House of Deadly Lies (2023 TV Movie) User Reviews

Surprisingly good...

[paul_haakonsen · 6/10 · 12 April 2023]

Truth be told, then I wasn't exactly harboring a whole lot of expectations to this 2023 thriller given the fact that it was a Lifetime TV movie. But still, I opted to give the movie a fair chance and the benefit of the doubt, since it was a movie that I hadn't already seen, much less even heard about.

Director Penelope Buitenhuis actually surprised me with this 2023 thriller titled "House of Deadly Lies", because the movie turned out to be rather enjoyable and entertaining. Sure, this was a Lifetime movie, but it didn't feel like the usual overly predictable movies that they tend to produce. So I was genuinely surprised with the storyline in the movie and how entertaining it actually was.

Sure, some of the plot in the storyline was predictable, but it worked out well enough, because the movie, as a whole, was enjoyable and entertaining. And isn't that what a movie is all about?

The acting performances in the movie were good. I wasn't familiar with leading actress Katy Breier (playing Paige) and leading actor Jon McLaren (playing Michael), but they carried the movie quite well. It was a shame that actor Justin Nurse (playing Detective Anderson) wasn't given more on-screen time, because I think he could have spruced up the movie a notch.

If you enjoy a thriller, then perhaps give "House of Deadly Lies" a chance. I did and I was pleasantly surprised and genuinely entertained throughout the 97 minutes that the movie ran for.

My rating of "House of Deadly Lies" lands on a six out of ten stars.

Pretty awful

[rhonnie-43139 · 3/10 · 3 May 2023]

I sat through this movie for an hour and it was painful to watch. I was channel surfing and ended up on the Lifetime channel. At the beginning I was curious. The husband character made a point of discussing a birthmark he shared with his son during a cookout. The wife's best friend also in attendance was pregnant. So I was suspicious and within the first 10 minutes I guessed the dark secret. The rest of the time I watched, the movie just got worse.

There were so many things wrong with it. I didn't like ANY of the characters. The husband who I liked in other movies was a lying and violent jerk. The wife was just plain stupid and reckless. The wife's best friend was helpless and clueless. The wife's mom was bizarre. The cop, bartender, pawn guy, motel guy and so on - all same. It seemed like it was just a bunch of people parroting lines with no connection to their characters.

Anywho I surfed to another channel and returned for the final predictable scene. Nothing to see here. Bad acting bad script bad movie.

Three stars cuz the baby was cute 😊

One dimensional characters,

[Lisa96832 · 2/10 · 1 July 2023]

The best thing about this movie was the location towards the end Can they start making movies where the man has a better outcome. The characters had no reasoning, no background. It just seemed like a vehicle for women being victimised. I am female and it would be nice to see male and female characters make sense and not just make the man the bad guy. Not all women are goody goody. She was a stay at home mom and her husband was providing for everyone, and they were in debt! It would have made more sense to develop that instead of making him 'the monster'.

On a good note, the scenery was beautiful.

Simple predictable abc story. Avoid

[Xavier_Stone · 1/10 · 21 March 2023]

The actors really struggle with the dialogue as it's all short sentences and put together in short bursts. It reminds me of a high school play where everyone has their lines written on the backs of their hands for the current scene.

Predictable story line, and fast forwarding ended up getting me to the expected ending in under 30 minutes, which is entirely too long to spend watching this thing.

All minor actors with a few first timers. I'm sure the director/writer is a novice as well as he/she isn't even listed on this page.

That's probably a good thing actually. Deny, deny deny. Not much else to say. 1/10. Not even good practice for first time students out of film school.

Crazy bad, but entertaining in the end

[darkmomo-81831 · 3/10 · 28 May 2023]

There's a reviewer who literally talks about how good the father is... Um... seek help maybe cuz what??? O. O The obviously abusive man is a GOOD MAN?? WILDDDD. Anyway the wife is a doormat, we see that right away because no way would I ever allow some jerk to speak to me that way. The friend is a wet blanket pushover. But then back to the wife when she finds out about her husband STILL somehow horrible. Just a terrible person and friend. Lol. This movie was so bad from the acting to the set up. And the husband was the worst. BTW if you're in a relationship with someone like that and it reminded you of them? Tell someone asap. And get away from them. That man was nuts from the start just from the way he was speaking to his wife.

Both women were entirely too pathetic. If someone had my kid and wouldn't give him to me I'd be calling the cops AFTER I beat the crap out of them. Seriously, who wrote this script??

How do you let a man just snatch money out of your hand?? Why do you even come in with that much money in your hand? Who are these people??

Who goes back?? Why does Jos ask soooo many freaking questionssss as if she had a plan when she had none?? WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE??

Dolly rocked. Seriously that old lady got mad crazy and I was here for it. LMFAO. She was not playing around. XD.

The lady at the place they were staying at Maeve? Also awesome.

Why witch instead of witch with a b? So weird!

How was this man dealing with gangs? XD Please. What is happening.

The ending was satisfying though! Lol. Even though they both had black eyes, the ending was just what you want from a Lifetime movie. Good on the main character for keeping the money. Screw all of them. Lol.

The Telltale Johnson Birthmark

[lavatch · 8/10 · 8 April 2023]

Michael Johnson is proud of his family's heritage in which each new generation has a distinctive birthmark in the area of the stomach. For Mike, this is a sign of the unquenchable fire in the belly of the virile Johnson males.

Unfortunately for Mike, his wife Paige discovers the telltale birthmark on the belly of little Sean, the boy recently delivered by her best friend Joslyn (Jos). Apparently, she was raped by Mike. But this is only the start of the surprises in store for Paige about a husband leading a secret life.

The filmmakers were successful in making Mike Johnson ever more repellent as the film progressed. The black eye given to Paige by the out-of-control husband was made extremely graphic and believable by the make-up department.

The best scene in the film was when Mike visited his mother-in-law Dolly to inquire about the whereabouts of Paige and Jos after they fled the Johnson home. The tough-as-nails Dolly was fully prepared for Mike's visit and cleverly got the drop on him.

There was some beautiful scenic footage as Paige and Jos made their way north to Newfoundland to start their new lives. The screenwriters kept matters within propriety, as the most graphic language in the film was when, with great understatement, Jos called Mike a "son of a witch."

There was a clever denouement that revealed the location of the money stashed away by Paige and Jos. Two little boys with the same Johnson birthmark seem to have a comfortable a life ahead of them, thanks to two resilient and dedicated women.

Avoid.

[windsorenquirer · 1/10 · 26 March 2023]

So stay at home mother takes in her strugling stay at home friend to help her through a tough time which takes many many months. They both don't work, just stay at home all day and do nothing. But they both are victims. Neither of them tries to get a job and contribute to the household expenses. The friend is having a baby at some point and still lives in the house where only husband works, whatever his work is, it puts the food on the table.

But hey, let's make the husband the bad guy, let's make him a crook, yeah, why not. He want the friend to be gone but noooo, the wife wants her to stay and do nothing.

Btw, I would like to know who pays for her hospital bills covering costs of delivering the baby.

Well, it was a really bad movie, a horrible and ridiculeous story.

And I am not even getting into the actig skills.

And one more thing, IMDb requires 600 characters for one reason only, to discourage people from commenting.

House of Deadly Lies

[coltras35 · 8/10 · 5 August 2023]

Paige Johnson takes in her pregnant friend Joslyn. The two have known each other since high school and Joslyn is going through a rough patch. Paige is married to Michael and together they have a son. Then secrets come to light, which could potentially tear the family apart.

A solid lifetime thriller that is less corny than its kind. It's simply plotted yet gripping and has effective acting especially by Katy Brier who realises her husband isn't what he seems. He's controlling, a rapist and isn't a real estate employee but runs with drug dealers. This type of story is well treaded but this is a strong example.