am still unsure about the title and how it relates directly to the story.