Home Abduction (2018 Lifetime)

Home Abduction (2018 Lifetime)

Stars: Patty McCormack, Angie Patterson, Violet Hicks

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Synopsis (via Lifetime)

A mother and her young daughter move into a new house looking for a new start. But they soon realize that they will become part of a dark history.

Thoughts

Maggie, a recently separated mother/house flipper and her daughter with a cool headband, move into a new house. The house is haunted AF. As Maggie is moving boxes inside, she hears a child singing, “Mary had a Little Lamb.” only it isn’t her daughter Ava, a puppet on an iPad sings creepily. Then she finds a man squatting in the shed, and she threatens him with a knife to get him out. She is terrified.

Maggie isn’t the only one being terrified; Sylvia is their elderly neighbor and gets stuck playing with Ava. (My nightmare.) Sylvia takes care of her sick husband and has lived in the neighborhood for years. Sylvia gives them the background story of the house. A young couple lived there in the ’70s, and their daughter was kidnapped. They abandoned the house, and the wife eventually killed her husband. It is not the best history for a resale.

When Russ, the man who sold the house to Maggie, stops by to investigate the house. He hears Gene the man next door banging his wooden spoon on his wheelchair and goes over to visit. Russ is confused when he sees Sylvia because Gino never mentioned having a sister. Russ has been trying to get Gene to sell the house, and he knows she is an impostor and call the police. While he is distracted, Sylvia stabs him with a butcher knife, drags his body to his car trunk, and then takes out a photo of a young girl. Sylvia is the mother whose daughter was kidnapped, and she killed her husband.

Sylvia has an insane monologue about getting her house back as she force-feeds Gene oatmeal that is too hot. Sylvie has a flashback to her hiring the homeless man to squat in Maggie’s house. Then she drives Russ’s car to a homeless area. She also tampers with the electricity.

Speaking of Maggie, she begins to get settled. Her estranged husband, Zeke, visits and wants to know if the neighborhood is safe. Maggie tells him that she is starting her life over and doesn’t need him. Then she changes a light fixture and electrocutes herself, falling off the ladder. Sylvia offers to pick up Ava from school, and she makes copies of the house keys on her way. Sylvia helps take care of Ava and begins to think of her as her daughter. Maggie is okay with it until Ava flys off a swing and is injured. Zeke calls his mother to take over Ava’s caretaking.

Cue the overbearing mother in law, Helen. (Played by Lifetime MVP Diane Robin.) Helen takes over, much to Sylvia’s dismay. It doesn’t last long. In the middle of the night, Sylvia uses her key to sneak into the house. She tries to suffocate Helen in her sleep. A soccer ball ruins her plan, and Sylvia rushes out. Slyvia is not deterred and comes back the next day and pushes Helen down the stairs. When Helen doesn’t die, Sylvia breaks her neck with her bare hands and plants a soccer ball next to the body. (Haha, the campiness of this movie. I love it.)

A funeral happens for Helen, and while the family is away, Sylvia looks for her ghost daughter in the house. Since Maggie’s mother in law died in the home, flipping it is going to be impossible. No one wants to buy a house where someone died. This news is not good for Sylvia since she wants them gone.

Sylvia posts an add on an adult website for someone to sexually assault Maggie in her home. Maggie gets a knock at the door and fights with the man. Sylvie comes to the rescue. When the police arrive, they tell Maggie about the website and ask her to nor press charges. Meanwhile, Gene is frantically flashing the lights in his house to get the attention of the police. Slyvia sees the light flashing and rushes over to kill Gene with a wooden spoon. (Stupid, but whatever.)

Rattled and with no mother in law, Maggie invites Sylvia to spend the night. Sylvia talks to her ghost daughter, who is probably just the voices in her head. Sylvia eventually falls asleep reading a story to Ava, who she thinks is Cindy. Maggie sees them and thinks it is adorable. Until the next morning, when Sylvia asks where Cindy is. THEN she has concerns. Maggie looks up the article about the kidnapped girl and pieces everything together.

Maggie goes to the detective who initially worked on the case and learns that Sylvia isn’t who she says she is. She is Veronica Thomas and lived in the house in the 70’s. The detective says that he suspected the mother of foul play when Cindy when missing.

Meanwhile, Sylvia picks up Ava from school and takes her for a “day of fun.” She dresses Ava up as Cindy but gets confused when Ava doesn’t respond the way Cindy would. Ava doesn’t like dolls or cherry pie. Maggie finds them and tries to reason with Veronica/Sylvia. That isn’t possible because Veronica/Sylvia has a knife. Maggie grabs a shovel and is backed up in the garden. Maggie realizes that Cindy is buried in the rose garden and starts digging.

In a flashback, Cindy accidentally took too much cold medicine and drowned in the bathtub. Veronica buried her daughter in the backyard and pretended that Cindy was kidnapped.

Maggie digs and digs. Then she pulls out a skeleton hand, and Veronica is distraught. Veronica cries by the makeshift grave as the police arrive to take her away. Maggie and her family move out of the home. Zeke and Maggie kiss before pulling away. They are back together.

Sylvie/Veronica is in a mental institution and promises to be home soon.

Side Note

Minority Report: Detective Grey

Also known as House of Deadly Secrets

Patty McCormack played the iconic child role Rhoda Penmark in The Bad Seed.

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Overall rating

🔪🔪🔪 (3 Knives)

🍷🍷🍷 (3 glasses of wine required.)