"Engaged to Kill" from 2006 is a Lifetime movie made in Canada, starring Joe Lando, Dominic Zamprogna, Maria Del Mar, and Katherine Isabelle.Based on a true story, the pediatrician wife, Abby (Del Mar) of a businessman Robert Lord (Lando) is kidnapped, and the ransom demand is a million dollars. Somehow overnight, Lord manages to get the money. He won't call in the police. Meanwhile, Abby Lord is assured by Sally (Daniella Evangelista), the girlfriend of her captor that all they want is the money; her boyfriend is taking her to Hawaii for their wedding. Abby realizes that she's going to be killed, even if Sally believes every word this guy tells her. When she sees a chance to escape, she takes it, but Sally is killed.The captor blames Abby for his girlfriend's death and moves in on the family, hurting their finances still more while he's seducing Abby's and Robert's daughter.All pretty obvious. I watched this because General Hospital's Dominic Zamprogna was in it, a few years before he joined the show. He does well as a real sleaze.I found this okay. I make fun of Lifetime movies, but they're a way to escape and relax. They're not hokey like Hallmark films, and though derivative and predictable, somehow you keep watching.

***MAJOR SPOILERS*** Supposedly based on a true story the made for TV movie "Engaged to kill" is so off the wall and unbelievable that, if in fact it did happen in real life, it goes to prove the famous saying that "Truth is in fact stranger then Fiction".The movie starts off with a run of the mill kidnapping of pediatrician Abby Lord who's kidnapper demands from her husband-luxury boat salesman-Robert a cool million dollars if he even want's to see his wife alive again. Not going to the police but going broke in rustling up the ransom Robert together with his 14 year-old son Corey drop off the cash, in an out of the way garbage can, in the designated spot that the kidnapper told him to. Whaterver believability the movie had up until then totally evaporated with the actions of both the kidnapped victim and the kidnapper.Abby, who was supposed to be released anyway, makes her escape from the kidnapper's trailer with the kidnapper's girlfriend Sally getting killed, by falling out of the trailer and getting crushed, in trying to prevent her from escaping. It's then that the kidnapper decides to get even not only with Abby but her entire family by secretly bankrupting them as well as causing Abby to lose her job at the hospital! This is all done by the kidnapper getting Abby's patients with the help of his accomplice-Sullivan- to accuse her of malpractice.****SPOILER*** It's when the kidnapper, whom were not supposed to know who he is, finally shows up on the scene it becomes obvious just what he's planning to do. Get in good by being Abby's daughter's, Maddy, boyfriend and destroy the Lord family from within! Of course this sleazy and smirking lowlife isn't up to accomplishing his mission by himself he has help in this mindless goon-Sullivan-that he hired to do most of the dirty, as well as murders, for him!Everything is so predictable, especially the identity of the kidnapper, that there's no suspense at all in the movie. The only thing that surprises you is just how ridicules the kidnapper was and how he was able fool, among his victims, anyone in the first place. I for one couldn't understand the attachment he had to his airhead girlfriend Sally since he used her, like he did everyone else in the movie, for his own advantage and nothing more. As for the Lord family it was only Abby who finally got the drop on him but not in her realizing that he was in fact the person who kidnapped her! But in Abby finding the smirking psycho playing- a game of internet poker- with her son's Cory's personal computer! The ending of the movie was a totally mindless confrontation between the kidnapper with both Abby and her daughter Maddy whom he planned to slice up and force Abby to watch bleed to death. It's then that the crazed lunatic for no reason at all, but just to show how crazy he is, dropped his gun only to end up getting clobbered, with a polo stick, and put to sleep until the police came to finally put him away!

I probably should just desist from commenting on this flick. The few previous comments which commend it have high approval marks from those accessing them, except for the one from overseas, which was 0-for-11 previously.However, I caught this film on a Friday after a pretty hectic week, and with a busy weekend approaching, so just laid back for a couple of hours mid-day.I did miss the kidnapping portion, but not difficult to infer what had occurred there, and with other comments - and was understandable that family would be a bit spooked and on-edge following.Still, there wasn't a single character with whom I could empathize or sympathize, and the twerp who entered their lives as the obnoxious daughter's love interest (Nick) was too insipid for me believe him capable of his chicanery. The lead couple, including "Abby," who was commended elsewhere, were a weak pair.And the whole nonsense regarding the financial transactions, the compromising of the father's credit card via internet poker, the ease with which Abby's reputation as a physician was besmirched, was all presented on the level of the silliest of soap opera fare.The back-and-forth emotional exchanges among the family members, in every possible one-on-one combination, or en masse, were also on the level of those seen in the weakest "soap" episodes.The snail's pace with which the police finally got some hard information was unbelievable - even given the ineptitude of the cops on most Lifetime fare.By the time things got to the inevitable 10 minutes or so of climax and revelation, I don't see how anyone could possibly care.(If you wished to insert something illustrating an example of the word "schlep" in a time capsule for future generations, a DVD of this flick would suffice. These folks - without exception - schlepped around throughout this story, from beginning to end.)The only thing raising this presentation from 1* to 2 is that the quality of production was better than most.

Nothing in this movie seems to surprise you, they did everything they can to delete all the tension out of this movie. It looks like some soap-crew filmed this movie! Awful!!!!! The story isn't original at all. It must been done a million times in a lot of B movies! Now i Understand why this movie didn't made it to the cinema. I really couldn't believe it. I thought a average score of 6,6 isn't to bad, but i was wrong. Nothing in this movie seems to surprise you, they did everything they can to delete all the tension out of this movie. It looks like some soap-crew filmed this movie! Awful!!!!! The story isn't original at all. It must been done a million times in a lot of B movies! Now i Understand why this movie didn't made it to the cinema. I really couldn't believe it. I thought a average score of 6,6 isn't to bad, but i was wrong.