Girlfriend Killer (2017) Reviews

• No surprises - a relaxing watch for a thriller

  phd_travel2017-08-04

  These Barbie Castro --killer vehicles are watchable if not great. No major surprises so it's a relaxing watch. Didn't really show any explanation on why the killer got so obsessed with this older engagement co-ordinator played by Barbie. After all his fiancée was young. And the term girlfriend killer implies more than a few girlfriends killed but there seems to be only one. The daughter is played by the real life daughter of Barbie. The cops played by Dina Meyer and Corin Nemec at least proved some help at the end. This one isn't as good as Boyfriend Killer which wasn't that great either.

• ***1/2

  edwagreen2017-06-25

  She is in the business to take videos of original proposal scenes, but becomes a victim, when during one job, the girl rejects the guy and she shows the wealthy, but devious guy some sympathy for what has occurred. Flaws in the film include the voice of our photographer. She sounds as if she is speaking to a third grade class and often came across as quite churlish. The young lady who plays her daughter is described as being beautiful by all, despite the fact that she possesses extremely plain looks. It is obvious where this is all headed to so there are no surprises here, but the film is done nicely and keeps its audience interested at all times. Interesting especially when the daughter opened the closet and naturally screamed. I thought for sure there were dead bodies in there, but the live one was enough to make anyone scream out in fright.

• It's Castro, not Conradt, who's the auteur

  mgconlan-12017-06-26

  "Girlfriend Killer" was written by Christine Conradt but a disappointment coming from her because she utterly failed to bring any sort of multidimensionality to her villain (the usual aspect that raises Conradt's scripts above the Lifetime norm). The real auteur of this one is neither Conradt nor the traffic cop — oops, I mean director — Alyn Darnay, but Barbie Castro, who not only starred as the usual Lifetime damsel in distress but co-produced the film with Eric R. Castro (presumably her husband) and cast her daughter Taylor Castro as her character's daughter in the movie (well, that's one way to avoid the bugbear of having two people in a movie who don't look at all alike passed off as genetic relatives: cast a real mother and daughter as the mother and daughter in the film) and also hired one Rhys Castro as the propmaker — there are more Castros in this movie than there ever were in the Cuban government! Barbie Castro has done at least three similarly titled series films for Lifetime before, "Assumed Killer," "Patient Killer" and "Boyfriend Killer," which was also written by Christine Conradt and directed by Alyn Darnay, but I said of it that "this time (Conradt) seems merely to be following her formulae instead of legitimately extending them the way she did in 'The Bride He Bought Online,'" and the same could be said of "Girlfriend Killer" as well. "Girlfriend Killer" does have its points, including the off-beat profession Conradt thought up for her heroine, the Barbie Castro role. She's a divorcée named Carmen Ruiz with a teenage daughter named Ayla (Taylor Castro) and a boyfriend named Ryan Gerner (Brian Gross). Carmen has created a business for herself that is a combination consultant and videographer for men seeking to make marriage proposals to their significant others (and not just women: one of the most delightful scenes in the film is one in which Carmen stages the proposal of a Gay man to his partner! I guess it's progress of a sort that we at last exist on Lifetime). She stages the date on which the guy will pop the question and uses a hidden camera and either a shotgun mike or mikes concealed in flowerpots and bushes (just like in the early days of sound film in the late 1920's!) to record the proposals, then presents the lucky man with an Internet link to download the video and collects her fee, while Ryan helps her as an editor and a grip. Only one of her customers, Emerson Banes (Jason Cook, who for once is not the hottest guy in the movie even though he's the villain — both Ryan and Carmen's ex Nick, played by Khotan Fernandez, are sexier!), isn't as lucky as the service advertises: he makes his proposal in Carmen's elaborate staging, but his girlfriend Marissa Stefans (Elisabetta Fantone) turns him down, saying that she's been seeing someone else for four months, he's someone Emerson doesn't know that she met at a "trade show," and they hit it off better than she and Emerson ever have. Emerson is your typical spoiled Lifetime 1-percenter; he drives a red Maserati sports car that practically becomes a character itself and his response to Marissa's turn-down is to knock her off. "Girlfriend Killer" is a pretty typical Lifetime movie, neither especially good nor especially bad, decently done and with some nice-looking male cast members who for once aren't playing villains, but a bit of a disappointment from Christine Conradt because one thinks that, given her head instead of locked inside a Castro family vanity production, she could have made Emerson a genuinely interesting and multidimensional villain character instead of just a "stick" psycho.

• Tried to like this movie, but just couldn't

  victoria-334192018-10-17

  Lifetime movie with good photography, nice locations & sets, good lighting. The acting/direction was not great. The villain and the second male police officer looked alike, so that was confusing. The daughter was pretty good, but it was hard to like her much because she was not nice to her father and his girlfriend, and there was nothing explained to justify this. The mother's boyfriend was also ok, but he always looked like he needed to shower and wash his clothes. I also didn't see any chemistry between him and the mother. The mother looked too elderly for the role, and the storyline didn't explain why two younger men were interested in her romantically. She also had an annoying "baby talk" voice that sounded so fake. The female detective was good and reminded me of Michelle Pfeiffer, but the camera angles didn't often show her face from good angles. The male detective was kind of funny, and I wish the movie had a few more quirky characters like him. The plot was only interesting from the aspect that the villain was filthy rich and this apparently made him feel entitled to commit crimes with impunity. But even this aspect was not developed. There were several continuity issues such as the daughter entering the home without setting off the security system alarm. Overall the production was not bad, but the story and acting were bland.

• Another Killer Hit!

  lilypupo2017-07-05

  Barbie Castro knocks it out of the park again with this movie the plot is different and refreshing from typical thrillers. It has some great exciting moments as well as perfectly placed drama. Concorde Films is producing some great movies and this is no exception, watch it you will love it. I found the movie to be a good who dun it, it was great till the very end. Keep an eye for more of the "Killer" series movies they are LMN's new thriller gems.