The Twisted Son

"The Twisted Son" (a.k.a., "Thicker Than Water") was a well-scripted and well-performed melodrama. If there was a single image that ran through the film, it was fire. And the underlying theme was the destructiveness of fire. Young Brandon Wilson was reared in an abusive household. At the time, he was known as Christopher. At the age of eight, he torched the family home, killing his parents and sister. Now, years later, we see Brandon casually playing with a cigarette lighter. He has his sights set on a new family, especially a new mother. Andrea "Lifetime" Roth is outstanding in the role of Paige Decker, the psychologically fragile and grieving mother, who lost her boy Zach to a drug overdose a year ago. Brandon now enters her life as a renter. Consumed by neediness, Brandon will stop at nothing to win the affection of Paige. For a while, Paige bonds with Brandon. Some of the best scenes are the connections made between the two characters whose lives have intersected at the points when they both are empty and desperate to fill a void in their souls. One of the most interesting characters was young Addie Decker, the little spitfire of a soccer player, who gets wise to the antics of Brandon from the outset. With the assistance of her friend Kara, Addie is able to research the background of "Christopher" to discover the truth about the "weirdo" border. Unfortunately, the film's ending was clumsily staged in the fight choreography as the ghoulish grand finale unfolded around the outdoor barbeque. But the filmmakers remained true to the major visual image that conveys the simple moral lesson: Don't play with fire!

Nathan (Tygh Runyan ) and Paige (Andrea Roth ) lost their college age son a year ago to an overdose. Nathan and their daughter Addie (Katie Douglas) have moved on while Paige, a lawyer still needs time off. Without her income they take in a border, Brandon who has a heavy creep factor and a past. This is a made for TV film that will give you deja-vu for every other TV film. Not terribly bad unless you paid for it.

The film has a good plot but it lacks of some things like good actors (except the antagonist) and a development that is too much predictable. However it's not completely awful and if you want to see something not really heavy, it's a good choice. Just you I know, it's a thriller not an horror.

A film giving nothing. Except the effort of Eric Osborne to give a realistic portrait of a sociopath with a decent result. Or the try of Andrea Roth to make a realistic role of mother against a story far to be reasonable. Short- all is familiar and too predictable. And used in awful manner. Except good intentions and a lot of cliches, nothing to say because the good parts are fake and the desire to create the atmosphere is falling.

Was very interesting though predictable as most Lifetime shows are, but it did keep my attention. I always enjoy watching Andrea Roth. It's a pity she allowed things to get so far before she got some sense. Thank God the daughter was smart and alert. There are some real sickos like that out there in real life. I enjoyed the show and would recommend it if you feel like watching a sociopath in action.

I could have guessed the ending but there were some good plot twists that kept my attention. Tygh Runyan is very easy on the eye's and it's good to see that his character didn't die.