Killing Daddy (2014 Lifetime)
Cast: Elizabeth Gillies, Cynthia Stevenson, William R. Moses
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Synopsis (via Lifetime)
When Callie discovers that her father has had a debilitating stroke, she sees it as the perfect opportunity to return home and seek justice for her mother.
Thoughts
The movie begins in a snowy town, and it is not giving off a Christmas vibe. Callie (Think knock off Lindsey Lohan.) works as a waitress in a “family restaurant.” She is fired for stealing and skips town. A guy named Jake beats down her door because she owes him money. She sneaks out the back and steals his car driving off into a snow storm.
During her getaway, Callie runs out of glass and is left stranded on the side of the road. With no one left to turn to, she calls her housekeeper, Emma, who tells her that her father has had a stroke. They also have a half-sister named Laura. Callie has an estranged relationship with her father. She also has mental health issues and is off her medication. (The last words she said to him were, “I HATE you. I HATE you. And I always have.”
Callie visits her dad in the hospital. While he is incapacitated, she screams at him that he is terrible and pitches his nose to stop his breathing. Callie tells him she is the one with the power now.
Back in her childhood home, Callie remembers horrors from her childhood. Like, finding her mother’s body in the bathtub after she committed suicide. She helps take care of her father, in-home care. She plans to get revenge on her family, so they all feel the pain she has felt her whole life. She reviews the will and learns that he leaves everything to Emma and Laura. (Who is surprised, she is trying to kill her father.)
Callie sees Emma kissing her father’s comatose body and knows he has been having an affair for years. She threatens him again. Then Callie sleeps with the married family lawyer. She will use it to blackmail him into changing the will, obviously.
In her car, Callie is attacked by Jake, who is looking for his money. She makes a deal with him that she will pay him back if he kills her father. Then she goes home and threatens her father again. Emma is too busy watching American Idol to notice. Callie joins Emma to watch the show, and Jake breaks into the house. He suffocates the father with a pillow, giving Callie an alibi.
The funeral happens, and Callie is annoyed to see Jake there. Emma is concerned as to who the man is and becomes suspicious. Callie blackmails the lawyer with a sex tape and plans on getting her money. Jake still sticks around, waiting for his share of the dough. Callie pays him off in a motel but shorts him. He plays her a video he made of her plotting her father’s death. She seduces him, shoots him in the heart, and sets his room on fire.
Emma wanders around the house, depressed. Callie tells Emma that she knows about their affair and wants her to move out of the house. Emma can’t understand because the father said to her that he would leave her the house. Emma realizes that the man she saw at the funeral knows something.
Cue a random shopping montage while Emma looks into things. Emma finds the gun that was used to kill Jake. She also learns that Jake is dead and knows that Callie is the killer. Emma calls 911 to report the murder of Jake and Callie’s father.
Callie pulls a gun on Emma and shoots. Emma emptied the bullets but still gets pistol-whipped. Emma wakes up, and Callie shares her plan to stage Emma’s suicide and then kill her sister to get even more money. Emma tells Callie that the family loved her and always have.
The lawyer interrupts things and convinces Callie to give him the gun. Callie cries and falls to the floor, saying she is “crazy.” This is such a terrible depiction of mental health issues.
Callie ends up heavily sedated in a mental institution like a zombie. Emma and Laura watch her from a window, horrified
Side Note
Minority Report: Line cook, Doctor, Home Nurse, Hospital Nurse.
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Overall rating
🔪🔪🔪 (3 Knives)
🍷🍷🍷 (3 glasses of wine required.)
*Photo Credit: © 2014 Lifetime
