Believe Me: The Abduction of Lisa McVey

If someone had described this life story to me in detail, I would have thought they were quite a creative person. But this remarkable story is based on real events. It makes watching this film about Lisa McVey all the more harrowing, imagining everything this girl had to endure. It was awful; my stomach literally flipped 180 degrees. The lead actress portrayed her role perfectly; I believed every tear, every laugh at the end—just everything. To stay so level-headed in such a cruel situation and remember so many details about her abduction is truly admirable. The detective from the sex crimes unit also deserves admiration; he, along with her sister, believed in her, relying on his police and human instincts, and pursued the case relentlessly. Don’t expect any action; this is a story about a young woman who went through literal hell to be able to start the kind of normal life we all imagine for ourselves. For me, it’s 8.5/10. P.S. Serial killer Bobby Joe Long was executed by lethal injection in 2019. (07/17/2021)

A pretty decent and low-key made-for-TV crime thriller on Netflix about serial killer Bobby Joe Long, who went on a rampage in Tampa in the 1980s. He allegedly killed ten women, too bad we don't get to see any dead bodies in the movie, but nobody cares about that, right? Fine, it's a TV movie, I can forgive that. While the film offers nothing explicit, it does bring up some pretty interesting themes (domestic abuse by a grandmother, serial killer, kidnap-rape). If maybe David Fincher had directed it, we might have a revolution in the crime genre. Fortunately, however the film takes a rather unexpected direction, with the main character escaping her kidnapper and thinking the worst is over. No one believes she was kidnapped, a rather unexpected turn. I liked the fact that the main character is not only a pretty girl, but also very intelligent and helps the detectives in their work, which is what managed to win me over. Definitely a noteworthy affair that won't disappoint fans of crime fiction, although it would need to have dead bodies to get my absolute satisfaction. Story 4/5, Action 2/5, Humor>No, Violence 1/5, Fun 4/5 Music 3/5, Visuals 3/5, Atmosphere 4/5, Suspense 4/5, Actors 4/5. 7.5/10 (06/29/2021)

What a beautiful day it was today... Then I watched this movie, and everything went gray. I know I'm going to sound politically incorrect and gender-imbalanced, but I don’t care. I just don’t like violence against women, so this movie didn’t make me feel very good. It was great in terms of the form, though. The plot surprisingly stuck to the actual events most of the time, and the real Lisa McVey deserves a hell of a lot of admiration for how well she could play her game despite being dealt an extremely lousy hand at the beginning. Katie Douglas was excellent, and I hope she gets more screen time in the future, I already have a running list of actresses she could replace. Great stuff. (10/22/2021)