Margo Swena O'Very Movies
No sooner has unsuccessful artist Darcy Palmer (Tracey Gold) met music student Brianne Dwyer (Mireille Enos) at an airport than she murders Brianne, stuffs her body in her trunk, and assumes her identity! Entering a prestigious New Hampshire University on the late Brianne's scholarship, Darcy is subsequently introduced to widowed art collector Russell Polk (Perry King), the father of her roommate, Jeanelle (Shawnee Smith). Within what seems like ten minutes, Darcy and Russell have fallen in love, and her future in the rarefied world of art seems assured. Then, without warning, Darcy's web of deceit begins to unravel thanks to a pair of "ghosts" from her past. Clearly, there is no other alternative for Darcy than to start killing people again -- just as she has done so many times in the past in her many previous stolen identities. Its incredible lapses of logic taken care of by its breathless pace (not to mention an ending straight out of The Silence of the Lambs!), the made-for-TV Face of Evil made its CBS network bow on April 9, 1996. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tracey Gold, Perry King, (more)
Long before she became a two-time Oscar winner, Hilary Swank paid her dues in such hard-hitting TV movies as Terror in the Family. The actress is cast as Deena Martin, a profoundly troubled 15-year-old with a history of wild and abusive behavior. An argument over a boy Deena has been seeing without permission erupts into all-out violence as the girl assaults her parents and threatens them with a knife. Removed to the custody of her Aunt Judith (Kathleen Wilhoite), Deena struggles to get her life under control, but the film's script makes it abundantly clear that the problem isn't hers alone. Both her mother, Cynthia (Joanna Kerns), and her brother, Adam (Adam Hendershott), are alcoholics, and her distant, self-absorbed father, Todd (Dan Lauria), would have been just as happy if neither of his children had never been born. Filmed in Utah, Terror in the Family made its Fox network debut on April 16, 1996. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joanna Kerns, Dan Lauria, (more)
