Garth is in Need of Peace
Assistant District Attorney Hailey Dean (Jennie Garth - Secret Santa) is not one to shy a way from a fight as she stands up to judges and defence lawyers in her fight for justice. But after pursuing the conviction of 7 times serial killer Clinton Burrell Cruise (Colin Cunningham) she is left shaken when he tries to strangle her during his court case. Traumatized by what happened Hailey leaves Atlanta and her job, heading to New York where she starts a new career as a therapist. But her nightmare returns two years later when her patients start being killed and after the police initially suspect Hailey the focus turns to Cruise who having been let out of prison due to inconsistencies with the DNA testing seems to be coming after Hailey with revenge in mind.
If I had never watched a TV movie before and started to watch "The Eleventh Victim" I would probably turn it off as the issues quickly present themselves. But having watched hundreds of TV movies over the years I didn't switch it off as whilst those issues still presented themselves they were the same type of issues which are common amongst modern TV movies and made "The Eleventh Victim" another movie for those who want simplistic entertainment which is easy to watch rather than something demanding and realistically gritty.
The thing about "The Eleventh Victim" is it has one major issue which eclipses all those other issues. The issue is that even for a movie which is aimed at a TV movie audience it is far too obvious and you know that once Cruise is let out, in secret of all things, and then people start dropping you know that eventually Hailey will have to come face to face with Cruise. The mystery is sucked out of the movie turning it into a procession of events such as when Cruise sees a woman who reminds him of Hailey and imagines killing her. Although it has to be said some of those events are quite surprising and attention grabbing and in fairness "The Eleventh Victim" manages to deliver a triple ending which is a bit different although seems far fetched.
Because of this major issue those other issues become less of a concern such as the forced acting from those playing Hailey's patients. But they are still there and anyone not use to the looseness of TV movies when it comes to characters, acting and detail will find all of these things a distraction especially how when someone can be either waking up in the middle of the night or going out for a jog and looking made up to the nines.
What this all boils down to is that "The Eleventh Victim" is very much a movie made for those who enjoy the easy to watch nature of made for TV thrillers and who won't be put off by forced acting or gaping holes in logic. But it does have the one major problem of sucking any mystery and suspense out of the movie by not holding some things back and in doing so making it a movie for the eyes rather than the mind.
