Writer Adam Rockoff reteams with director David DeCoteau on a new Lifetime thriller that bears a striking resemblance to this month’s earlier title, Million Dollar Lethal Listing.
In Fatal Fixer Upper, Vivian (Jasmine Aivaliotis) and Ryan (Philip McElroy) are a young married couple preparing to purchase their dream home. Just like in Million Dollar Lethal Listing, the deal is too good to be true: the house is wildly underpriced, the owner is looking for a quick sale, and they’re asked to make a hefty cash deposit.
Unlike the former title, though, there’s no mystery about who the villain is in Fatal Fixer Upper. The film opens with a classic Lifetime cold open that immediately establishes that there is a bad man keeping an eye on things. His identity is quickly revealed as Josh Thomas (Duke Van Patten), the home’s original owner and the person spying on Vivian when she checks out the property with her father, Roger Fields (an underused Dorian Gregory).
Alas there’s no room for subtlety in Van Patten’s performance as he immediately goes from spying on Vivian to snapping at realtor Sandy (Eliza Roberts) and neighbour Jill (Grisselle Escotto). Considering how easily he flies off the handle, it’s a surprise that Josh stays calm long enough to ingratiate himself into Vivian and Ryan’s lives by doing repairs around the house.
Because Josh is revealed as the villain early on, Fatal Fixer Upper is an exercise in patience. The audience is always one to two steps ahead of Vivian and Ryan, which requires the screenplay, co-written with Jeffrey Schenck and Peter Sullivan, to find entertaining ways to fill the time until the characters catch up in the last act.
Unfortunately the film relies too heavily on clichéd characters and formulaic developments. Naturally there’s a concerned therapist, Dr. Shaw (Diane Robin), who questions if Josh is taking his meds. There’s also Ryan’s cousin, Casey (Randy Jay Burrell), a police officer-turned-PI who investigates Josh after the homeowner explodes at a BBQ in front of everyone. And you know that Sandy’s in danger the moment she confirms to Vivian that Josh lied about where he’s living (sidebar: the film treats this as a reveal, but anyone who has ever seen a horror film will immediately call it).
The fact that danger and injury befalls anyone who questions or gets in Josh’s way is inevitable, though the way DeCoteau shoots action leaves something to be desired. Characters tend to die easily in Lifetime films, and Fatal Fixer Upper is no different: one person is briefly strangled before they’re dragged off screen and another is struck in the back of the head. Considering a third act hit and run looks far worse, but the victim barely uses crutches a day later, the impact of violence in the film feels wildly inconsistent.
Another Lifetime trait is the presence of ineffectual police officers. Here the role is played by Detective Jones (Rachel Wong) who does believes the couple about Josh’s increasingly unhinged behaviour, but doesn’t assign a police guard outside their home until after dark (perhaps she believes Josh is a vampire?).
While Fatal Fixer Upper rarely surprises, there are a few notable moments of inspiration. Like Million Dollar Lethal Listing before it, this Lifetime film’s secret strength is interrogating the integrity of the central couple’s marriage. As the film progresses, it’s revealed that Vivian and Ryan aren’t as solid as they initially appeared to be, and their doubts about the other help to sustain the film until its violent climax.
In terms of performances, Aivaliotis is a sympathetic lead with a decent amount of agency. It’s nice that she refuses to take crap from Ryan when he questions her about Josh’s continued presence around the house. McElroy is likewise solid as the suspicious husband, though Ryan makes some questionable decisions in the finale that seem more motivated by plot than by character.
That leaves Van Patten, who has arguably the trickiest role. He’s best when Josh is awkwardly trying to flirt with Vivian, even going so far as to initiate a rom-com moment when he’s sprayed by water and has to change shirts in front of her. Unfortunately when Josh loses his cool, Van Patten always plays him at a 10, so there’s no range or escalation. The performance needed to be dialed back to give it levels.
Fatal Fixer Upper‘s other fatal quality is that there are simply too many characters. Jill and her husband exist solely to offer vague exposition at convenient moments, but because they’re new parents, they’re equipped with plot armour.
Then there’s Josh’s ex-wife, Michelle (Savoy Bailey), who only returns after the cold open to diagnose Josh with a ridiculously laughable (and highly fabricated) disease that “explains” his behaviour. Fatal Fixer Upper has its share of deaths, but there are a few too many red shirts wandering around by the time the credits roll whose deaths might have helped to make the film more memorable.
Overall, this is pretty standard Lifetime fare. Fans of DeCoteau and Rockoff’s previous collaborations will undoubtedly appreciate it, but for the uninitiated, Fatal Fixer Upper is solidly mid-tier.
Fatal Fixer Upper premieres on Lifetime Thursday, April 25 at 8/7c.
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