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With Valentine’s Day behind us, LMN switches gears to it ‘Wicked Revenge’ series of films, and kicking off the theme is a new mystery-thriller from Florida’s own Sunshine Films, Who Took My Family?. It is an apt title because like our lead character, Courtney, we have no idea where her husband and kids went but there are a couple of suspects … but the casting of one particular actor might signal to us that this is who we should call into question. Or might not.
Kyle Kankonde stars as Courtney, a businesswoman working non-stop to get her latest venture off the ground (this plot device is very similar to the previous week’s To Catch a Cheater, both of which were written by Rachel Morton and both movies share some cast members), some kind of luxury business — although I don’t think we ever know exactly what she’s selling but luxury — but it is an operation that has pretty much consumed her time, leaving little of it to spend with stay-at-home husband Stan and daughters Skye and Harper. Despite this, Stan seems to be perfectly content with their situation and dotes on Courtney. When the big day comes and Court is going to be the ‘Queen of Luxury’, according to her … boss(?) or business partner(?) … the company spends the evening celebrating. When Courtney returns home later, it seems everyone is in bed asleep except … the beds are empty. There is no sign of foul play, no note, no reports of hospital admissions, Courtney is just left completely alone with no clue as to what happened to her family.
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Courtney calls the police, Stan’s mother Barbara shows up uninvited and makes herself at home, and neighbor Paige offers support (and Barbara hates that she just lets herself in), but there is still very little to go on. Courtney visits the school and speaks with one of the teachers and it is then that she learns the girls did not show up for school the day they disappeared, so while Courtney thought it happened sometime during the night, she realizes they were gone at least 12 hours earlier, which makes the situation even more urgent. But after talking with the teacher, Courtney is surprised at her car by another woman, Bianca, one of the moms who knows Stan, perhaps a little too well as she reveals that during the day while the kids are in school — and while Courtney is at work — she and Stan hang out, getting coffee and chatting and she is under the impression that Stan may not have been as happy with his marriage as Courtney thinks. Were Bianca and Stan having an affair? Courtney tries to put that thought out of her mind and assures Bianca that it was Stan who chose to be the stay-at-home dad and he is perfectly happy with the situation. But as the days wear on, Bianca organizes a group from school to form a search party to help the police effort after Stan’s car was located off the main road and in a wooded area, and that at least makes Courtney feel a little better about her. But Paige also warns Courtney not to look at any social media … which of course makes Courtney look at social media and discovers a school moms group in which they are all bashing her for not being a good wife or an absent mother and she’s getting what she deserves and hopefully Stan and the kids are off on their own living a happy life. Yikes!
One night, Courtney gets a text message telling her to meet at the place where the car was found — no police. She does, hoping to get some information, perhaps a demand for a ransom, but all she gets is attacked from behind by the infamous Black Hoodie character. Nearly strangled, Courtney is able to break free and Black Hoodie gets away, but then she decides to hide the mark around her neck with a scarf instead of telling Barbara or the police what happened … which does not make Officer Wicks happy since Courtney could have been killed. But he will have other news for her later — traces of blood were found in the car. And it was Stan’s. Just his though, so they have to assume the girls were not injured. But that raises more questions — Was there an accident? Did Stan get hurt and try to go for help? Did the girls follow him? Are they all lost in the woods? Could Stan’s injury have been serious enough to be fatal? Courtney doesn’t know who to trust at this point. One place Courtney thinks her family may be is at their cabin, but they rent it out when they aren’t there so that is a longshot. Paige offer to go with her, and when they arrive there is no sign of anyone, not Stan or the girls, no renters, nothing. But Courtney does discover the scarf with which she was nearly strangled, and before she knows it the whole cabin is ablaze. She can’t find Paige and is nearly unable to get out, but she does and finds Paige outside. Courtney wants to go back in and get the scarf, but Paige warns her if she does she will not come out alive.
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As Courtney begins to grow more distraught she asks her, we’ll call him boss, Richard to ask his friend to hack into the message board to see who is posting the most terrible things about her. Then she finds a note in the pocket of one of Stan’s shirts that had come from the dry cleaner about meeting at a coffee shop with ‘Nevada’ on the note. A location? A name? Courtney asks Richard to join her and she also asks the waitress if she recognizes Stan’s picture. She does, and she even knows his name, but she has no idea who Nevada is except as the name of the state. Unfortunately for Courtney, her relationship with Richard seems to inflame the rumors that she has been cheating on Stan and he rightfully ditched her, and Richard’s friend is able to pinpoint the IP address of the person in the forum, someone named … Bianca. Courtney drives off to confront her, but by the end of the conversation after Bianca admits she just got caught up in the vitriol and that she is not having an affair with Stan, Courtney seems satisfied. While talking with the police later, they get a ping on Stan’s phone and they all go to investigate but they don’t find anyone. When she gets home, she has a fight with Barbara, who seems to have been blaming Courtney the whole time although not saying anything out loud, and demands Barbara leave the house by the time she returns. But Barbara does not leave the house and ends up coming face-to-face with Black Hoodie (and if you watch real closely there is a quick moment when the person in the hoodie turns their head and you can see a profile for a few frames that reveals who it is), and ends up in the hospital with a serious head injury for which Courtney needs to prepare herself for the worst. Courtney has also noticed some odd behavior of someone in her circle, and when she later goes to that person’s house, it seems that everything is packed up and ready to be moved out. And then she finds confirmation that this person is involved in the disappearance — her daughters’ blanket and favorite stuffed toy which had been stolen the night of Barbara’s attack are there in a box. Courtney remembers seeing a key chain for a rental car company the person had earlier and manages to track the car’s GPS to a local airport where she finally confronts the culprit, finds her daughters, and learns the truth about Stan. Will Courtney’s life ever be the same after this? And will Barbara pull through?
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Who Took My Family? is a pretty decent mystery-thriller that does its best to keep you guessing. Director Damián Romay does a great job at keeping the viewer as off-balance about the situation as Courtney is, giving us a list of possible suspects in the disappearance including Bianca, Richard and Paige. Even Barbara is called into question at one point, but her attack makes it clear she would absolutely not have kidnapped her own son or grandchildren (although that would have been a nice twist with her playing the worried mother who just hangs around to further torment her daughter-in-law for giggles just to prove she was never good enough for Stan). Sometimes in these movies, I have to call to question the performances and how much the director gives input into how the actor plays their part. There is often one actor who is basically wearing a neon sign that says ‘I did it’ because of the overly shady performance, but this time out Romay’s supporting cast all give some shade that helps blur the identity of the culprit. Paige, Richard, Bianca and Barbara all have their moments when, if you have a RuPaul’s Drag Race Shade button, you will be tapping it frequently because they all act shady as hell. It’s only really given away by those few frames of the hoodied actor (and it’s good to know that the actual actor is in the hoodie and not some stand-in) but that’s also a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment. Overall, Romay has put together a solid thriller that will keep you guessing for the most part.
Kyle Kankonde does a really good job as Courtney. She is focused on her business and she obviously appreciates her family, but she is quick to put business aside to deal with finding her husband and kids. She makes us feel very empathetic to her when she learns what’s being said about her online, as well as when Barbara takes her own little digs at her for being an absent partner and mother. It’s really not fair when the moms forum calls her a party girl simply because she celebrated the new business deal (and how did they all know she was even at a party the night Stan and the girls disappeared?). We are completely with her when she sets out on her own, but she also makes us fear for her life, and when she does learn who is responsible we want her to kick some ass. In a movie like this, we as the audience have to be able to connect with the wronged person, and Kankonde does a great job at making that connection work, getting us completely on her side (it also helps that Morton has written enough information into the story that we know Courtney isn’t the bad person she’s made out to be).
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I won’t say much about the supporting cast so as not to be a complete spoiler. Gina Vitori (Paige), Roy Lynam (Richard), Alison Haselden (Bianca) and Daryl Meyer (Barbara) all know the assignment here, all offering some nice character interpretation, all being able to show both concern for Courtney while giving the audience just enough to put them in the suspect category. It’s interesting to note that Lynam and Steven McCormack (Courtney’s security agent) both appeared in To Catch a Cheater, and for this viewer it’s always fun to spot an actor and remember them from something else. Sunshine Films does have its own established roster, it seems, so it’s not unusual to see a familiar face. Of the non-suspects, Jorge Alberto Sanchez gives a really good performance as Officer Wicks. He always behaves in a professional manner with Courtney, he never serves up any attitude with her, never really treats her like a suspect, very understanding to the point that he knows when to give her some space to have a breakdown, but also being stern enough with her when she goes beyond what a civilian should be doing outside of his purview. Sanchez really is one of the best police officer actors I’ve seen in an LMN movie. I often find myself irritated by the way many of them behave as if the person in need is bothering them, so I really appreciated the nicely balanced performance by Sanchez. Yago Lupi is also very good in his brief scenes as Stan, obviously in love with his wife, seemingly happy to do the little things for her even when she doesn’t ask. Rebecca Markert also did a really nice job in her one scene as the coffee shop waitress, giving a really authentic and believable performance. She really inhabited the character and didn’t just come off as an actor reading the lines. She needs some larger roles (so if Mr. Romay is reading this…). Steven McCormack (big brother Leo in To Catch a Cheater) was actually unrecognizable as the Security Officer, but he delivered his lines with authority and it was fun to find out who the actor was after the fact.
Who Took My Family? ends up being a competently produced and acted mystery-thriller, using the sun-drenched locales of Florida well, that sunlight hiding a dark underbelly of crime, the cast delivering performances that will make you suspect each one of them at some point, with a lead actress who really allows you to connect with her plight. This one is a pretty solid, edge-of-your-seat thriller worth giving a look.
Who Took My Family? has a run time of 1 hour 30 minutes, and is rated TV-14.