12 Desperate Hours

There are certain films that will be remembered for being controversial and not afraid to hold back on anything. During the 90´s there were quite a few films that really tried to explore different subjects and were meant to stir up emotions. One of my dearest cinema exeriences from my youth would of course be from the 1994 film Natural Born Killers from legendary director Oliver Stone. To see such an odd and crazy film like this in cinema back in the day still brings back beautiful memories. Since we mentioned the year of 1994 i also have to mention why there were terrible movies this specific year as well. Films that didnt even get a theatrical release and one of the films ( that i wish i could forget but can´t because it is so bad ) is the 1994 comedy known as Revenge Of The Nerds IV: Nerds In Love from director Steve Zacharias ( director of the previous Revenge Of The Nerds films as well ). By the time they decided to make a 4th film in this franchise they have already run out of ideas, even if some of the characters from the original film returned. Unless you plan to watch all films in this franchise you should definetely stay away from this sequel. Since i mentioned earlier about controversial films of the 90´s we have to talk about one specific film that was released in 1995, and that is the cult classic known as Showgirls from legendary director Paul Verhoeven. When this film came out it caused a lot of chaos, especially among movie critics worldwide. I remember some of the movie reviews here in Sweden and they were not pleased. I did see the film on VHS in 1996, because they decided not to release this film in cinemas here. I enjoyed Showgirls for what it was, a crazy story about female dancer Nomi Malone ( played by actress Elizabeth Berkley ) who is working really hard to become one of the top dancers of the Vegas showgirls. In this film you also found actress Gina Gershon as the character Cristal Connors, and since Showgirls Gina have been working a lot in both TV series such as Riverdale and movies as well. I happened to discover that she actually directed a recent Lifetime thriller called 12 Desperate Hours and that caught my attention. Is this a TV thriller that is surprisingly good or is 12 Desperate Hours a film you will most likely forget that it even existed after you watched it?

It´s an ordinary morning at Val Jane´s ( Samantha Mathis ) home with her two sons. Everything is about to change when an unknown man carrying a shotgun, force himself inside her house. His name is Denny Tuohmy ( Harrison Thomas ) and he doesn´t really know himself what he is doing. All he wants is to see his girlfriend Cherie ( Tali Rabinowitz ) but don´t know how. He needs Val to go with him and figure something out, as he locks her children inside a bedroom. Val offers herself to drive Denny around, knowing it could be risky to try and escape. All she wants is to be back to her children, no matter what she has to do.

One of the facts that makes this TV thriller interesting is that it is actually based on a real case that author Ann Rule wrote about in her 2003 true crime anthology Last Dance, Last Chance. I have not read about the real case that this film is based on so i can not say if this film manage to portrait the story in a realistic way to what actually happened. Since i am a fan of films based on criminal cases i can tell you right away that this is actually not bad for being a Lifetime movie. First of all the acting is way better than i expected, especially from three characters. It is like some of the actors actually tried to make a serious attempt into their characters, and that is something we are not used to see in a TV thriller like this. Let us begin with actress Tina Alexis Allen ( who some of you might recognize from the great TV series known as Outsiders ) as the character Mel Jane. This character reminds me of a typical welfare woman who spends her day watching TV shows, and i have to say that Tina manage to make her character feel like a realistic douchebag. The best acting performance comes without a doubt from actor Harrison Thomas ( who fans of the Netflix show Better Call Saul might recognize ) as the character Denny Tuohmy. It becomes very clear that Denny have mental problems and he is really struggling with himself and his life in general. I think that Harrison Thomas really show us how it can be for a person who is really struggling with his personal demons, and this is definetely the most interesting character in 12 Desperate Hours. Actress Samantha Harris ( who have been in 90´s classics such as Super Mario Bros ( yes the one with Bob Hoskins ) and Broken Arrow with John Travolta and Christian Slater ) give us a realistic portrait of a household mother Val Jane. How do you handle someone like Denny who can´t take care of himself ? Since most Lifetime movies are pretty soft and polished, i have to say 12 Desperate Hours at least tries to be a bit tougher with an attitude among the charatcers. There is nothing original about this film but that is ok, since this is based on a real criminal case. Director Gina Gershon give us a film that is actually more well made than what i would expect from a Lifetime movie and that is something i really appreciate. This might actually be one of the better TV thrillers i have seen in recent years, so that alone tells you that 12 Desperate Hours may be worth checking out.

Rating: DDD