Lifetime Review: 'Obsession: Her Final Vengeance'

After all she's been through because of her crazy ex-boyfriend, all Madison Turner (Celeste Desjardins) wants is to finally move forward with her life and leave Blake Collins/Nick Barnsworth (Travis Nelson) in the past. With a new job and new boyfriend, it would seem Madison is slowly starting to leave her terrifying experience behind her. But unbeknownst to Madison, a new danger is closing in: Nick's sister Lisa (Anastasia Phillips).

Recently released from a mental hospital and having lost the only family she had left, Lisa wants nothing more to have her revenge against her brother's killer: Madison. Worming her way into Madison's life through her trauma support group, Lisa begins to put her sinister plot into motion. Will a sister's vengeance mean the end of Madison Turner?

Coming into the final chapter of Lifetime's Obsession Thrillogy, I had high hopes. After Stalked by My Lover and Escaping My Ex proved solid thrillers with strong characters and actors, I was in eager anticipation for Her Final Vengeance. The fact that the film promised a psychotic villainess role for Anastasia Phillips--the Obsession Thrillogy marking Phillips' first appearance on Lifetime since 2007--made things seem all the more promising. Unfortunately, thanks to the pacing and a fair share of writing bungles, Her Final Vengeance failed to match my expectations and ends the trilogy on a whimper rather than a roar.

The first problem is something that Escaping My Ex suffered to a lesser degree: pace. While the previous film suffered from some moderate pacing issues, they mostly recovered once the action of their stories hit their stride. Her Final Vengeance, on the other hand, takes until almost the last half hour of the film to get to the juicier "Wrongfully Institutionalized" part of the story that was promised in the promos. Until then, we're left to watch as Lisa enacts her (at times) needlessly elaborate revenge plot, which stretches out for longer than necessary and leaves her mental hospital schemes all too pressed for time. Had the movie been more evenly split between Lisa's preparations and her terrorizing Madison once she has her trapped and helpless, Her Final Vengeance could've been just as dark and intense as the previous "Obsession" films. It also could've allowed the film to avoid some of its other problems.

The other problems I'm referring to are related to the script and characters, which is surprising given how mostly consistent those aspects were in the past films of the trilogy. While the Madison of the first two films was proactive and cunning, this Madison is somehow even more naive and overly trusting than she was to begin with. While in Stalked by My Lover, Blake's charming demeanor made it easy to understand why Madison would trust him so quickly, Lisa's less-than-subtle red flag behaviors and mannerisms leave you wondering why Madison insists on befriending her--especially in the wake of the last two movies. Between this and her new boyfriend Wesley (more on him later), Madison sure seems open to trusting relative strangers for someone who claims their traumatic past has left them wary to do just that.

Wesley is another frustrating character, though not for the same reasons as Madison. Ryan Bruce (last seen on Lifetime in last year's Amish Abduction) gives a strong enough performance as Madison's new beau Wesley, and I can understand those who might believe that Madison deserves a genuinely loving and non-psychotic boyfriend after her ordeal. I might've even supported the choice myself had the relationship received better development than it got. But instead, Madison's relationship gets fairly little time to flourish, and what we see of it is too accelerated to align with Madison's claims of wanting to take things slow. It also doesn't help that it feels like Wesley was made to replace Evie, who seems to only get about 5 minutes of screentime here. After the magnificent performance Kelly Hope Taylor gave in Escaping My Ex, seeing her get shafted in favor of Madison's improbable Satellite Love Interest comes as a slap to the face.

WARNING: SPOILERS BELOW

(Wesley's presence in the final climax of the Obsession Thrillogy builds on this unpleasant feeling. If his development with Madison had been better, having him be the one to take down Lisa would've been a strong conclusion. But as is, on top of the awkward staging of the showdown between Wesley and Lisa, it comes as an abrupt and unsatisfying end to the Barnsworth siblings' reign of terror. Having Evie or Madison be the one to kill Lisa would've worked much better. The former scenario would've allowed Evie to finally play a hands-on role in saving her sister and ended their reconciliation arc on a high note, and the latter would've let been a cathartic moment of Madison finally reclaiming the life that the Barnsworths tried to destroy. It also would've given the title of Her Final Vengeance a clever double meaning, and either case would've allowed the ending to feel more like a proper grand finale)

Spoilers Over

Lisa Barnsworth makes for a mixed bag villainess, despite my high hopes for her as the trilogy built up her character. Anastasia Phillips revels in Lisa's moments of cruel and occasionally gleeful insanity, opening the movie on a callous and violent act that perfectly establishes her character throughout the film. But with much of the film focused around Lisa's efforts to befriend Madison and earn her trust, Phillips rarely does a good job at masking Lisa's true colors. With the stretched-out buildup and the fact that Lisa's plan is convoluted on top of having a few notable holes, Lisa letting her red flags fly only does more to diminish her effectiveness as a manipulative villainess--especially in comparison to her predecessor. Thankfully, Phillips' wonderfully kooky performance makes up for her weaker moments and the flaws of her character.

Celeste Desjardins' performance, meanwhile, is still as strong as it was throughout the rest of the trilogy. Like in Escaping My Ex, Desjardins delivers poignant emotion as Madison struggles to overcome her traumatic past and feels her mind slipping as a result of Lisa's machinations--coming to a head in the final act. She's even able to give some subtler emotions to Madison, from the hesitation she shows in her first encounter with Wesley and the wariness she shows in some of her interactions with Lisa. While they may fly in the face of Madison's naive continuation of her and Lisa's friendship, it's comforting to see Desjardins' talents go unhindered by Madison's character derailment. In other performances, Kelly Hope Taylor does what she can with the frustratingly brief time she's given, and Lexi Ainsworth gives a fiery performance as hospital patient Bethany, who throws herself into her character's violent lunacy as Bethany becomes a pawn in Lisa's deranged game.

With the characters and pace being the strongest parts of the previous entries in the Obsession Thrillogy, seeing both fall by the wayside in its final installment is disheartening to see. With some trimming to allow the more compelling aspects of Lisa's revenge play out and some rewriting to make sure Madison retains the same clever and proactive spirit that made her such a compelling protagonist, Her Final Vengeance could've made for an excellent swan song to a strong trilogy. But as it is, the film suffers too much from an uneven story and botched character developments for its capable cast and unique final act to counteract. But despite Her Final Vengeance not being the stellar finale that this Lifetime trilogy deserved, the Obsession saga was still mostly a success and I hope this is a sign of more sequels and movie series in Lifetime's future.

Score: 4 out of 10 chocolate-covered cherries.