Lifetime
Lifetime delivers another taut mystery-thriller with The Last Woman Who Lived Here, which builds on the mystery surrounding the death of a woman named Vanessa, which the authorities had declared an accident (she allegedly fell down the stairs and cracked her skull). Except we know it wasn’t as the opening scenes show Vanessa being terrorized by someone who is never seen, but by the look on her face she seems to know who it is.
The story proper picks up some time later as married couple Joel (David Chinchilla) and Charlotte (Tamara Almeida) are in the market for a new home in the suburbs, someplace where they can hopefully start a family, not an easy task as Charlotte, in particular, is very career-driven. But she falls in love with the house they are shown, and while she’s soaking up the view from the patio, Joel learns about the death in the house and demands the realtor not tell Charlotte. Charlotte feels that this is their forever home and they put in an offer and not long after they move in. But odd things begin to happen and Charlotte finds what she believes is blood on the floor, which Joel brushes off as a leak from the closet across from the stairs. And she accepts that (except it would be impossible and how in the heck did that blood remain in that spot for so long without anyone noticing it before?).
The couple are immediately invited to a neighborhood soiree by Rick and Serena, bigwigs in the hood with a fabulous home and upper class friends, but the four become fast friends (almost too fast). Unfortunately, Charlotte’s neighbors from across the street are there too, and Laurie has had a bit too much wine, approaching Charlotte and blurting out that she lives in the ‘murder house’. Everyone brushes it off and Joel goes into damage control, phoning the realtor and giving her an earful about Laurie spilling the beans. Charlotte then becomes laser focused on finding out the truth about the woman who used to live in their house, finding pieces of the puzzle that point to her death being anything but an accident, and that includes the intruder who keeps breaking into their home, at one point putting Joel in the hospital. Charlotte confronts Laurie’s husband Ted when she discovers some tawdry information about him, and he gives her the video footage from his security camera that supposedly clears him of any wrong-doing (except Charlotte notices something that even the police missed that puts his alibi in question). She enlists Serena to help her get to the truth, but Charlotte learns a bit too much for anyone’s comfort, putting her own life in grave danger and breaking her trust in the people she thought she could trust the most.
The Last Woman Who Lived Here is actually a pretty decent thriller that builds a good bit of suspense while never really giving away who the actual killer is until almost the very end in a pretty decent twist. The screenplay by Leo McGuigan skillfully sets up the plot, introduces a cast of characters with various connections to the central story, and ends with a pretty surprising twist (although if you’ve seen enough of these movies you can begin to guess how it’s all going to be revealed and resolved, but then it’s satisfying to have played detective to guess who the killer is). Aside from a few silly plot devices, like the blood that no one spotted in the middle of the floor while they were cleaning the house to be shown to new prospective owners and some broken glass under a cabinet, this is a pretty tight story. Director Samantha MacAdam also keeps things moving and never allows the actors to give away their characters’ secrets. Nothing worse than when an actor acts suspicious to clue in the audience.
Speaking of the actors … Almeida does a fine job as Charlotte. She never plays her as fragile so it’s unclear why Joel demands she not be told about the death in the house. She makes Charlotte a driven woman who wants justice for the person who died in the house, and even in the face of threats to her and Joel she remains steadfast in seeing her investigation through to the end. Chinchilla is also good as Joel though his performance makes the character just a bit too over-protective without any real reason why. Without spoiling anything we’ll give props to Cindy Sampson as Serena, Morgan Kelly as Rick, Randal Edwards as Ted and Heidi Lynch as Laurie, all doing some pretty terrific work. Moni Ogunsuyi also has a small but pivotal role as Michelle, Vanessa’s co-worker and friend, who helps reveal some facts about Vanessa’s life and death that points Charlotte in the direction of the killer (although it may not exactly be the right direction).
All in all, The Last Woman Who Lived Here is a pretty decent TV movie murder mystery with a good story, and a cast that has the skills to pull it off.
The Last Woman Who Lived Here has a run time of 1 hour 27 minutes, and is rated TV-PG.