Lifetime Review: 'He's Out to Get You'

Having spent the past four years in a mental institution after losing her husband and son to a car accident, Megan Burke (Samaire Armstrong) is ready to return to her normal life and help her brother Gary deal with their late parents' estate. But upon arriving back in her hometown, she finds her old house empty and her brother nowhere to be found. After growing concerned, Megan goes into town searching for Gary--only to be shocked to find that, not only has nobody seen Gary, but it appears that no one in the town even knows about him.

Confused and desperate to prove her sanity, Megan fights to prove her brother is real and find out what has happened to him--with local bartender Duke (Rob Mayes) becoming an unlikely ally to her quest. But as the two work to uncover the truth, Megan finds that not all is as it appears in this sleepy little beach town--and that someone may be willing to kill her to keep those secrets under wraps.

Coming from the same director (Nadeem Soumah) and starring the same lead actress (Samaire Armstrong) from Who Stole My Daughter?, a Lifetime film from earlier this year, He's Out to Get You proves to replicate the earlier film's strengths as a mystery. As we open the film, the details regarding Megan's family, her relationship with Gary, and the bizarre situation she finds herself in regarding his disappearance are left deliberately ambiguous, allowing the viewer to wonder as the film goes on what exactly is going on: is Megan truly losing her grip on her reality? And if not, what exactly has happened to Gary and what secrets is Megan's seemingly innocent hometown hiding? While the plot progression makes the answer to this question clearer as the film goes on, He's Out to Get You deserves credit for crafting a tense and intrigue-filled first act that will have the viewer as confused and suspicious as Megan.

WARNING: Spoilers Below

But in a grave departure from Soumah's previous Lifetime offering, the ultimate mystery behind the events of He's Out to Get You falls flat. Even allowing for a requisite amount of suspension of disbelief, the ultimate explanation behind Gary's disappearance collapses under the cold lenses of logic.

In the first place, given how the culprit was not related in any way to the Burke family, it's never sufficiently explained how they intended to get their hands on Gary and Megan's inheritance once they had dispatched of Megan. And while that can potentially be explained away by my lack of knowledge on how inheritances work, there's also the more damning fact that the entire scheme depends on the Burkes--who are established by Megan as having been loving parents--never mentioning the existence of their son to the caretakers of their house or their lawyer. While the small amount of townspeople Megan encounters in the film can be forgiven for not knowing Gary due to his status as a recluse, even the most reclusive people get talked about by their own parents (trust me, I should know).

The overall conclusion also proves to be a mixed bag. While there is a nice bit of misdirection on who the culprit is (by that point, though, the suspect pool is really whittled down to two possibilities) and the climax proves solidly suspenseful, the ultimate concluding scene has Megan a bit too upbeat and outwardly unaffected, given how she's cracking jokes and smiling while her brother's corpse is lying mere feet away. That, and a mystery resolution that leaves more questions raised than answered and has holes you can drive trucks through, combines to make for a rather unsatisfying conclusion.

Spoilers Over

The cast fares much better than the plot, with Samaire Armstrong giving another strong leading performance as Megan Burke. As we get to know Megan as a woman left rocked by a devastating tragedy that resulted in her institutionalization and which she still holds herself responsible for, Armstrong brings deep emotion to the scenes where Megan's trauma is brought to the forefront. Armstrong similarly excels when Megan grows frustrated with everyone's disbelief in her and fearful at the potential that they're right about her instability, making Megan's determination to uncover the truth all the more sympathetic.

Rob Mayes shares strong chemistry with Armstrong as surprise ally Duke and does well at building Duke into a gruff but caring shoulder for Megan, while Bart Johnson throws himself into the menacing and aggressively brusque Sheriff Brunson. Also joining the cast are Mariette Hartley and Lindsay Hartley, but unfortunately, He's Out to Get You sticks both of these talented actresses in minuscule roles that give them little to work with. After seeing the latter Hartley give such strong performances in films like Killer Twin and My Mother's Split Personalities, seeing her in a less-than-five-minutes-of-screentime role that brings next to nothing to the movie was frustrating to say the least.

(The same is also applicable to a lesser degree with Scott Bailey's casting, though he is thankfully given enough screentime to bring tragic charm and lovability to Megan's ill-fated husband)

While the cast does well with what they're given, the mystery of He's Out to Get You and its resolution proves to be a fatal flaw and is especially disappointing after such a suspenseful build-up. Lackluster finale aside, however, the strong cast (particularly Armstrong) and well-constructed mystery allure that drives the story to its less-than-stellar conclusion is enough to make me recommend He's Out to Get You as a time-killer Lifetime film. Be prepared, though, for a mystery that is sure to leave you confused at best and annoyed at worst.

Score: 6 out of 10 creepy Beethoven dolls.