This film has some seriously wasted talent, like the previous commenter said. The film would have been more decent had it had a better budget and storyline. It was a typical hallmark-style take on a murder mystery which wasn't a murder mystery, it was evident what would eventually happen .. predictable and the ending was rather callous, in that it was kind of demented. My favourite thing about the whole movie was the music at the beginning and end which i thought sounded extremely Australian outback-like, but also added some enigmatic atmosphere to the themes highlighted in the film itself, if that makes any sense.I got this film for $1 at Wal Mart and being from England and hoping to study film studies at Uni, I thought what better opportunity to study film than to buy a load of cheap digiview DVDs. I wasn't expecting amazing story lines and directing/acting, but this one was admittedly better than "Second Chance", which doesn't really do much justice to the cast and director at all. So here's my 5/10 rating for being ordinary yet reasonable.Mel x

This movie was better than I'd expected, full of black humor and had pretty good acting. Sally Kirkland was very convincing as the lonely and obsessed hotel owner. Poor Ally Sheedy has resulted to playing in these low budget films, although she is a very talented actress. Anyways, the movie was pretty good, but I really thought the ending was pretty awful, with lots of loose ends. There is no way that Ally's character and the adulteress, Edgar's teacher, could have got away clean with that insurance money. I mean really, they didn't even discuss what to do with the additional bodies and how they were going to cover it all up! Plus, when they dumped her husband's body in the lake, he was still bagged. If the police were to find his body, they would have known it was a homicide! I just thought the ending was quite a disappointment, with all the loose endings that weren't resolved. If those were wrapped up, I think this movie would have been a little more convincing.

Towards the end of this thriller Ally Sheedy's gaunt latter-day image is used creatively to make up more than one hauntingly evil image. She convinces one that, if a nasty Bette Davis-type role were to come her way, she could carry it off brilliantly. Unfortunately, I can't find many other reasons for seeing this. If you've wondered what Sheedy looks like in a pair of old-fashioned glasses (but why should anyone?) then here's your answer. For the rest, Sally Kirkland's sex-starved crazy woman is really tiresome, and even if you like this sort of thing more than I do you'll have to admit that the tension sags badly during these scenes. Savage's drunken brute of an insurance agent is equally distasteful but at least it's a small role. Of the leading actors, Nicholas Walker inspires no sympathy at all for Paul Keller's plight and his acting is wooden. Dara Tomanovich is better and during her scenes with Sheedy the level rises a little. Sheedy's meticulous, understated performance (though she often seems to be on automatic pilot) is admirable in itself but out of context with the rest. The sets are drab, the camera-work undistinguished.

I liked the movie a real lot. Wanted to see it just for Dara Tomanovich, but the plot and story were ok too. A very cool change in plot when you least expect it.