While going through a difficult divorce from her domineering, businessman husband, Alexandra moves back into her old childhood brownstone home, where she sets out to uncover dark family secrets from when she was a young girl, involving her Aunt Judith's murder and her mother's descent into insanity. The only clue is a key to a mysterious secret room that lies within the house. As a series of bizarre and unsettling incidents prod Alexandra to investigate her past, she finds herself wandering deeper into danger as her past comes back to haunt her.
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The tragedy you see after the opening credits causes nightmares for grown-up blonde beauty Kristy Swanson (as Alexandra "Alex" Kent). Although it was the scene of the horrific drama she experienced as a cute little girl, Ms. Swanson has decided to move back into the luxurious brownstone. She's also decided to shed successful husband Charles Powell (as Dan Lambeth) – in spite of his very cool hairdo. Swanson quickly considers bedding her insane mother's doctor David Keeley (as Mike Stanheight). He has cool hair, too. In the old home again, our heroine takes a swim in the indoor pool. Then, she begins to act really weird. Swanson tries to piece together mysteries from the past while maintaining her own sanity. Her busy psychiatrist Christopher Bondy (as Sam Bradburn) thinks Swanson should have stayed away from the brownstone and all the "Forbidden Secrets" dwelling inside...This is not a bad revision, by writer Karen Craig and director Richard Roy, of some commonly used plot points. But, it gets off to a bad start by not identifying mysteries. Know that the flashback opening is woefully incomplete; perhaps, including a shadowy figure would have heightened interest. The "key" element used to tie things tougher is the silver necklace Swanson often wears. You can see why any woman would want to wear it all the time – well, not. Some of the story stretches credulity too much – like how Swanson can't locate a certain room. She should simply ask the contractor, who could analyze the brownstone's entire structure. And, the drawing is obvious, but few in the cast seems to have a clue. There are some rough edges (watch that continuity on the couch), also. In supporting roles, head contractor Richard Jutras (as Ed) and girlfriend Marianne Farley (as Gina) are terrific.***** Forbidden Secrets (9/26/05) Richard Roy ~ Kristy Swanson, David Keeley, Christopher Bondy, Richard Jutras
The TV synopsis sounded quite interesting and having noted that Kirsty Swanson was in it I was more than willing to give the movie a try. I recorded this with the intent on watching it when I was relaxed and in the mood for something interesting but I have to say that I was really dismayed at what I was watching.To be fair to the movie I do have to say that the plot was interesting and in effect it was the only thing that kept me watching till the end. But that's about all I can say in the movie's favour. A poor screenplay and lousy dialogue lines did little to disguise the awful direction. What's worse is that the actors allowed themselves to contribute to the overall effort with some truly lousy acting. Whatever views I had about Kirsty's acting abilities went out of the window with this movie. For most of the movie she sounded as though she been in a screaming match and then had a strangling match with someone- she sounded that hoarse. Her attempts at emoting left a lot to be desired about. I think that it's time she decided to give up acting and try something else.The rest of the cast were just as bad, if not worse. In truth this movie was just a cut above the standard soap opera fare- a lot of bad hamming to no effect.As I mentioned above the plot is the only thing that is good for the movie but having said that you can quickly figure out what's going on close to half way through the movie. I haven't clicked on the spoiler column as there aren't any major spoilers and even those plot points could be used to emphasize the overall poorness of the movie. I only gave this one star out of ten because I couldn't assign half stars and that is all this movie is really worth- half a star.I would not recommend this movie to anyone but truly die hard fans of Kirtsy Swanson. To the rest of the viewing public- watching paint dry is a lot more fun...and easier on the eyes.
An okay made for TV movie about a recent divorcée who moves back into her childhood home, where her last memory is the "accidental" drowning death of her aunt. Turns out to be a 'whodunit' and with the limited number of cast, it's not hard to figure out who the guilty party is. Plot moves along fairly quickly. Beautiful filming location in Quebec and it's too bad they don't acknowledge it in the film. Rather, they would like the story set as a generic East Coast U.S. city. My biggest gripe is an obvious spelling mistake during the running of the end credits. The actor who played the psychiatrist is David KEELEY and not David Kelly. I've never seen an on screen typo. Shame on the editor!
Like Canadian wine, Canadian movies are getting better. This one has a gripping plot. I rather like the fact that you don't really know who the good guys and the bad guys are until the very end. It's a psychological thriller. It's not Psycho but it's also not bad. I guessed correctly that the film was shot in Montreal. Those distinctive staircases were a dead giveaway. So why wasn't the story set in Montreal. This was a Canadian production done by and for Canadian movie channels and financed with healthy Canadian and Quebec government grants and tax breaks. Yet quite apart from keeping Montreal a deep dark secret, they go so far as to fly American flags in some scenes. Do we really have to pander to the American market in such a demeaning manner? Americans watch movies set in Paris or London. Why do we assume they will not watch one set in Montreal?
