She just got more and more ridiculous. I really feel that there have been and we've all seen too many movies for obliviousness to still be the thing that drives these movies. Did that feel like an assistant job, Ben? Did it not occur to you that someone with that large house didn't have anyone else around? Aren't most guys who get in the crosshairs of clingy women like this usually turned off? How was he so clueless? How is he ready to propose to his gf yet so dismissive of her concerns? I didn't read a synopsis of this before I watched it (thought it was a different movie), but nothing in this was surprising. Even the escalating scene where Ben is injured...how else was she going to keep him around if she didn't impair him? There was so much of the movie left. The only thing that I found shocking in this movie is that Ben actually ate something Amanda tried to force feed him. Wait, the other shocking thing was that per usual for Lifetime, I just knew she was going to get him arrested by saying he assaulted her. The movie subverted my expectations with these two things.
I hated that his friend was murdered. It seemed so excessive considering the ending. I really wish Ben was more involved in his own rescue. Whenever there's an obsessed nut character like the villain, it just makes more sense for the object of their obsession to defeat them. I did like how Callie, the gf, knew something was wrong even though she was sent "evidence" of Ben "cheating" and his "leaving town." The actress playing Amanda was trying too hard in my opinion. Something about her trying to be sexy, evil, and nuts was just really cringe.
For me, Ben didn't try that hard to get out of there. He should have headbutt her at least once like James Caan did in Misery. His plan with the music was smart, but since it ultimately went nowhere, they should have let him try again to free himself.
Misery is still the standard for a "captive" movie like this, thirty years later. If you want to watch a tv movie about someone injured being held captive (but not romantically) by a psycho, watch Mad Mom instead. Or People Under the Stairs...which is quite different, but always worth mentioning.
It was an easy, but annoying, watch.
P. S. I wish these movies will get a book of names and pick almost anything other than Ben, Calli, Hayley, Jack, Annie, Maya, Nick, Abbie, Sawyer, Jake, Emma, etc. I watch a lot of TCM and there are more names now than there were back in the classic days. Even in those films not every character was a George or John or Margaret or Sarah etc. I realize that the way the movies are churned out, that it's probably easy to just rotate these names to keep them easy for audiences to remember, but please be more creative.
I hated that his friend was murdered. It seemed so excessive considering the ending. I really wish Ben was more involved in his own rescue. Whenever there's an obsessed nut character like the villain, it just makes more sense for the object of their obsession to defeat them. I did like how Callie, the gf, knew something was wrong even though she was sent "evidence" of Ben "cheating" and his "leaving town." The actress playing Amanda was trying too hard in my opinion. Something about her trying to be sexy, evil, and nuts was just really cringe.
For me, Ben didn't try that hard to get out of there. He should have headbutt her at least once like James Caan did in Misery. His plan with the music was smart, but since it ultimately went nowhere, they should have let him try again to free himself.
Misery is still the standard for a "captive" movie like this, thirty years later. If you want to watch a tv movie about someone injured being held captive (but not romantically) by a psycho, watch Mad Mom instead. Or People Under the Stairs...which is quite different, but always worth mentioning.
It was an easy, but annoying, watch.
P. S. I wish these movies will get a book of names and pick almost anything other than Ben, Calli, Hayley, Jack, Annie, Maya, Nick, Abbie, Sawyer, Jake, Emma, etc. I watch a lot of TCM and there are more names now than there were back in the classic days. Even in those films not every character was a George or John or Margaret or Sarah etc. I realize that the way the movies are churned out, that it's probably easy to just rotate these names to keep them easy for audiences to remember, but please be more creative.