Within
The Lifetime Network is famous for featuring movies for women, about women, that appeal to women (and gay men.) But as the popularity of their TV movies has increased, Lifetime is starting to stretch its legs a little bit and open itself up to more daring fare.
On July 31st at 9pm, Lifetime enters a new arena by airing a supernatural thriller called Within. What’s different is that the film centers on a little girl instead of an adult woman, which is the network’s usual focus. The girl in question is Rachel (Mia Ford), who loses her mother in a fatal shooting. To help her get over the pain, she and her father Nathan (Sam Jaeger) move away to a small town. But Rachel isn’t just a sad little girl. No. She’s special. You see, Rachel can see dead people. But not just any dead people. Dead, bad people.
When Rachel goes to her first day at her new school, she meets Michelle (Sammi Hanratty) the "mean girl" of the fourth grade. When Michelle invites Rachel to come to her house after school, Rachel starts seeing Michelle’s dead sister, glaring at her from the corners of the house with such deep dark circles under her eyes she looks like a demonic football player. If that weren’t bad enough, there’s something wrong with Michelle, too. This girl isn’t just the bitch of grammar school, she’s one stop shy of crazy-town.
Even their teacher Abby (Lori Heuring) feels that Michelle is a bit strange, but she’s more concerned about Rachel, whose depression over the loss of her mother is causing problems. And when the school-yard nut job won’t leave her alone, well, Rachel is a prime candidate for intensive therapy.
Within’s mystery is why Michelle is such a brat, and why her family seems to be covering up her behavior. Add into that Rachel’s curse of seeing the dead, and we are intrigued enough to find out how it all fits together.
Directed by Hanele M. Culpepper and written by Rebecca Sonnenshine, Within is a low-budget effort with clunky editing and a cast that doesn’t know what to do with themselves. Reactions to horrific situations appear forced or non-existent, and the behaviors of the characters don’t make sense. Why is Rachel’s teacher hanging out with Rachel and her father socially? Isn’t there some rule about going on picnics with your students and drinking wine with their hot dads? Not to mention, Abby is a always nervous and constantly looking at everyone suspiciously. Talk about a Debbie Downer.
While I like Heuring as an actress, she wasn’t given much to do but look distressed. Mia Ford, who resembles a female Hayley Joel Osmet (who incidentally also saw dead people), acquits herself well here. While her delivery sometimes has that typical "child-actor" lilt, her eyes have a depth that makes her performance stand out. Sammi Hanratty who was excellent in the American Girl movie, Clarissa Stands Strong, handles a one-note part with ease, and does a good job at making us want to smack her and send her to bed without supper. That, and put her into a mental institution.
The end certainly had a few surprises, but they are clumsily handled, causing any tension or believability to be lost. I’m not sure why Lifetime chose this particular film to spread their wings with, but it is nice to see them branch out. However, next time they might want to acquire something with a bit more polish and clarity.
Within airs on Lifetime, July 31st at 9pm.
