Fatal Vows: The Alexandra O'Hara Story (1994 TV Movie) User Reviews

I don't know about you but I'm tired of visiting morgues!

[sol-kay · 7/10 · 29 August 2007]

***SPOILER*** Based on a true story but as unnerving as any fictional crime drama "Fatal Vows" shows how madness can be instilled in someone at a very young age and fester for years until, like an opened sore, explode and pour out all it's puss and impurities on those who are unfortunate to be around it.

Right away you get the impression that undercover cop Nick Pagan, John Stamos, isn't all what he seems to be. Telling young divorcée Alexandera O'Hara, Cynthia Gibb, whom he meets at a neighbor murder site about his crime fighting exploits Nick impresses her so much in him being a cop and having a livery car service that before you and Alexandera know it she ends up marrying him.

It's after Alexandera is married to Nick that he suddenly turns from a lovable and likable individual into an wife beating and child abusing,against Alexandera's five year old boy Rayn, psychotic. Besides finding that Nick isn't a policeman, in fact he has a long criminal rap sheet, he's also suspected in a number of murders in and around the Bronx section of New York City that includes his own brothers Ray, Tony DeSantis, teenage daughter Jules, Farncesca Scorsone.

Knowing that her husband is a very dangerous man Alexandera tries to leave him together with Rayn. This act of defiance against his authority has Nick get so insane that he ends up scalding Rayan and using Alexandera's fear of him to get herself implicated in her own sons injuries by not reporting Nick to the police.

Nick gets so unraveled as he uncontrollably goes on a killing spree, mostly off screen, against young women in the Bronx that it's only a matter of time before he slips up and the police put the cuffs on him. The only thing that can now keep both Nick's abused wife and step-son from ending up as his next murder victims is if he slips up and gets caught before he murders them. The cops who seem anything but helpful to Alexandera finally get her to put a wire on to get Nick to admit to one of his crimes but something happens that has him do the job for them far more effectively his father Papa Pagan, Ben Gazzara, ending up in the hospital with a massive heart attack.

Nick together with Alexandera, secretly having a police wire on her, go to visit the almost comatose Papa Pagan and it's there when very unexpectedly the truth about Nick and Papa suddenly comes out. The shock of what came out in this hospital visit, with a stunned Alexandra listening in, blew a fuse in Nick's very fragile and delicate mind completely short circuiting it. With the cat now out of the bag, about Nick and Papa Pagan's secret relationship, Nick went into self-destruct mode giving his automatic handgun to Alexandera to finally put him, and possibly Papa Pagan, out of his misery. With the cops bursting into Papa Pagan's hospital room Alexandera can only watch and put Nick's gun away leaving it up to the law, and a battery of court appointed psychiatrists, to decide Nick's fate in court.

P.S According to the movies epilogue Nick Pagan got 75 to life for the murder of four and possible five other victims. Nick's father Papa Pagan died in the hospital while under intensive care of a heart attack the day the verdict was handed down against his son.

Very good TV movie starring Full House star John Stamos

[lisafordeay · 6/10 · 26 June 2015]

This happened to be on cable a few days ago and I decided to check it out.The film is based on a true story about a young woman who marries a man as she previously had another son from a previous relationship.But what the young woman doesn't know however is that her so called lover who is suppose to be a cop isn't actually a cop at all. His a serial killer who killed a lot of people in the past and also killed 2 people from when he was married to the young woman as well as beating her up . But will she go to the police about him and put him behind bars for good?

The acting was very good in this movie,I was impressed with John Stamos as the serial killer Nick who is a right moron and psychopath. The woman playing his wife was OK but she was sorta weak in my opinion. As for the rest of the film its a pretty good flick. If you liked Sleeping With The Enemy,Enough or Safe Havan than you will love this movie.

Thumbs up.

This movie was pretty good...

[tara_matheney · 20 June 2001]

John Stamos surprised me in his role as a psychopath. I grew up watching full house, and the versatility of this actor impressed me. He played a very difficult role in the Alexandra O'Hara Story, but pulled it off with ease and finesse. I would recommend people to see this movie.

A feeble effort...typical Lifetime.

[jdwoodward · 3/10 · 29 May 2001]

> After reading the other comments I decided to watch this movie. What a > mistake. The script is full of holes (e.g. Gibbs never reconfronts Stamos > after discovering he's not a cop, Stamos' family protects him even after one > of their own is killed, etc.,etc., etc.). The movie is just plain slow and > boring. Don't waste your time.

John Stamos is not your ordinary "Uncle Jesse" anymore.

[LuciaMedea · 10/10 · 28 January 2000]

Many people know John Stamos as Jesse Katsopolis on "Full House", but in "Fatal Vows" he showed us that he is more than a sitcom actor. He played the part so convincingly that throughout the whole movie I kept on wondering what he was going to do next. John played the part of Nick Pagan, a serial killer who pretends to be a cop so no one would suspect him. Cynthia Gibb played Nick's wife, Alexandra. She suspects Nick is up to something bad and tries to get away, but he follows her. Since this is based on a true story, John did a lot of research on it to help him play the part more convincingly. I've never seen him act like that before, John shows a lot of his talents in this movie.

watch this movie!

[kurtman-3 · 8/10 · 27 June 1999]

john stamos is good as playing a psychopath. He really scared me. The story was good and the acting was better. I would really recommend people to watch this movie.

Suspenseful Film, Great Acting

[Greenday0525 · 9/10 · 22 February 2007]

2 Thumbs Up!! I love suspenseful movies, but not too many movies are actually good at achieving real suspense. However, this movie did; it had me hooked from the beginning! The actors are amazing, especially John Stamos who is superb. I must admit that it's different seeing him in this sort of role, but he does an amazing job, shining as the well-distinguished actor he is. He is VERY convincing, almost too convincing at times where I had caught myself thinking how evil John was, heart racing the entire time (but I guess that could have had something to do with him being such a heart-throb =P) Haha, but seriously, John's character Nick, is so dangerous and John brings that to life so perfectly. Cynthia Gibb does a great job portraying Alexandra. She brings that "no one tells me what to do" attitude to the table, but in a way that's not too over-the-top, which is very hard to do. Even Marc Donato who plays Alexandra's son Ryan is great. He's adorable and you just fall in love with him and his character.

Seriously, an amazing, very well performed film. If you get the chance to see it, you ABSOLUTELY should. I taped it and plan on watching it again very soon!! =D

Love the movie

[soniamichelle1336 · 10/10 · 1 October 2005]

I liked this movie very much it showed how you don't know who you fall in love with male or female. John Stamos acting was amazing I thought he really was a psycho. The only problem was the wife her acting seemed force I didn't feel like she was sincere. I didn't believe she was terrified of Nick.His family life should have been explained more and I wished the explored there marriage more.Also since its a true story they really should have gone into detail about the murders and why and how he chose his victims what lead him to this in depth. I wanted to see there romance in the beginning progressed. It seemed it was like a whirlwind.The acting of the police was bad the cop fighting with Nick in front of his house was horrible. I live in NY and no cop would do that really wanna come out and fight you at least I hope not I dint know if the story was made more intense ex.the police's general reaction to Nick. The rest of the story between Nick and Alexandra was good. John Stamos was excellent again and the families acting was also good.I especially liked the acting at the cemetery.

Fatal Vows: The Alexandra O'Hara Story

[CherCee · 10/10 · 20 March 2023]

I have not seen this movie in a really long time, but I really liked it. I would love to have it on DVD, but it is not available on Amazon or eBay, unfortunately. John Stamos was really believably scary in his part of Nick Pagan. Cynthia Gibb does a typically great job as the title character Alexandra O'Hara. One of my all-time favorites, Ben Gazzara as Papa Pagan is equally as creepy as John Stamos. Bud Bundy himself, David Faustino, is good in his part. There was a lot of great suspense-filled moments and it is awful to think that this based on a true story, the story of Alejandro Henriquez, who was convicted of 3 murders in 1992.

overview

[garry_hixon · 8/10 · 7 November 2006]

I won't spoil too much. This is actually a good film, it is a little hard watching uncle Jessie be a jerk, and this guy gives lessons. He is such the murderer it is unbelievable, Cynthia Gibb plays his man whipped wife and she is totally helpless, I think if Candace Cameron saw this she would disown him. Worth watching. He gets caught in the end and then your angry.-Garry Hixon of Mirror Vision Inc.,There are other films where John Stamos is playing villains, but this one is the worst. He doesn't do very well when it comes to playing anything other than Uncle Jessie, he would do better if he played positive role models instead of ripping the kids off with some anti-Uncle Jessie clown show,if you want to be a good actor, go with your strengths.