Secret Obsession (2019 Netflix)
Cast: Brenda Song, Mike Vogel, Dennis Haysbert, Ashley Scott
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I’ve gotten some requests to cover Netflix’s TV Movie Offerings. I know Netflix is a streaming service but they have been releasing some VERY Lifetime(ish) and Hallmark(ish) movies this year. Here we go!
Synopsis (via Netflix)
When Jennifer wakes up with amnesia after a traumatic attack, her doting husband cares for her. But she soon realizes the danger is far from over.
Thoughts
The movie starts off VERY lifetimey with a young woman running around in the rain. Then it gets very Netflixy with an extended action sequence. She is being chased by a car and attempting to make a call in a phonebooth. (Is this a period piece?) The young woman hides in a bathroom stall and is followed by a slow-moving man. The man checks the stalls as the woman covers her mouth in terror. (Ummmm, this is scary!!!!) She makes a run for it, the man has a knife and is chasing the young woman. She breaks into a car and floods the engine; once she gets the car to start, she realizes it is latched onto another vehicle? (IDK! A lot of action is happening in this movie.) The young woman runs away and is hit by a car.
She is taken to the hospital and has flashes to a wedding/married life inner cut with doctors and nurses rushing to save her. As the doctors are working, a man named Russel demands to see his wife, Jennifer. (Who is the young woman.) A beautiful nurse, Nurse Masters, lets Russell know that his wife is in surgery, and it will take some time. The next morning Russell sees his wife; she is severely injured with a cast on her leg and all wrapped up in bandages.
100 miles north of San Francisco, Dennis Haysbert (the Allstate guy) is a detective named Frank Page. He gets a call and is on the scene of the attack. He goes to the hospital and interviews Russell. They do a serious bro handshake, and then the detective goes on his way. He goes home and wraps a birthday present while crying. He has a closet full of wrapped toys. Apparently, his daughter went missing when she was 10. THIS IS THE MOST BACKSTORY EVER FOR A DETECTIVE IN A TV MOVIE.
Jennifer wakes up and has amnesia. She doesn’t remember Russell or anything that happened recently. She is clearly rattled and confused. Russell comforts her not by forcing her to remember him but taking it one step at a time. He introduces himself to her, and they shake hands. Russell reminds Jennifer about how they met. To jog her memory, he shows her old photo albums that he CLEARLY photoshopped, and it is all fun and games until she asks about her parents… they died in a fire a few years ago, according to Russell. It is only a minor set back to Jennifer’s recover, and she slowly gets better in a montage. (With Russell by her side the whole time)
The very pretty, Nurse Masters tells Jennifer that she is getting released. Russell and Jennifer drive through the woods to the middle of nowhere to a beautiful secluded cabin. (Is this HGTV dream home? I LOVE LOVE this house.) Jennifer is wheelchair-bound but takes a tour of the house. As she is wheeling around, she is having violent flashes of knives stabbing and stuff like that. Jennifer wants to return to her regular routine, and Russell carries her up to their room.
While he is downstairs, Russell gets a call from the detective. The detective shares that he has identified the cars that were involved. He then asks Russell to bring Jennifer to the station. Jennifer asks Russell about the call, but he deflects and says it was work. He tells Jennifer that she actually quit her job when they moved and promises to get her a new cell phone.
Russell leaves in the middle of the night and attacks a man who was asking around about Jennifer. They struggle, and the man is killed by having his neck snapped. He buries the body in the backyard and wakes up Jennifer. Jennifer screams for Russell until she realizes that he is the one outside. She is now curt and suspicious of him and works to regain her memory. (Which include the wedding and sexy time by the fire.) As she is looking at the photo, she notices some bad photoshopping. This sends her hobbling around the house, looking at pictures and on Russell’s computer. (She is almost caught, but plays it cool… looking at a bookshelf.)
Back with the detective and the pretty nurse. They are both working on getting a hold of Jennifer. When the detective shows up at the Williams house that is on the hospital forms, he is surprised to learn that it is not their house. The detective traces the phone number provided, and it is a burner phone. He then asks the pretty nurse to look up the surveillance camera for a white pickup truck with Russell driving. (She does.) and asks what proof Russell provided to prove that he was who he said he was. (Family photos and identified a tattoo Jennifer had.) Detectives response? “Son of a Bitch!”
Jennifer and Russell start to get it on, but Jennifer has one of her flashes and is frightened. He gets forceful and grabs her, telling her that he wants a wife who will let him touch her. She pretends to be asleep, and he goes to his study to watch her on his computer with the nanny cam he set up in the bedroom. This guy is BAD NEWS. He acts like he is not and apologizes the next day.
Detective Page goes to an address he finds for Jennifer’s parents. Inside he finds rotting fruit and rotting corpses. (Of her parents.) Then he goes to Jennifer’s work and learns that Russell isn’t Russell, he is Ryan.
Jennifer is awakened from a nightmare and starts rummaging through Russell’s wallet while he is in the shower. To get some alone time to do more snooping, she sends him to the store to pick up groceries. Before he leaves, Russell locks her in her room. Jennifer is not deterred and finds her ID in his wallet. She uses a bobby pin. (Seriously?) To free herself from the room. Then she hobbles downstairs and is back on that computer! (Get it, gurl!) She logs in and finds the photoshopped images and the originals. Jennifer gets her memory back and realizes Russell is the guy with the knife, he also killed her parents. Not sure if she remembers that part, yet.) The internet wires are cut, and she has no cell service.
Hobbling some more, Jennifer goes outside to get better cell reception. She opens the phone to see the battery is damaged. She trips and falls. Then Russell goes behind her and hits her with a rock. He carries her upstairs and tries to play it off like she fell, but Jennifer insists on knowing what he did to her husband. Once he realizes that she has her memory back, Russell/Ryan chains her to the bed.
The pretty nurse sees Russell in the parking lot and asks him about Jennifer and her physical therapy, but he speeds off. Running a stop sign!!
Jennifer will NOT be held captive and practically re-breaks her foot to get unchained. (It is pretty gruesome.) Once free, Jennifer heads downstairs, and duct tapes her foot. (It fixes everything, right?) Next, she moves to the garage and gets into a car. With no keys, she has nowhere to go, but finds her cellphone (And a dead body in the trunk. Probably her husband.) Russell/Ryan comes home and almost catches her. Jessica manages to make it back upstairs and throws a blanket over herself. Before Russell/Ryan can check on her foot, the front gate buzzes.
It is our detective!!! He arrives to save the day but is taken out by Russell/Ryan. Jessica tries to escape again but is caught by Russell/Ryan, who holds her broken ankle and threatens to break it more. He takes her back upstairs, where she cries and watches videos on her phone of her and her REAL husband.
Ryan has his villain monologue while he ties Jennifer up with way more rope. He felt like Russell took what was his. He and Jennifer were coworkers, and he became obsessed with her. Then Russell admits to killing her parents and Russell. As he is telling her all this, he is grinding on her and rubbing her body. It is pretty gross.
Jennifer re-earns Ryan’s trust and sends him to get a drink so she can burn through the rope with a lighter? When he arrives back with the drink, Ryan is surprised to be hit in the head with a potted plant and locked in the room by Jennifer. She makes her getaway but falls down the stairs. (again.) Then she runs into the woods. (The nearest neighbors are a mile away.) Ryan breaks out of the room and chases after her. They have a fight, and she hits him with a big stick.
The detective comes to and breaks out of the freezer that he was stuffed in. He stops Ryan just in time from shooting Jennifer. As they struggle on the ground, Jennfier shoots Ryan, and he dies. The detective hugs Jennifer and tells her she is going to be okay.
3 months later. The detective packs up the toys for donation and is moving to Arizona. Jennifer is walking normally and also moving to San Jose! They thank each other and hug. As Jennifer gets into her car, she reads a letter from her dead husband. The End!!!! (Thank God!)
Side Note
Brenda Song’s acting is almost as terrible as Russell’s photoshopping skills.
Minority Report: Jennifer, the Allstate Guy, the homeowners, a few nurses.
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Overall rating
🔪🔪 (2 Knives)
🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷 (5 glasses of wine required)
*Photo Credit: © 2019 Netflix
This movie was the absolute worst. So cringe-worthy. Disappointing because I love Mike Vogel!