A MURDER TO REMEMBER/ANN RULE'S A MURDER TO REMEMBER

US, 2020, 85 minutes, Colour.

Carolyn McCormick, Maddie Nichols, Leslie Hendrix, T.C.Matherne, Kevin Tyler Rodriguez.

Directed by Robin Givens.

This is a thriller from Lifetime, a version of a popular novel by Ann Rule, several of whose other novels have been filmed. It is based on actual characters and events, contributing to understanding of the Stockholm Syndrome.

This is very average entertainment, more for an undemanding audience.

The film opens with an anxious couple driving to town, approaching the police to report a hunting accident, the wife of one year very upset, her being escorted by the hunter who has accidentally killed her husband.

With the interrogation by the police, the film goes into flashback, a very happily a couple celebrating the anniversary, camping, fishing, encountering a young man whose car has been bogged, who advises them on where to fish, urging them to camp during the night, seeing a deer, then the accident.

What happens is that the wife begins to regain some memories, five days in the woods after the death, her blaming the man for deliberately killing her husband. She has a very strong mother who takes her part. There is a strong local sheriff who does polygraph tests on both characters, has to confront the mother, examines the background of the man and finds that he is an unsavoury character. He on the other hand brings his lawyer and defies everyone.

There are more and more memories, the man persuasive, sexual intimacy, persuading her to believe that her husband was accidentally killed. Ultimately, the wife gets the courage to testify after refusing, confronts the man who is then taken away for trial.

A significant theme about male violence towards women, psychopathic murderous behaviour, the effect on women in terms of the Stockholm syndrome.