Just perfect...

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Dreadful movie, rotten script, wooden acting. It looks cheap and was obviously made quickly. Even the make-up looks amateurish. The key scene involving an "accident" has an hilarious stunt dummy in it. That dummy puts in the single best performance. Even the props get in on the awfulness: there is a wonderfully bad moment when a very, very bad actor gets whacked on the head with a fake bottle of vodka by another bad actor.If it is raining outside, your wifi is down, you have no books to read, no chores to do, nobody in the house to talk to, no dog to walk, no tax return to file and no car to wash then I guess it might be worth giving up a couple of hours of your life. Otherwise, don't bother.

"Shane" (Nic Robuck) seems like a normal young man but under the surface he is a hot-tempered and mentally disturbed psychopath. As luck would have it, his new college roommate, "Brandon" (Brian Borello) makes the mistake of inviting him to his parent's house over a weekend. Once there, Shane takes the opportunity to embed himself deep into Brandon's family and like a malignant virus begins to spread destruction within it. Anyway, rather than spoil the film for those who haven't seen it, I will just say that for a film produced for "Lifetime" this one tested the boundaries just a bit when it came to a couple of passionate scenes. In that regard, I thought Kelly Lynch was terrific as the lonely and sexually starved housewife named "Caren". I also thought Nic Robuck did a pretty good job in his dark and volatile role as well. Now, while I would have preferred a format that was less restrictive this still turned out to be a slightly better than average movie in spite of it all.

We all know about Lifetime movies -or should I say Lifetime movie? These are variations on the same movie, which can admittedly take a (small) number of forms. Perhaps the most typical of these is the apparently ordinary but actually deranged individual who insinuates him- or herself into a family of innocents. Frequently the sicko will exploit an existing tension within the family for his/her own dastardly ends. Well, this is indeed what happens in this movie. But the similarity to a typical Lifetime movie pretty much ends there. This is no Anne Carlucci or Pierre David production. Nor is it directed by the ubiquitous, unimaginative, lifeless Douglas Jackson. Nor is the narrative punctuated with the characters' wholesome, sentimental, heartwarming chuckles. The film is directed with a sense of style, the actors are far above the level of mediocrity afflicting virtually all Lifetime actors, the camera work is relatively polished, the pacing and tempo never drag and the film is cut professionally. Armand Mastroianni is no star director, but he's way better than any of Lifetime's stable of inert "talents". What prevents Lifetime from turning out something like this more than every 3 or 4 years? A restricted budget? An obsession with low-budget Canadian dreck? Probably something along those lines. Lifetime would surely broaden its audience were it to look to put together more movies of this calibre. Make no mistake, Dark Desire is not a first-rate film. But it's got a polish and professionalism entirely lacking in just about every other of the network's products. It starkly underscores the low-rent, shallow and amateurish quality of most everything else Lifetime has tossed our way. It's time to put Carlucci and David out to pasture.

I came across this movie today and didn't know what to expect other than I thought it would be predictable...it was not! The depth of the Shane character was great as was the confused mourning mother, Karen. I honestly thought she had gone off the deep end at the end by plotting with Shane. It was nice to see Kelly Lynch do such an interesting role. I mean how to you prep for something like that? I haven't ever seen Nic Robuck before, but he played the kid longing for acceptance so well. I look forward to seeing him again. Just maybe a nicer role next time. The role of the jerk, Howie, was spot on. Great acting. I think if I met him in real life I would want to hit him. Finally, the pace was great. The director kept things moving along quite well. He obviously knew how to get the reactions he wanted from the cast and the great (creepy) story by Julie Lynch. Great cast. Great story. Great directing. Keep it up!