Playdate

First off, the cover is a bit misleading and may attract the wrong audience for this film while scaring away the right one. At first glance, I thought PLAYDATE would be one of them zombie horror flicks, but it's actually a Lifetime film which, though truly suspenseful and disturbing in places with some good jump scenes, has very little in the way of schlocky gore and nothing in the way of supernatural elements.

Anyway, the Valentines, a nice, patently normal L.A. family, get some new neighbors, single mom Tamara Moor and her two sons, Titus and Billy. The Valentines try to be neighborly, Tamara does the same, and young Olive Valentine finds a much-needed friend in Billy. The Moors, however, are trying to hide some very dark family secrets. . .

I wasn't expecting much from PLAYDATE, but it proved to be something of a pleasant surprise. It has the usual stilted Lifetime directions with melodramatic instrumentals constantly playing in the background. Still, it also has better acting and MUCH livelier, loaded dialogue than most made-for-TV affairs. {Wow, is Lifetime actually maturing?!} With a few nice new flourishes, the plot-line pretty much follows the formula. There aren't many really big surprises, but there are several good smaller ones. If you want to place bets on how PLAYDATE ends up, the chances are that none of you will be absolutely right on the money even if some of you come fairly close. Despite the various oversimplifications, blank spots, and unlikelihoods, suspense thriller fans who aren't too picky should enjoy and may even really love PLAYDATE.

Typical "Lifetime" style movie thriller fluff, very generic no surprises very PG13. Saw this on Netflix (Netflix is really going downhill fast). Perhaps I'm getting a bit sensitive in my old age but, how can a writer of the script have a character compare restoring a muscle car to "his Vietnam"? I had to rewind to make sure I heard it right. How old are the writers? Did they finish high school? Honestly, clean your litter box, organize your socks, alphabetize your spices rather than watch this movie.

I only watched this because I like Richard Ruccolo, who plays the dad. The dude is capable of much more than the suburban husband role he's stuck in here (and in Rita Rocks, although that was enjoyable). At least he showed physical courage when it was called for; that was nice to see.

I can't tell whether my response to the drawn out slow plot was, as likely intended, anxiety or, more likely, annoyance.

The "nice" family's reactions to the new neighbors, once things start to get odder and odder, are completely non-credible. Bad script. People, even nice white people in the suburbs, don't let their niceness overcome their sense of danger when their only child is involved.

Twas nice to see Mr Ruccolo, even here, but if he were not in the flick, I'd have turned it off after ten minutes.

It's not that "Playdate" is a bad flick. It's just so plain vanilla horror/thriller stock stuff that it makes watching paint dry seem downright rousing. The only mildly intriguing dynamic here is that evil resides mere steps away next door in this cookie-cutter L.A. burb.

So how well ya know your neighbors there, huh?

A boy is driven off a cliff. Emily Valentine (Marguerite Moreau) leaves work to be a stay-at-home mom for her husband Brian (Richard Ruccolo) and daughter Olive (Natalie Alyn Lind). A new family moves in next door. It's single mom Tamara Moor (Abby Brammell) with her sons Titus and Billy. Olive has playdates with Billy but he seems have a dark side. Titus lurks around and spends his time looking out his bedroom window. A man attacks Emily's family at home. Tamara claims that he's her violent ex-husband. When that man is killed later in a motel room, she claims to not know him. Olive gets hurt while playing with Billy. The family dog shows up dead on their doorstep.

This has the potential of a good horror but as a TV movie, it struggles to be more. It has no style. The dark tension comes mostly from the constant dread of a creepy child. Creepy children is a great horror trope. Otherwise, this does not have much of a punch. I like Moreau but the suburban mom character is limited. The acting is mostly fine. I don't buy the father's cavalier attitude towards his daughter getting rough-housed by a boy. It would make sense for two boys but a girl is different. That's not to say anything is wrong with Natalie Alyn Lind. She's great. In addition, there is a trick to a red herring. It needs to be revealed before revealing the truth. This red herring is somewhat anti-climatic and it loses its power. It could have been a great reveal if it's done earlier. This limited TV horror struggles for mediocrity and almost makes it.