Parents' Guide to Held Hostage in My House

In this awful Lifetime film, we are told at least three times that Dawn is "brilliant," yet nothing she says or does in any way suggests that assessment in the mind of the viewer. A nice woman, a loving mom, a gracious host on an Airbnb-like app, maybe. But brilliant? We learn she's been working on a "portfolio" for four years as if assembling a roomful of fine art assures her financial success. Let's say a Plan B may be necessary. The writer seems to believe that if you tell the audience something, the audience will swallow it whole, so no need to create three-dimensional characters and challenging situations that can demonstrate observably what people are made of.

The writer also seems unacquainted with the definition of the word hostage: "someone who is made a prisoner in order to force other people to do something" (Cambridge English Dictionary). No other person is either consulted or asked to do something. Equally ham-handed is the decision to place Dawn on a bed bound in a position obviously vulnerable to sexual attack. Nothing sexual happens here, leaving the viewer to wonder why that threat was suggested. Absolutely nothing in this movie would have changed if the attacker had tied Dawn to a chair. Repeated close-ups of red fire ants create an expectation they will painfully attack and cause the heroine agony. That doesn't happen. It takes the attackers nearly two days to ask Dawn where "the loot" is. What have they been doing for the previous 32 hours? And who uses the word "loot"? Certainly, this experience is supposed to be a nightmare for the clueless Dawn, but the cluelessness of the movie itself is a nightmare for the viewer.