First , ignore what is in another review here, "After poisoning her boyfriend, her parents decide she should leave town". Disregard that entirely, Her parents did NOT poison anyone. Not in this film anyway . Fairly slow paced drama with a theme of "Psycho " where mysterious events centre around one person who appears normal, but has some serious " issues".
The host family for the student do actually seem like a cohesive family though the script is not very friendly to them in some cases. It was written and directed by J. Milton, Who is most likely not the famous blind English poet who wrote Paradise Lost... They are an attractive cast. The father's slight "fro" gives him a bit of a " What's Happening Now" vibe.
The protagonist Sinclair does a good job with a mediocre script, fortunately her role calls for her to be sultry not loquacious. Others are not so fortunate. For example the daughter of the family has to say, with a straight face ,lines like, "she ( Sinclair) has sin in her name"
She also gets a line copied from the real life John Wayne, "in Jacqueline, My friends call me Jackie, so you can call me Jacqueline" and she has to even spout a slogan from a license plates like " don't mess with Texas"
Overall this is a relaxing afternoon thriller drama, not a late night horror. Have a spam sandwich not popcorn. . It's a quiet thriller suitable for just relaxing for 90 minutes and worth having a look, once. It is also intriguing enough, that even with slow paced, you keep watching because you kind a want to see who's going to get blame for what, who's going to get exonerated, knifed, or convicted. In right up to the last few minutes I really didn't know how it was going to resolve, so at least there's that strength.
The actress who gets the challenging role of Sinclair does a good job with a clunky script. I just hoped this is not one of those vehicles which dooms, or almost dooms an actress ...think Linda Blair in any of the post Exorcist films, of Beaujold's near career suicide in Monsignor. And yes the Sinclair character is cute, however It's always important to remember to rate actresses on their performance, and not simply how attractive might be. I hope this rather flawed offering is a stepping stone, not a stumbling block for her.
There is supposed to be brief nudity, but it may be better to think of that as subliminal. I certainly never spotted it. There is kind of a general sexual tension throughout the movie, which the actors and actresses handle very well despite the unfortunate script options.
