Beyond Obsession (1994) Henry Thomas, Emily Warfield, Victoria Principal, Garry Chalk Movie Review

Beyond Obsession (1994)   3/53/53/53/53/5


Henry Thomas in Beyond Obsession (1994)

Murdering Mother Dearest

Traci DiCarlo (Emily Warfield - Bonanza: The Return) has put up with her domineering mother, Eleanor (Victoria Principal - Dancing in the Dark), all her life and has had enough. Also having had enough of Eleanor's bossy nature is Traci's boyfriend, John (Henry Thomas - Legends of the Fall). So when Eleanor is found dead it doesn't take long for the police to suspect John of murdering her and he ends up charged with the murder with decades in prison if found guilty. What John doesn't realise is that he has been unscrupulously used by Traci to murder Eleanor who manipulated him, something which John's lawyer becomes particularly aware of.

Despite enjoying watching old TV movies I can't but help think that some should never see the light of day again. For me "Beyond Obsession" is one of those movies as whilst there is nothing specifically wrong with it, it tells the sort of story which has been told hundreds of times since and ends up weak because it is now dated. As such whilst it has its roots in the true story of the murder of Joyce Aparo, a reportedly pushy mother, "Beyond Obsession" ends up feeling remarkably generic.

As such what we get in "Beyond Obsession" is a mix of the before and the after. We get some flashback scenes of Traci growing up with the pushy Eleanor always belittling her over this and that. As such we see how it ends up affecting her, not only making her bitter towards her mother but also cold and scheming even picking up some of her mother's own traits. But at the same time we get the events after her mother's murder with Traci not only abandoning John but starting to dress and act even more like her mother. All of which might have been entertaining and intriguing back in 1994 when the case was still in people's minds but now just feels like another generic made for TV movie about a true crime.

What this all boils down to is that "Beyond Obsession" is now one of those true story made for TV movies which blends into that big mixing pot of other similar movies all of which are lacking anything to make them stand out from the crowd.


LATEST REVIEWS