In Her Mother's Footsteps (2006 TV Movie) User Reviews

The bodies in the lake

[sol-kay · 6/10 · 21 March 2012]

***SPOILERS*** It's when Kate Nolan, Emma Caufield, got the good news from the family lawyer Carl Brooks, Mackenzie Gray, that her estranged father whom she hasn't seen or heard from since he abandoned her and her mom, in the dead of night, almost 20 years ago left her his over 10 million dollar estate together with a house on the lake that things started looking up for her. Knowing a good thing when she sees one Kate packed up and together with her husband Bobby, David Orth, and eight years old daughter Emma, Matreya Fedon, moved in to start a new life.

It's in that dream house that all of a sudden Kate got these strange visions that something terrible happened there. These visions become so real that Kate went to the local police to have them investigate what happened in the dream house before she and her family moved in! As it soon turned out Kate has developed supernatural powers of perception that she inherited from her late mom who was a clairvoyant for the police department who solved six murders! With Kate now on the verge of uncovering four unsolved murder cases in and around her new home by the lake you can just bet the person responsible for them will try to make sure that Kate becomes his fifth victim!

While all this is going on Kate's two timing hubby Bobby is secretly having a hot and heavy affair with attorney Brooks' sexy secretary Gina Byrnes, Judy Thompson, who's planning along with Gina to have Kate, who had spent some six months in a mental institution, committed and thus grab the money and house that her late father left to her! It's takes a while but soon police skin divers recover four bodies in the lake just were Kate predicted they would be. It soon became evident that Kate's father who was bed ridden with cancer at the time of the womens, all local prostitutes, deaths couldn't have possibly murdered them! So the $64.00 question is who did?

***SPOILERS*** As all the possible suspects in the lake murders were eliminated, one of which was to cover his tracks, the real killer finally emerged catching Kate alone in the house. Not knowing that she was on to him right from the start the killer overplayed his hand and walked right into the trap that Kate and the local police set up for him. And ended up getting burned in doing it! The only thing that I found a bit odd about the film is how obvious the identity of actual killer was. He was so out in the open in what he did even while trying to cover up his crimes, by implicating Kate in committing them, that he should have been exposed as soon as he showed up in the movie!

Nothing new, extremely repetitive

[debwoodrum · 2/10 · 4 September 2006]

A young woman (Emma Caulfield), along with her daughter and relatively new husband, moves into a home left for her by her estranged father, who is suspected in the death of her mother, and possibly in the deaths of several other women. The house is beautiful (and free, as mentioned previously--never accept a gift of a free beautiful house), so of course weird things start to happen--people peering down from windows, mysterious puddles of water on the floor, ghostly creatures crawling on ceilings. Is she losing her mind or is she just a psychic, like her deceased mother? As an adoring fan of Caulfield from her Buffy days, I was prepared to like this film, but found it extremely boring, derivative, and unoriginal. And as lovely as she is, how many times do we really need a shot of Caulfield staring into a mirror while ghosts creep up behind her? (Apparently, six or seven).

Overused, unimaginative, and flawed plot

[japonaliya · 2/10 · 17 October 2010]

SPOILERS

Short and sweet, made for TV movie that is a variation on a plot that has been done about a million times... Think Ghost Whisperer, or any other "psychic" ghost story. I guessed who the killer was from the beginning...

Briefly..unforgivable plot problems, and unbelievable directing flaws: (1) Originally told by lawyer at house the only thing her father left her with was the house, and an old rusty metal box which he had brought with him. THEN he tells her at his office that she had inherited her father's estate worth $11 million!!!! Hmmm...why didn't he say that in the FIRST PLACE?? THE BOX!!! IF the ONLY thing you were given as an inheritance (at first) was a house and a rusty box, why didn't they (wife and husband, and daughter) have even the SLIGHTEST curiosity about what was in the box??? They didn't get around to opening up the box until they had already moved to the new house and had been there for some time... Weren't they just a bit curious to know that if there were important papers, documents, gold, jewelry etc. etc. in the box??? When she goes to open the box, the padlock was already opened!!!! Who did THAT?

(2) Since the father was still alive when the murders took place...how could he have already willed his daughter the house in order to catch the serial killer? OTHERWISE, did he just leave her the house because he was guilty, and the bad cop just happened to use THAT house to all of a sudden after years on the police force, become a crazed killer??

I could go on and on, but this film was like all the other lifetime, and SiFi Channel movies, contrived, stupid, and BAD!!!

simply flawed

[sumana-m21 · 2/10 · 25 October 2010]

I found this movie to be too very flawed. Of course its a made for TV movie, but I've seen much better TV movies. The movie starts off with a young woman who has lost her father and inherits a wealthy mansion. The wealthy mansion is apparently either haunted or she is insane, because she has these really fake 'visions' throughout the movie. The ghosts look like people wearing halloween masks. And there is simply no jumpy scenes or scare the hell out of you looks from any of the characters. None of the characters in the movie make you want to save them, except the little girl who has acted pretty well. I most certainly started to predict where the story would lead to, but in the end, the movie had such a pathetic twist, that I felt like I had wasted my entire evening. Do yourself a favor and get some sleep. You didn't miss anything.

Poor and not very creative

[sephora36 · 1/10 · 26 August 2018]

Nothing to say but that it is very simple movie, not very creative. All obvious situations. I've seen way way better thrillers.

One heck of a thriller

[randy-409 · 10/10 · 3 September 2006]

Very cool TV movie. Far better than most, in fact.

Think "The Grudge" meets "What lies beneath", meets "CSI" and you'll have a good idea of the tone this pic manages to pull off. Genuinely scary in parts with a number of great JUMP scenes. At least as good as many of the horror flicks at the multiplex. The sexy Emma Caulfield, (Anye from Buffy the Vampire Slayer) looks great and acts very believably as the woman in "supernatural" peril. Keeps you guessing until the end.

I'd have no problem if this gets nominated for an Emmy. There are too few TV movies of this type and quality. No big message, just a scary good popcorn time!

Good suspense thriller

[guilfisher-1 · 8/10 · 19 April 2007]

Let's give credit to writer, Steven Finly for an excellent script and director, Farhad Mann for keeping the suspense moving along. I found this extremely well done by all in the cast. Not a dud anywhere. Emma Caufield as the young clairvoyant daughter who inherits her father's house was wonderful. Believable and entirely convincing in the role. Playing opposite her and also equally as good is David Orth as her husband. The little girl, played by Matreya Fedor was quite convincing and natural. The supporting cast all did a fine job. I usually have negative things to say about LMN films, but once in a while there comes along a dark horse that wipes me away and I'm happy to be proved wrong with this superb movie. Congratulations to all involved.

Pretty Good Ghost Story

[rjmarzano · 8/10 · 6 January 2008]

I watched this movie on the Lifetime Movie Network (LMN). This appears to be ghost / psychic movie weekend on LMN.

It contains ideas that are consistent with real hauntings such as people seeing images of things that have happened in the past. Sometimes the things that are happening in that other dimension can reach across into this physical dimension.

Also the main character has certain psycho kinetic powers such as when she gets upset light bulbs explode, things start shaking, etc..

The star of the movie is nice looking and she dresses in really interesting outfits all through the movie.

However the ending was not exactly what I expected.

It's one of those movies where there isn't really too many characters and as people get bumped off you don't have too many choices left about who the villain should be I guess.

But in this case they really stretched the limits of plausibility.

Jeff Marzano

It's Delicious! She's a Watcher!

[amberdawn-2 · 10/10 · 20 April 2007]

"In Her Mother's Footsteps" begins with Kate Nolan (Emma Caulfield) inheriting her wealthy father's house. She, her husband, Bobby Nolan (David Orth), and her daughter, Emma Nolan (Matreya Fedor) move into their new upper-class home. They seemed a well-suited pair. Kate was an attractive woman, with a daughter by a previous marriage. After her first husband died, Kate and Bobby were married, with Bobby adopting Emma as his daughter. Bobby was a good-looking man and appeared to be an excellent husband and father. It seemed as if the romance was still there in their marriage. It looked as if their family-life in their new home was set for a smooth run, but things did not work out that way.

Within a short time after their move, it seemed as though Bobby had begun to neglect his wife and daughter. He was almost always calling home because he had to work late. Kate didn't seem to complain, but was sometimes disappointed. During these times while Bobby was away, though, it seemed like the house was possessed. Kate was always seeing visions of murders, gruesome murders, that would not go away. No matter how much she tried to rationalize the situation, she no longer thought it, but 'knew' that the house was possessed. It had to be that, or else she was losing her mind. Bobby made her promise to see her psychiatrist, and she kept her promise, but it was like a waste of her time. These visions still plagued her. Her therapy sessions had begun after the death of her first husband, and she was still taking medication that the doctor had prescribed for her. When these visions kept haunting her, she would just take another pill, hoping that it would make everything normal again.

She hated that house! She didn't care about how much money it was worth; she just wanted it gone and to be rid of it! After a while though, it was like the house and the visions were trying to tell her something. From this point on, the movie entails every twist, surprise, factor, and character imaginable! Even though everything had to be crammed into a couple of hours, the movie was still put together with short scenes that left nothing missing. It still allowed the audience to know what was going on and made sense. "In Her Mother's Footsteps" is labeled Suspense/Thriller, but I think that you can also throw 'Horror' into that categorization as well.

In my opinion, the movie is fantastic! I'd say that it deserves a '10!' I've never before seen a movie such as this on LMN. When you think of LMN movies, you think of dramas, true stories, some suspense movies, and the like. The visions of these murders, in the movie, are very graphic. If you can't stand the site of blood, then I suggest you not watch it. "In Her Mother's Footsteps" is not for the squeamish! The movie is exciting, thrilling, very suspenseful, somewhat scary, gory, and it's alive! Selecting Emma Caulfield, as Kate, was a good choice. There's nothing phony about her acting; she's for real. The special effects were great. And the movie doesn't drag on before getting to know the characters and plot. The ending is a total surprise! It leaves you with all differing emotions. It's one of the best television movies produced lately!

Effective ghost story

[kannibalcorpsegrinder · 9/10 · 11 May 2017]

Having inherited her deceased father's house, a woman's increasingly vivid hallucinations and visions around the house lead her to believe the ghosts of her fathers' victims are haunting the house and must solve their murders before it continues against her family.

This one was one of Lifetime Channel's most impressive and enjoyable efforts. What really helps this one is the absolutely creepy and chilling house here that enables for quite a fun atmosphere and sense of dread. The large, spacious rooms, exceptionally long hallways and wooden construction here all derive a really impressive feeling at being the kind of setting to hang the supernatural action here. That there is the best part of this one since there's a lot of really enjoyable haunting scenes throughout here, which also provide this one with another impressive factor in its strong pace as well with as much fun as this one features. There's a lot to like with these, starting with the simple gags of the shutting door gag or visions of people around the house that has some merit to their appearances for once. As good as these are, the bigger scenes are even better in this which starts with the electrocution accident in the bathtub which enables the hallucination of the first murder victims reaction in the moment, the later dream sequence where the ghosts of the murder victims appearing before her startling er awake and the big one here of being trapped in the basement and being witness to the recreation murder all come off nicely as really chilling, creepy ghosts scenes. As well, this one furthers the film into the final half where there's the big investigation into the incidents, from the field investigations that don't reveal anything to the dives that do uncover the bodies, there are some decent enough scenes here that help this one along as it slowly unravels a fine, entertaining mystery. These here are enough to hold this one up quite well though there are some minor flaws here. The biggest issue ere is the final minutes of this one, where the film's preponderance on settling for a human resolution to the supernatural happens forces a multitude of plot twists to occur at such a rapid pace that it's rushed and completely scattershot, dropping the father for the adultery angle, the switchover to the new killer and the return to the past of that individual which comes off as confusing and unnecessary to what's going on in the other story lines. This also brings the action to a half as well, but overall there's more to like here.

Rated UR/R: Language, Violence, extremely Brief Nudity and a mild, clothed sex scene.

A Pretty Good Haunting

[ladymidath · 8/10 · 27 March 2022]

I have a fondness for Lifetime and made for television movies, I have to admit, they are a guilty pleasure. Deadly Inheritance is one of the better movies. The acting can be a little clunky at times, but overall, it's not too bad and the actors aren't too grating.

The story is gripping, although a little formulaic, woman inherits creepy old house from estranged father, ghosts begin to appear, unsolved murders etc, but this is better than most.

Not a bad way to spend an evening if you enjoy supernatural movies.