Killer Contractor (2019 Lifetime)

Killer Contractor (2019 Lifetime)

Cast: Alyshia Ochse, Zac Titus, Mark Lawson

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Synopsis (via Lifetime)

Kerry and her daughter Ella try to settle the estate of her late father, however the contractor they hire brings with him a series of lethal mishaps.

Thoughts

Lifetime with some HGTV mixed in sounds amazing. However, Lifetime at this time of year really tends to go off the rails.

The movie starts in a quiet suburban neighborhood. An older man hears a crash downstairs and goes to investigate. The man sees a hooded figure lurking downstairs. As he leans over the railing (that has been tampered with.) He falls to his death, leaving the hooded figure to shrug and dust of his hands. No savage killing today for him, I guess!

In the BIG city, we meet Kerry, who is painting and coloring like a child. Oh, wait. Is she a cartoonist for children’s novels? She gets a call, and it turns out the old man who fell down the stairs was her father. (The had an estranged relationship. She also is divorced.)) Kerry and her young daughter go back home to make arrangements for his funeral. (The funeral consists of bagpipes playing “Amazing Grace,” so I guess she really did hate her father.)

A Realtor named Claire shows Kerry around. Now tasked with selling the house, Kerry has to make repairs, luck for her, Mike Dean shows up at the door with a tool belt on his hip. He is a contractor and probably a killer. (He has a weird mouth acting thing going on and severely chapped lips.) He tells Kerry she has pretty eyes and knows the whole house history. Does the guy seem socially awkward and almost autistic?

Before Mike Dean can get started on the house, Claire (The VERY strange realtor/Terrible Actress.) decides to buy the house. Kerry tells Mike Dean his services will no longer be needed. Mike can’t have that and get out his hoodie again. He stalks Claire and tampers with her electrical wiring. While she is home alone celebrating the purchase of her dream home, with a bottle of wine. (Like me!) She goes to flip a light switch and electrocutes herself to death. The hooded figure shugs and undoes the electrical tampering. Still no blood on his hands!

Kerry rehires Mike Dean to make repairs, and no one cares that Claire died. Before Mike Dean can start his work on the house. A stronger jawed contractor named, Jason shows up and charms Kerry. (He knows the children’s books that Kerry illustrates.) She gives him a walkthrough of the house, and he offers to help out if things fall through with Mike Dean. She invites him to a family party, and Ella tells her mom that she should marry him and his sexy ass.

More visitors come by the house, including Megan. Kerry’s friend from high school. Have I told that Mike Dean has been watching all of this from his car? Mike Dean shows up and is sooooo, not sexy. (The actor is actually really hot. This is an example of some detailed costuming and hair/makeup.) Megan can’t understand why Kerry has hired Mike Dean over Sexy Jason.

After a successful party with Jason in attendance and some whining from Ella, Kerry decides to stay and live in her father’s house.

While going through her father’s financial documents, she finds a checkbook with the entire thing filled with $1000 checks made out to Mike Dean. She then goes into the attic and rummages through boxes. While looking through old pictures of her and her family, Kerry gathers items. She starts to carry the box downstairs but falls through the ceiling and into the living room due to some damaged floorboards. (The paramedics and Ella are suspicious.)

Kerry asks Mike Dean about it, and he freaks out on her, yelling: “Why won’t you listen to me!” Then he runs out of the house, jumps into his car, and backs into her mailbox. After the whole incident, Megan tells Kerry to fire him and hire Jason. Kerry talks to Jason and tells him that she wants to hire him. He agrees to start the next morning and cryptically says that she should fire Mike Dean.

The next morning, Mike Dean is at their place bright and early. He is hammering away, and Kerry is frightened that he is there and keyed into her house. She calls Jason and asks him to come over right away. Mike Dean keeps following Kerry around the house and apologizing. When she finally gets the nerve up to fire him, he explodes and screams at Kerry — talking about how he is her brother. Jason shows up, and Mike Dean speeds away in his car. This time missing the mailbox.

Mike Dean goes home to his mother. (who isn’t old enough to be his mother.) She demands that he give her money, and he insists that he told Kerry the truth. That is not all he did. He tampers with the gas lines in Kerry’s house, and she practically blows herself up, turning on the oven. Instead of being severely burned, she just has some gauze on her arm. Kerry decides to call the police.

A friend of Kerry’s father tells her the truth about Mike Dean. He IS her brother and has known his whole life. His mother had an affair with Kerry’s father. Mike Dean and Kerry were supposed to split his estate 50/50, but Kerry’s father cut Mike Dean out of the will for unknown reasons. Blah Blah Blah.

Ella is in her room laying on her bed and watching Youtube get ready with me videos when MY BIGGEST FEAR happens. Her ceiling fan is going too fast and shakes itself down, falling on the bed and decapitating all of her stuffed animals. (But, not Ella.) Kerry is convinced that it is Mike Dean tampering and call the police. The police say their hands are tied, but ask her to change the locks/ (Which Jason will do because he is so handy and handsome.)

Kerry gets a call from the detective, and he tells her that they believe that her father’s death was not an accident, and a homicide investigation has begun. They think Mike Dean is trying to kill them to make sure he is the only person who gets the insurance money.

Megan drives by the house and sees Mike Dean lurking outside in his car. When Mike Dean sees her, he speeds off. Megan follows him to his house. There, he fights with his mother and storms off. Megan runs to the house and finds a box of photos of Kerry. Megan is horrified but is then hit in the head with a hammer by MIKE’S MOM! The mom gets out her phone and calls JASON?!?! They are working together, and apparently Mike’s Mom is paying Jason to do all these terrible things. As Megan comes to, she hears them arguing and makes her escape, only to be run down in the street.

With Megan in injured and at the hospital, Kerry is misinformed and still thinks Mike Dean is the bad guy. She is about to have sexy time with Jason, but she catches him in a lie about having a niece who loves her books. He absentmindedly refers to himself as an only child. Realizing his mistake, Jason locks Kerry/Ella in her room and lights the furnace on fire, sending smoke billowing through the house. Kerry uses a golf club and smashes through some drywall and attempt to get out of the house, but can’t because of the locks Jason installed.

Mike Dean and his Mom argue when he tells her that he told Kerry’s father to take him out of the will so Kerry could take care of Ella. She admits to killing his father, and Mike Dean wants to make things right with his sister and rushes to their house. On his way, he calls the police and tells them that his mother is going to pull the plug on Megan. The police arrive just in time and stop Mike’s mom from smothering Megan with a pillow.

At the house, Mike Dean tries to smash the front door and save them. Kerry and Ella make it outside and have to decide who is the bad guy, Jason or Mike Dean. The boys’ scuffle, and Kerry and Ella hide. Kerry realizes that Jason is going to kill her and hits him with the golf club. Mike Dean finishes the job as the police pull up.

Megan, Kerry, Ella, and Mike Dean are all a big happy family now? Okay, whatever. I didn’t hate this as much as I should have.

Side Note

Minority Report: Police Detective

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Overall rating

🔪🔪 (2 Knives)

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