Fatal Memories

Off to visit her mother's spectacular mansion, young lawyer Italia Ricci (as Sutton Parker) is about to receive the shock of her life. Out by the stately pool, Ms. Ricci discovers her mother has been knifed to death. Even worse, Ricci's 18-year-old little sister Magda Apanowicz (as April Parker) is kneeling over the body, with a bloody knife. For unfathomable reasons, the deceased professor's servants are all absent at the same time. Life can be tough, on a teacher's salary. White-haired stepfather Kevin McNulty (as Orly Chambers) isn't home, either. One year later, Ms. Apanowicz is released from the psychiatric hospital, in her big sister's custody, ready to stand trial. Of course, Ricci is going to be her sister's attorney...

The graphic "One Year Later" should probably read "Three Years Later" as Apanowicz celebrates becoming a "fully fledged adult" after about 20 minutes of running time and later states, "I'm 21." Apparently, she's in a hospital which ages patients three years for each year they are committed. This must be an incentive to get well quickly. Apanowicz' hair is always colored differently than Ricci's, possibly so the long-haired sister isn't confused with the short-haired sister. Nosey videographer Ryan Beil (as Luke Conner) has the best role in this confusing crime mystery, arguably. He explains it all at the end and states the murder occurred "Two Years Ago." First it's one, then it's three, and finally it's two. It's that kind of movie.

** Fatal Memories (2015-03-05) Farhad Mann ~ Italia Ricci, Magda Apanowicz, Kevin McNulty, Zak Santiago

This was a very inexpensive movie with just a few sets. I thought it was interesting when they arrived at the sister's house it looked small on the outside and then the kitchen alone was Hugh! The script was very predictable and you spot the killer very early in the movie. My favorite was the male police officer who never said a line until the end of the movie yet he was one of the two detectives investigating the crime.! Parts of the story lines were very vague. Such as the dislike between the female officer and the lawyer. I must confess I watched the entire movie because I knew the ending had to be unrealistic and I wasn't disappointed!

April Parker (Magda Apanowicz) is found over her dead mother holding a knife. She is put in an asylum and claims to have no memory of the incident. One year later, she is released to live with her lawyer sister Sutton (Italia Ricci) and her husband Glenn Roberts. Detective Whitaker continues her prosecution of April with an impending trial. Orly Chambers wants to sell the family mansion.

There is a lack of tension in this mystery thriller. Honestly, it's a 50/50 proposition whether April is actually guilty or not. It's strictly the writer's prerogative and the ending follows the formula handbook. I'm not sure if the ending makes any sense anyways. It takes half of the movie to get any tension. It's not until April starts acting up that the movie starts to move. There are some bad one-dimensional characterization from the hard-up detective to the weird surprisingly tech savvy paparazzi. It can never escape from its Lifetime TV movie look and its mediocre writing. There are way too many of these types of TV movies.

The usual stereotypical TV movie where white people live in a multi-million dollar homes with million dollar furnishings and they are all wealthy professionals. The plot is predictable and of standard fare. I watch these types of movies when doing housework and I do not need to focus my full attention. The writing is sub par and has gross grammatical errors-"on Glen and I"- English please. I cannot believe no one edits these "writings". There is the usual nonsensical attempt to get away from danger. but not really. "Why don't we just get in the running car" bit. I laugh at places where they are trying to be serious, but it gets ridiculous at times. I always DVR the films, otherwise the commercials would be intolerable and I lose interest forgetting I am watching at all. If you realize you are viewing mindless fluff and nothing more, than you will not be disappointed.

I screened the Lifetime movie "Fatal Memories," and despite its hysterical opening and bizarre main titles (in what IMDb.com would characterize as "crazy credits," the names of the cast and crew appear as parts of pictures hanging on the walls of one of the two houses around which the action centers, and the director's name, Farhad Mann, is emblazoned on the roof in an overhead shot), "Fatal Memories" actually turned out to be a quite good film, a high-tension thriller with a provocative central premise. It opens in a scene in the home of Marjorie Parker (Elizabeth McLaughlin), a retired college professor with two adult daughters, attorney Sutton Roberts (Italia Ricci) and April Parker (Magda Apanowicz). Sutton breaks a prized bowl and, as she's picking up the pieces, she's alerted to a commotion from outside. The commotion is a fatal stabbing attack on her mom, and when she comes upon the body April is holding a bloody knife. April is arrested by police detectives Whitaker (Shauna Johannessen) and Martin (Michael Ryan). The arrest is filmed by nosy, obnoxious videographer and hacker Luke Conner (Ryan Bell, who's the usual sort of nerd-cute guy Lifetime's — and most other people's — casting directors like for parts like this), who posts edited versions on the Internet that make April seem both guilty and crazy. She's crazy enough that she's put in a mental institution for a year or so (the Lifetime credit reads "One Year Later" but one IMDb.com reviewer cited other evidence in the film that two or even three years had passed) until she can be adjudged legally competent to assist in her own defense so she can be tried for her mom's murder, and despite the incredibly obvious conflict of interest her sister Sutton insists on representing her as defense counsel.

Sutton is insistent that April couldn't have committed the crime, and in order to jog her memories she takes April to various locations associated with their family in general and her mom in particular in hopes that April will remember something that will exonerate her and enable Sutton to figure out who the real killer is. At the same time, mysterious attacks start affecting the family, and Sutton takes a lot of her anger out on Whitaker, who seems to be there whenever something embarrassing happens to the family. It may not seem like that much in synopsis, but as written by Verge, staged by Mann and acted by an excellent cast — especially Apanowicz, who makes April's confused mental state all too real; she really has us believing this poor woman's brain cells are tumbling like clothes in a dryer, and she never knows what she's going to do next — "Fatal Memories" is a gripping thriller, making us feel for the characters and keeping us in suspense even though, as noted above, there are really too few suspects for the mystery aspect to be all that mysterious. It's a brilliantly done movie and one hopes that Farhad Mann and Magda Apanowicz in particular can go on to biggers and betters!