In Her Mother's Footsteps (2006)

Having inherited her deceased father's house, a woman's increasingly vivid hallucinations and visions around the house lead her to believe the ghosts of her fathers' victims are haunting the house and must solve their murders before it continues against her family.This one was one of Lifetime Channel's most impressive and enjoyable efforts. What really helps this one is the absolutely creepy and chilling house here that enables for quite a fun atmosphere and sense of dread. The large, spacious rooms, exceptionally long hallways and wooden construction here all derive a really impressive feeling at being the kind of setting to hang the supernatural action here. That there is the best part of this one since there's a lot of really enjoyable haunting scenes throughout here, which also provide this one with another impressive factor in its strong pace as well with as much fun as this one features. There's a lot to like with these, starting with the simple gags of the shutting door gag or visions of people around the house that has some merit to their appearances for once. As good as these are, the bigger scenes are even better in this which starts with the electrocution accident in the bathtub which enables the hallucination of the first murder victims reaction in the moment, the later dream sequence where the ghosts of the murder victims appearing before her startling er awake and the big one here of being trapped in the basement and being witness to the recreation murder all come off nicely as really chilling, creepy ghosts scenes. As well, this one furthers the film into the final half where there's the big investigation into the incidents, from the field investigations that don't reveal anything to the dives that do uncover the bodies, there are some decent enough scenes here that help this one along as it slowly unravels a fine, entertaining mystery. These here are enough to hold this one up quite well though there are some minor flaws here. The biggest issue ere is the final minutes of this one, where the film's preponderance on settling for a human resolution to the supernatural happens forces a multitude of plot twists to occur at such a rapid pace that it's rushed and completely scattershot, dropping the father for the adultery angle, the switchover to the new killer and the return to the past of that individual which comes off as confusing and unnecessary to what's going on in the other story lines. This also brings the action to a half as well, but overall there's more to like here.Rated UR/R: Language, Violence, extremely Brief Nudity and a mild, clothed sex scene.

SPOILERSShort and sweet, made for TV movie that is a variation on a plot that has been done about a million times... Think Ghost Whisperer, or any other "psychic" ghost story. I guessed who the killer was from the beginning...Briefly..unforgivable plot problems, and unbelievable directing flaws: (1) Originally told by lawyer at house the only thing her father left her with was the house, and an old rusty metal box which he had brought with him. THEN he tells her at his office that she had inherited her father's estate worth $11 million!!!! Hmmm...why didn't he say that in the FIRST PLACE?? THE BOX!!! IF the ONLY thing you were given as an inheritance (at first) was a house and a rusty box, why didn't they (wife and husband, and daughter) have even the SLIGHTEST curiosity about what was in the box??? They didn't get around to opening up the box until they had already moved to the new house and had been there for some time... Weren't they just a bit curious to know that if there were important papers, documents, gold, jewelry etc. etc. in the box??? When she goes to open the box, the padlock was already opened!!!! Who did THAT?(2) Since the father was still alive when the murders took place...how could he have already willed his daughter the house in order to catch the serial killer? OTHERWISE, did he just leave her the house because he was guilty, and the bad cop just happened to use THAT house to all of a sudden after years on the police force, become a crazed killer??I could go on and on, but this film was like all the other lifetime, and SiFi Channel movies, contrived, stupid, and BAD!!!

Let's give credit to writer, Steven Finly for an excellent script and director, Farhad Mann for keeping the suspense moving along. I found this extremely well done by all in the cast. Not a dud anywhere. Emma Caufield as the young clairvoyant daughter who inherits her father's house was wonderful. Believable and entirely convincing in the role. Playing opposite her and also equally as good is David Orth as her husband. The little girl, played by Matreya Fedor was quite convincing and natural. The supporting cast all did a fine job. I usually have negative things to say about LMN films, but once in a while there comes along a dark horse that wipes me away and I'm happy to be proved wrong with this superb movie. Congratulations to all involved.

Just saw this new movie on Lifetime Movie Network tonight with Emma Caufield as Kate, a woman who inherits her late-father's estate valued at $11.4 million. She and her husband (nice job from David Orth) and daughter move into a mansion as part of the estate, but from the moment they arrive Kate is haunted by visions of dead people. Kate appears to have the same ability to see what others cannot, just as her mother did. Slowly she comes to uncover what the visions mean.In Her Mother's Footsteps is nicely done, and it kept me intrigued throughout. Emma Caufield looks great here. Good locations as well. A nice way to spend Saturday evening.