Seduced by Madness: The Diane Borchardt Story (1996) (TV)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

John Patterson

Writer (WGA):

Carmen Culver (written by)

Release Date:

25 February 1996 (USA)

Genre:

Thriller | Drama | Crime

Plot:

True crime story of a Wisconsin teacher's aide who hired teenaged students to murder her estranged husband.

Plot Keywords:

Student | Murder | Wisconsin | Teacher | Hitman

Cast

Ann-Margret	...	Diane Kay Borchardt
Peter Coyote	...	Ruben Borchardt
Leslie Hope	...	Claire Brown
Christian Campbell	...	Doug Vest
Hedy Burress	...	Brook Borchardt
Tobey Maguire	...	Chuck Borchardt
Freddy Rodríguez	...	Michael Maldonado
Cliff De Young	...	Det. Burstyn
Dean Norris	...	Detective Pike
Jonah Blechman	...	Josh Yanke
Tomas Arana
Kurt Fuller
Alanna Ubach	...	Shannon Johnson
Veronica Lauren	...	Regan Borchardt
Johnny Strong	...	Tim

Also Known As:

Seduced by Madness (USA) (short title)

MPAA:

Rated R for a scene of violence.

Runtime:

200 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Finland:K-16 (video premiere) | USA:R | Australia:M

Company:

Brian Pike Productions

Movie Connections:

References To Die For (1995)

Absolutely Horrifying to watch but engrossing TV film !

I can stomach things like Freddy Kreuger, The Omen, Texas Chainsaw and the like but this film is a horrifying and above all SICKENING experience, not, obviously through its blood and gore but through its manipulation of youngsters ( and not so youngsters ) by an extremely evil and malicious person. Don't be fooled by the comfortable suburban atmosphere, this woman is pure evil ! Even Satan himself would bend down to kneel before her in wide-eyed amazement ! I found parts of the film extremely disturbing to watch, of course the murder scene itself, where the evil deed is carried out to the sound of the choir singing "Rock of Ages", the lead-up to the fateful event, and then of course Ruben Borchardt's funeral where Mrs "B" turns on the waterworks for the benefit of the public, runs off and shows a different face ! Schizophrenic people are very frightening indeed and from reading the comments, I get the impression that this film is not just a fiction but actually based on real events ! Whether the reality was as horrific as in this film, we'll never know ! Outside this horror aspect, I also found that the characters were very well developed .... Ruben's two children, the boy Chuck, who I'd swear was a young clone of ex British PM John Major and his daughter,Brook, an American version of the French actress Charlotte Gainsbourg, are both very attaching and human characters.Mrs B's own kid Regan is a little less interesting. The Shannon character is also rather dubious. Ruben's love, Clair, is a shy character with a delicate, fragile and most lovely face but her rôle is really on the periphery of events though at one stage we do witness an extremely uncomfortable scene where she is pursued through the streets of the town by Diane Borchardt who is shouting insults after her ! As to the killers themselves, Doug Vest has an almost angelic face and Mike looks just the opposite ! In this frightening drama, the only reassuring thing are the two police officers who are far from stupid and have more or less sussed it out from the start ..... it's just a question of time before the net closes in on the guilty parties and they have their initial hunches confirmed.

Update July 2007 : a DVD of the the film would appear to be programmed for release around December 11th of this same year. Youpee !!!!