Emotional performances and a constant air of tension drive this excellent abduction thriller.
For model Amanda Archer (Cassie Howarth), her daughter Zooey (Marie Wagenman) is the one thing keeping her sane as she finds herself struggling to stay afloat. In addition to having to rely on modelling gigs and waiting tables to pay her way through medical school, Amanda finds herself battling her vindictive ex-husband Nick (Hans Christopher) for custody of Zooey. So when Amanda’s agent finds out about a profitable modelling gig for her, Amanda is quick to take it.
But soon after arriving at the shoot, Amanda finds herself drugged, tied up, and taken to an isolated cabin by brothers Shawn and Tyler (Kevin Fonteyne and Shawn Pyfrom). As it turns out, the shoot was a ruse in order to lure Amanda into a trap, and she’s now being held hostage by the brothers in an effort to collect a ransom. Terrified of both her captors and what will become of Zooey in her absence, Amanda does all she can to survive and find a way to escape and get back home to her daughter….
Coming off the heels of the premiere of the emotionally driven Escaping My Stalker, Lifetime presents another thriller that doubles down when it comes to the emotional side of its story and characters. In the case of A Deadly Price for Her Pretty Face, however, the emotions hit especially hard due to the heightened sense of tension that the film creates for itself and allows to permeate throughout its runtime. This tense mood is further aided by strong performers, well-written characters, and a plot revolving around a plethora of emotionally moving topics, including: domestic abuse, abduction, and maternal fears.
As played by Cassie Howarth, Amanda Archer is a well-rounded protagonist who, despite spending a great deal of the film under bound captivity, refreshingly doesn’t become a cliche damsel in distress. While the way she’s initially lured into her abduction may tempt some to decry her as naive, Amanda’s character arc following her abduction has her naturally transitioning from scared victim to fierce woman fighting to escape and be reunited with her daughter. This not only leads Amanda to begin working to orchestrate her escape, but also to start doing what she can to assert some level of control in a situation that she was previously at the complete mercy of, with Howarth bringing a flair to the scenes when Amanda proves to Shawn that she’s not as helpless as he initially believed her to be.
Another defining trait of Amanda’s and one that brings heart to the film is her love and devotion to Zooey in the wake of her divorce and custody struggles. Howarth and Marie Wagenman are well-cast as a mother and daughter who love each other and can’t bear life without the other, with the scenes we see of them making clear the love that exists between Amanda and Zooey. The film also allows us a few brief glimpses into Amanda and Zooey’s troubled lives with Nick, with one scene revolved around Zooey leaving things ambiguous enough to where you wonder what occurred, but have no doubt that this young girl is far from safe and happy in his care. Through these scenes, you feel for both Amanda and Zooey’s situations and watch in dread as Amanda’s abduction threatens to separate them permanently.
Going on to the film’s other primary characters, Amanda’s abductors Tyler and Shawn are played excellently by Shawn Pyfrom and Kevin Fonteyne. While Tyler and Shawn a standard set of kidnapper characters (the reluctant accomplice vs. the psychotic and unpredictable aggressor), Pyfrom and Fonteyne bring more than enough to each brother’s personality that their oft-seen character types get a new life breathed into them. Fonteyne clearly has a blast during Shawn’s moments as a callous and borderline sadistic tormentor, while also bringing emotional depth to the moments when Shawn’s malicious front drops to show a hidden soft side for his brother and the situation they’re in regarding his health. Pyfrom, meanwhile, grows more and more sympathetic as the film presses on, with his health predicament and history with Shawn allows us to see that he’s essentially as much a prisoner of his unstable brother’s plans as Amanda is. Howarth and Pyfrom develop strong chemistry as they find themselves both struggling to survive their ordeal, which brings a strong poignancy to the way their arc together ends.
In secondary cast members, Hans Christopher brings as much fervor to the monstrously abusive Nick as Fonteyne does with Shawn, allowing the audience to hate and fear him just as much as everyone in his life does. Amber Lynn Ashley and Jason Coviello are thoroughly lovable as the level-headed and compassionate Detective Alverez and take-no-BS Detective Coomler respectively, and Nick’s second wife Darcy is given a surprising character arc that is played well by Brytnee Ratledge. While her introduction seems to be setting her up as a vain and callous woman turning a blind eye to her husband’s behavior, we later see that Nick’s treatment of Darcy heavily mirrors the way we see him abuse Amanda in flashbacks to their marriage. Darcy also mirrors Amanda in terms of their character growth arcs over the course of the film: while Darcy starts the movie meekly submissive to Nick, she ends the film willing to stand up to him for both herself and Zooey.
Much like Escaping My Stalker, A Deadly Price for Her Pretty Face is a Lifetime thriller that fires on all cylinders: a tense mood that keeps you glued to the screen, a strong cast playing equally strong characters, and a lead heroine that you sympathize with as she finds herself caught in a nightmarish situation before cheering her on as she fights to escape it. For a Lifetime thriller that brings equal parts action and emotional resonance, A Deadly Price for Her Pretty Face is a definite much-watch that is about as perfect as a film can be.
Score: 10 out of 10 mother-daughter contracts.
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