Presumed Dead (2006 TV Movie) User Reviews

The Defective Detective

[sol1218 · 5/10 · 9 August 2009]

**SPOILERS** In its trying to be different by putting in as many sub-plots that can fit into a 90 minute movie, I counted at least five, the made for TV movie "Presumed Dead" gets so confusing that by the time it's finally over you know less about its story then what you knew when it first started!

The movie starts off with a crazed man, who looks like he's hypnotizes, running around the woods with a large butcher knife, dripping with blood, chasing this terrified young woman. The man who's arrested later turns out to be America's top murder mystery writer Seth Harmon, Durgan Regeh, and the woman, who ends up missing by jumping into a nearby stream, Harmon's protégé Paige Stevenson, Rhonda Dent. Getting herself on the case despite the objections of her boss Captain Dade, Blu Mankuma,is the very annoying and bitchy lady detective Mary Anne Cooper, Sherilyn Fenn.

Even though "Coop", as Det. Cooper is is known by her fellow cops, is supposed to be on convalescent leave since her husband, also a cop, was killed in a hold-up earlier in the year she still manages, by her constantly pestering Capt Dade, to not only get on the case but become the officer in charge of it! This later helps Harmon, who opted to defend himself at his trial, to get off by Coop in her making a fool of herself, by testifying for the prosecution, while subjected to Harmon's whithering cross-examination.

It's after Harmon is found innocent that the movie starts to go in all different directions in trying to tie up all the loose ends in to what exactly happened to Paige Stevenson who's still on the police blotter as a missing person. And just what exactly the now freed Seth Hermon had to do with her being missing or even possibly, if Paige's body is ever found, murder!

***SPOILERS**** It soon becomes evident, at least to Coop, that Paige had ghost written Harmon's latest blockbuster murder mystery novel "Death Row Confessions". Paige now wanting to get the credit in writing that novel was going to go public in exposing Harmon for the fraud that he is. Soon Coop got another piece of information, on a typed message on her cellphone, that had to do with a previous novel-called "The Mocking Glass Murder"-that Harmon wrote, before he started suffering from writers block, some time ago. It was in that novel where Harmon describes a murder that actually took place which-now hold on to your hats-he in fact participated in!***MAJOR SPOILER**** The fictitious novel " The Mocking Glass Murder" very factually described the true story of the vicious suffocation murder of Heather Mason, Tracy Trueman, who just happened to be Paige's mom! The question now is if Paige is in fact dead then who's supplying Coop with all this explosive information that only the missing and presumed dead Paige Stevenson who witnessed her moms murder, while hiding in a closet, could possibly have known!

An Intricate Mystery Film Worth A Watch.

[P3n-E-W1s3 · 6/10 · 1 February 2018]

After the death of her police officer husband Detective Mary Ann Cooper - "Coop" - (Fenn) is reluctant to take leave and throws herself into her work, much to the distress of her young daughter. On the night of her husband's death, he was called out to a domestic disturbance at a local writer's home. Sharing his thoughts about the man and the situation with Coop, she is left with the impression that the writer is not to be trusted. So when she hears about a possible murder at the house she rushes to the crime scene and inserts herself into the case. This is where the twists and turns begin.

This is a very clever mystery tale. However, there are times when it feels as though the writer, Lindsay James (Keith Shaw) struggles with some of the plot twists and their culmination. Which is a shame as it adds a sloppiness to the project. Though the courtroom scene is very well structured as you get to see how a writers mind can rework the facts to meet a different scenario. Loved this section of the story. Then you get the ending which feels rushed and spoils the mood and aura of the film.

The director, George Mendeluk, is adept at creating atmosphere, though a little more tension at times wouldn't have gone amiss. Also, a change of pace would have been good. There are a couple of scenes that would have improved from a different approach, especially the two in the woods.

I liked Fenn as the cop on a mission, she did well in portraying her. Fenn has had a lot of hits and misses in her career, this one is a hit. The rest of the cast also do a good job with their characterisations. Though, I wouldn't have chosen Regehr to play the writer, Seth Harmon. This character calls for a cool and cocky air to him, Regehr gets nowhere near to these traits. Then when he starts to break, Regehr struggles with pulling off this psychological side. Though, this could be what the director envisioned and asked for. However, I cannot help but think how much better the film would have been with a stronger bad guy.

This is a movie I'd recommend all mystery and thriller fans and whodunnit pundits to watch, at least once. Once the plot twists have been exposed then the power of the film has been expunged.

Worst movie I've watched in 2010

[anderson_d_almeida · 1/10 · 12 December 2010]

The year is coming to a close and I have a sure winner for the worst of the year. The only movie I voted 1 in 2010.

I took notes of my thoughts (as I usually do) but after 15 minutes I had listed so many problems that I decided to stop it: the list had gotten way too long. From that point on I just sat back and watched, asking myself if I should trust my eyes and ears: could a movie be that bad?

The story is ridiculous. Written by Keith Shaw under the name of Lindsay James (would that be the name he signs when he writes something that even he is ashamed of?)

Should I bother to disclose this? Well, the person we think will end up being right is - surprise! - right. Evidences are tampered, a venal "expert" is bought off - selling his "expertise" to the highest bidder -, a forensic lab technician also breaks the law, but the end justify all those less than laudable means. And, talking about laudable, the person who orchestrates all that is commended for doing that. (In 2 other movies I've watched recently where the cops planted or tampered with evidence, at least they ended up dead and looked upon in shame). I can only hope that law enforcement in my city works a little bit differently.

Direction is confusing. The director tries hard to makes us think in certain directions intending to surprise us. It certainly didn't work in my case.

Performances are laughable. I actually liked John Tench as the butler. Do you think you ever saw a stereotypical butler? The butler that jokes are made about? Well, think again and watch him. His scenes made the movie look like a spoof of horror movies. I thought Leslie Nilsen would show up next.

I may keep the DVD: it provides valuable lessons on how NOT to make a movie.

Hilariously awful Lifetime Channel movie

[a_chinn · 2/10 · 24 December 2017]

Laughably bad Lifetime Channel thriller about determined cop Sherilyn Fenn trying to prove that a famous mystery writer is actually a murderer. Oh, and Fenn's character is an aspiring mystery writer herself who also happens to be getting over the recent death of her husband. This made-for-cable movie has so many cliches I can't even begin to list them all (a detective told to lay off the case, a defendant serving as their own attorney in court, a cop having their badge taken away, etc. and so on and so forth). The only reason I watched this film is that I'd set my DVR to record anything Sherilyn Fenn appears in, and although she does her best with what she's got, this film is a mess beyond saving. And full disclosure, I watched this film on my iPad picture-in-picture, which is really all it deserved.

A female homicide detective faces political opposition, and confronts

[ovaga1 · 8/10 · 21 May 2006]

If you love a surprising twist at the end of a movie-this is it! Twist, upon twist, upon twist. The flashbacks and use of color are inventive and creative. They help the story. Does art imitate art, or vice versa? This is what the film seems to explore: the theme that sometimes creative individuals turn to crime and violence if they do not get the opportunity to express themselves, or if their creativity is suppressed-as in the case of Jack The Ripper, or Adolf Hitler. Filmically, the black and white flashbacks seem to represent what really happened, and the more colorful ones seem to be from the accused killer's point of view. It's good to see Sherilyn Fenn again. She is credible as a cop and a single mom wrestling to solve a case of murder with a misogynist as the accused, as well as heal herself from the tragic death of her husband.The credit sequence sets up the plot, which is interesting. The music is haunting. And the directing even and sure handed. The end is definitely a surprise!

Too intelligent for his own good

[clanciai · 10/10 · 5 February 2022]

His job is to fabricate intrigues and to write them down, making money as a best selling author. He is rich, he owns a magnificent villa, he has everything, and then he dries up and finds himself incapable of writing any more. This actually happens to most authors, Steinbeck and Hemingway for example. The case is rather normal than unusual. This author resorts to desperate measures to reclaim his writing capacity, fabricating intrigue out of reality, and gradually loses control, trying desperately to sort himself out of the mess he has created all by himself, relying like Oscar Wilde on his intelligence to trick himself out of any quandary and appears to be successful - his manipulation of reality becomes more successful than his fiction. This is a marvellous thriller, like the author almost too intelligent for its own good, but it is astoundingly efficient, vying with the best of Hitchcock's. This is different in character, there is no murder committed here except two of them in a distant past, and of course anybody will expect nothing less than for the "presumed dead" to sooner or later present herself - that's what will keep the audience waiting, and it will be gratified.

Presumed Dead

[terirec · 10/10 · 20 May 2006]

Presumed Dead starred Actor Duncan Regehr as crime-writer Seth Harmon.In the opening scene Seth was seen chasing after Paige with a bloody kitchen knife. Then Seth was charged with Paige's murder by Detectives, Seth testified in his own defense and was found innocent. Paige was actually being hidden in the woods by Seth, his chauffeur Tyson and a hunter, The detective who believed that Seth had been guilty didn't give up trying to prove his guilt. Paige confides in one of the Detectives named Maryanne that Seth had killed her mother, and that Paige had actually written a book that Seth took the credit for. It was presumed that Paige was dead so I believe that the title fits,

A masterpiece!

[yawnoc13 · 10/10 · 15 July 2007]

Spoilers beware, readers. Every film student, every future film maker, should run out and locate a copy of this movie. It is a masterpiece of inept, hole ridden, movie making of the very worst kind. Yes, grab a copy of this utterly absurd piece of far fetched junk and it will demonstrate, as you sit with you jaw dropping towards the floor, how not to make a movie! The acting is in a class of it's own. See the mad writer go to pieces (along with the plot). See the henchman who is only short of being called Igor! Or is that Egor? See the near retirement chubby cop allow the defective detective into the evidence room without supervision thus allowing her to liberate valuable evidence from the cop shop. See the worst use of a E. Hemingway photo in the history of visual storytelling. I could go on but please discover for yourselves the many delights this gem contains, it may not make you happy but it will certainly make you a better film-maker-writer. Enjoy!