Lifetime Review: 'I Almost Married a Serial Killer'

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD

Professor Camille Fiore (Krista Allen) can't imagine life being better. On top of having a good career, and a loving daughter, Violet (Zoë Lillian), her boyfriend, Rafael (Jeremy John Wells), couldn't be more perfect. So when Rafael surprises her at work, and she ends up finding a wedding ring in his jacket, Camille couldn't be happier.

That is, however, until she goes to surprise Rafael before he leaves on a business trip and discovers the sinister truth behind her boyfriend's charming facade: he is a serial killer known as "The Hunter," having been seducing and killing women for years. After seeing that Rafael had her picked for his next mark, Camille finds herself held at knifepoint by her once perfect man, only narrowly escaping his clutches. Months later, with Rafael sentenced to life in prison for his crimes, it starts to look as though Camille and Violet can finally live in peace again...

Until FBI agents arrive at their door, informing the mother and daughter that Rafael has escaped prison, and they will have to enter the witness relocation program for their own safety, as Rafael has become obsessed with finishing what he started with Camille. But as Camille and Violet are struggling to adapt to a new town, and new identities, little do they know that Rafael has received plastic surgery to change his appearance... and is not willing to let distance stop him from finally finishing Camille off.

If nothing else, I Almost Married a Serial Killer (a title that sounds like it could be for a new Investigation Discovery show) excels in an area where other Lifetime films have failed, in some cases drastically so: pacing. The opening act of the film quickly introduces us to our mother-daughter leads and their relationship, before throwing us into the action by having Camille quickly discovering Rafael's dark secret, and nearly die as a result. With such a fast-paced opening, I Almost Married a Serial Killer hooks the audience early on, and keeps them glued to the action. This becomes key as the film's middle act takes on a more slow-boiling pace, as the adrenaline from the opening, and shots of the same feeling throughout keeps the audience on their toes as they wonder what might happen next—especially in the case of the film's ultimate climax.

The realm of characters, however, is where I Almost Married a Serial Killer begins to falter. While Krista Allen gives a strong performance, and shares effective chemistry with Zoë Lillian as a mother-daughter duo, Camille goes from competent to frustratingly inept as soon as she begins dating Brian (played by Lifetime familiar face, Louis Mandylor). Having just come out of a relationship that ended with her fiancé turning out to be a deranged murderer, you would think Camille would be a lot more hesitant to jump back into the dating pool—especially with her aforementioned ex-fiancé on the loose, and trying to find her. But instead, Camille falls completely for Brian's charms without looking twice, which is a level of naïveté that threatens to obliterate Allen's strong performance. The news about Rafael receiving plastic surgery to alter his appearance does nothing to quell her romantic pursuit, making her all the more unsympathetically gullible when the final act revelation comes into play.

Speaking of, the aforementioned twist is rather predictable, and something most seasoned Lifetime viewers will see coming ahead of time, but I Almost Married a Serial Killer at least deserves credit for

1. including a strong red herring in its second act to have the audience doubting their initial intuition
2. revealing the identity of the true guilty party prior to the film's climatic third act, thus sparing viewers the feeling that the film insults their intelligence by playing the (by that point) obvious twist as a "surprise."

Zoë Lillian serves as a strong deuteragonist, with Lillian giving Violet a sympathetic edge that brings understanding to her brattier moments, and she proves more competent than Camille when she becomes suspicious of Brian earlier than her mother. Louis Mandylor pulls off both charm and deranged menace as Brian/Rafael, while Jeremy John Wells pulls off a similar feat as Rafael pre-plastic surgery, though he is unfortunately stifled for screen time, and given some painfully stale villain dialogue to work with.

Faults aside in regards to characters and script, I Almost Married a Serial Killer delivers in what all Lifetime movies strive to do: entertain. While Camille's plot-induced stupidity can be a crippling factor that will leave viewers divided, the strong performances of Krista Allen, and her fellow cast members, excellent pacing, and suspense building, and a climax that brings it all together in a satisfying end, will more than make it worth waiting out. I Almost Married a Serial Killer is sure to turn some away, but it's a movie worth giving a chance.

Score: 6.5 out of 10 walls of newspaper clippings.