I thought the plot sounded good but the acting is ridiculous and actually the storyline is completely pointless. Spoiler alert:
Why did they even need to create this elaborate lie to kill the wife when she didn't want the husband anyway. He could have just left and had a normal life. So stupid it's comical.
29 Reviews
Stabby stabby
sandycochrane-9775815 November 2020
Warning: Spoilers
Obvious what's going to happen in the film from the very start. I'll be honest, I enjoy a good ole B movie time to time and this is one that really gave me some
Laughs. I don't think it's meant to be a comedy but watching that neighbour handle a knife was the best scene in the whole film. She made it right there!
Was expecting better
theresataylor-851665 November 2020
Absolute rubbish
thales-6304515 November 2020
Acting is terrible. The mother is the kind of mother that most teenagers would tell to Foxtrot Oscar. From the first 5 minutes you know where it's going and like and behold you'd be correct. I wonder why the police were in low attendance especially with a neurotic mother. Maybe because it's too much like other films so nothing original. I wish Netflix would say 'made for TV movie' in their synopsis. This way it would indicate whether it's worth wasting an hour and 14 minutes of your life.
Seriously?...
jm_pieri13 December 2020
I'm sorry
I generally don't leave reviews, but sometimes I need to make the effort to warn others.
This film is awful.... the acting is abysmal, the directing is atrocious. I'm so sad that I wasted an hour and a half of my life watching this while I could have been watching my nostril hair grow instead.....
1970's Type Bilge
halliwellleonard17 November 2020
Audience gaslit into thinking this was a good movie.
bcarsonmail-948-20971820 November 2020
Warning: Spoilers
Terrible. I had just watched the original "Gaslight" (1944), which is a classic, so I thought it would be interesting to see a modern take on the phenomenon. What a bitter disappointment. The casting was atrocious, with the troubled-teen daughter being far too old to be believable. The acting was wooden and laughable. And as for the plot...what plot? We all knew exactly what was going to happen right from the start. The script telegraphed the scenario, in case some slow person couldn't work it out (hey you at the back, I said "the new neighbour is from Seattle... you know, the same as the heroine who is escaping her husband's mystery lover...I mean could that be the NEW NEIGHBOUR ")
This was shown under the title "Fatal Deception" in UK (again trying to gaslight the audience into thinking it was similar to the classic "Fatal Attraction").
An the nomination for the.....!!!
ozwillb30 November 2020
1 star for giving people a job
julsepsom21 November 2020
Warning: Spoilers
Spoilers - to save you from losing 90 minutes of your day.
From the first minute you just know that this is a bad, low budget, made for TV film. A wife is kicking out her husband for cheating on her. The "teenage" daughter, who looks about the same age as her mother is a terrible actress. Really terrible. A policeman arrives later to tell them that the husband is dead in a car accident. Then a few days later the daughter doesn't come back from a camping trip with the neighbour Mary and her own daughter, who tell the mother that they've never met her daughter. Mother rings the policeman to tell him about the missing daughter and he takes her to a therapist who tells her that her daughter died in the same car crash. For some reason they are all obsessed with keeping the mother warm because they say it's cold even though they are all wearing T-shirts and it's the summer??!!
It's all a convoluted plot concocted between the neighbour, who is the husband's mistress, the policeman and therapist who are the husband's best buddies, and the husband who is not dead and it's all to make the mother appear mad. Why? The husband wanted to be with his mistress and the wife was kicking him out? So, why?
The penultimate 10 minutes is without doubt THE worst part of a film I have ever ever seen. Honestly, do yourselves a favour and pass this one by.
From the first minute you just know that this is a bad, low budget, made for TV film. A wife is kicking out her husband for cheating on her. The "teenage" daughter, who looks about the same age as her mother is a terrible actress. Really terrible. A policeman arrives later to tell them that the husband is dead in a car accident. Then a few days later the daughter doesn't come back from a camping trip with the neighbour Mary and her own daughter, who tell the mother that they've never met her daughter. Mother rings the policeman to tell him about the missing daughter and he takes her to a therapist who tells her that her daughter died in the same car crash. For some reason they are all obsessed with keeping the mother warm because they say it's cold even though they are all wearing T-shirts and it's the summer??!!
It's all a convoluted plot concocted between the neighbour, who is the husband's mistress, the policeman and therapist who are the husband's best buddies, and the husband who is not dead and it's all to make the mother appear mad. Why? The husband wanted to be with his mistress and the wife was kicking him out? So, why?
The penultimate 10 minutes is without doubt THE worst part of a film I have ever ever seen. Honestly, do yourselves a favour and pass this one by.
"A Fugue State"
lavatch28 September 2020
Warning: Spoilers
The expression "a fugue state" is coined by Dr. Lisa, the psychiatrist treating her patient Olivia Whitmore. The term is a polite way of saying that Olivia is nuttier than a fruit cake.
"Is My Daughter Really Dead?" (a.k.a., "Gaslit") is a thriller that develops an elaborate charade of duping the artist and mother Olivia into thinking that she is going crazy. Through a carefully orchestrated conspiracy, Olivia is led to believe that both her husband Layne and her daughter Hannah perished in an auto accident. Olivia senses that this is a lie, and she valiantly pursues the truth through the fog in her head in order to re-connect with her daughter.
The dastardly plan is conceived by Olivia's lout of a husband Layne, a philanderer and a liar, who will stop at nothing to destroy his wife. Layne mistakenly believes that Olivia has been unfaithful to him with her artist friend Jack. It is Layne who is having an affair with a mystery woman who is not revealed until the end.
The film was stylishly directed with intense close-ups and a grainy photography that gave the impression that we were in the same kind of foggy world as Olivia. A visual metaphor was the hot water boiling on the burner powered by the gas. Just as the kettle is boiling over, so Olivia is about to reach breaking point after being gaslit by her tormentors.
A couple of the most interesting characters are Olivia's neighbors, Mary and her daughter Sidney. It slowly becomes apparent that Mary is not coming clean with Olivia. Young Sidney will play a key role in uncovering the duplicity of her lascivious mom. Jack, the artist friend and secret admirer of Olivia and Detective Bruce Chambers round out the dramatis personae with the psychiatrist Dr. Lisa, who pays house calls to her patient.
After a tension-packed race on foot at Layne's cabin retreat, there is a thundering climax that assembles all of the principal characters. A touching denouement focuses on the reunion of mother and daughter in a scene where they are both painting the same flower vase. In a saga involving a ghoulish plot of "ambient abuse," Olivia and Hannah are survivors who are inseparable in their mother-daughter bond.
"Is My Daughter Really Dead?" (a.k.a., "Gaslit") is a thriller that develops an elaborate charade of duping the artist and mother Olivia into thinking that she is going crazy. Through a carefully orchestrated conspiracy, Olivia is led to believe that both her husband Layne and her daughter Hannah perished in an auto accident. Olivia senses that this is a lie, and she valiantly pursues the truth through the fog in her head in order to re-connect with her daughter.
The dastardly plan is conceived by Olivia's lout of a husband Layne, a philanderer and a liar, who will stop at nothing to destroy his wife. Layne mistakenly believes that Olivia has been unfaithful to him with her artist friend Jack. It is Layne who is having an affair with a mystery woman who is not revealed until the end.
The film was stylishly directed with intense close-ups and a grainy photography that gave the impression that we were in the same kind of foggy world as Olivia. A visual metaphor was the hot water boiling on the burner powered by the gas. Just as the kettle is boiling over, so Olivia is about to reach breaking point after being gaslit by her tormentors.
A couple of the most interesting characters are Olivia's neighbors, Mary and her daughter Sidney. It slowly becomes apparent that Mary is not coming clean with Olivia. Young Sidney will play a key role in uncovering the duplicity of her lascivious mom. Jack, the artist friend and secret admirer of Olivia and Detective Bruce Chambers round out the dramatis personae with the psychiatrist Dr. Lisa, who pays house calls to her patient.
After a tension-packed race on foot at Layne's cabin retreat, there is a thundering climax that assembles all of the principal characters. A touching denouement focuses on the reunion of mother and daughter in a scene where they are both painting the same flower vase. In a saga involving a ghoulish plot of "ambient abuse," Olivia and Hannah are survivors who are inseparable in their mother-daughter bond.
Huh??
sithstalker-757891 February 2021
Warning: Spoilers
Named fatal deceit in the uk and its a fantastic name for this film as I was almost fatally decieved into thinking this movie was gonna be good.
This film tries to be clever and fails miserably. Everyone can see where this films headed a mile off.
So we have a highly farcical over the top elaborate diabolical scheme to fake the husbands death for erm reasons.
What reasons are those? I hear you ask.
Is it for the life insurance money? NO.
Is it because the husband and his new mistress are crazed serial killers who fell in love and murdered each others spouses coz it turned them on and there crazy? No
Is it coz there's a twist and the wife was actually cheating on her husband, she was bat schmidt crazy, an unfit mother and the father and his mistress he took after fidning out his wife had deceived him came up with this plan to get payback and save the daughter Y... NOOO.
I know a movies not good when I can give 3 better ideas as to why the husband tries to fake his own death.
So why did the hubbie got to all this trouble, cook up this elaborate scheme involving multiple layers and characters.
Police officers, psychiatrists, mistresses from Seattle etc. No reason at all. Nope none whatsoever. She kicked him out anyway he could have left but clearly got bored and decided to go to all this effort to waste his time and ours.
Don't be fatally decived, don't be gaslit. Don't bother with this film it's garbage. Whoever wrote this film must've ran out of paper.
This film tries to be clever and fails miserably. Everyone can see where this films headed a mile off.
So we have a highly farcical over the top elaborate diabolical scheme to fake the husbands death for erm reasons.
What reasons are those? I hear you ask.
Is it for the life insurance money? NO.
Is it because the husband and his new mistress are crazed serial killers who fell in love and murdered each others spouses coz it turned them on and there crazy? No
Is it coz there's a twist and the wife was actually cheating on her husband, she was bat schmidt crazy, an unfit mother and the father and his mistress he took after fidning out his wife had deceived him came up with this plan to get payback and save the daughter Y... NOOO.
I know a movies not good when I can give 3 better ideas as to why the husband tries to fake his own death.
So why did the hubbie got to all this trouble, cook up this elaborate scheme involving multiple layers and characters.
Police officers, psychiatrists, mistresses from Seattle etc. No reason at all. Nope none whatsoever. She kicked him out anyway he could have left but clearly got bored and decided to go to all this effort to waste his time and ours.
Don't be fatally decived, don't be gaslit. Don't bother with this film it's garbage. Whoever wrote this film must've ran out of paper.
no no no
collectit-496828 November 2020
Satire or just an unsuccessful local amateur dramatics film club trial effort?
johnhhdimdb3 December 2020
Around 50 people were involved in making this catastrophe of a film, unredeemed in any area - any of the acting, cinematography, production, sound all pale in contrast anything your 6 year old has done with their phone.
The exception is whoever managed to convince Netflix to take it has a genuine talent.
The film is so bad it's almost a satire on the genre, but doesn't even quite make that.
Unless you are related to any of those involved, have consumed prodigious quantities of alcohol and you don't have a dog to walk, there's little reason to watch this. Although perhaps if you're trying to get rid of some romantic partner by developing a taste in excruciating films this might be a good start.
Implausible
phd_travel9 January 2020
Warning: Spoilers
I enjoy a good Lifetime mystery but here the story is too implausible. It just doesn't make sense that they could convince a woman her daughter died and she imagined her alive. And his friend helping him with the set up.
The ending is just so stupid.
One of the worst Lifetime movies.
The ending is just so stupid.
One of the worst Lifetime movies.
Average
delsoca22 November 2020
This film never goes up a gear, it has that made for tv feel which it can't shake off. It builds the suspension slowed and then we speed to the conclusion, which is a shame. The acting is average, I would score the film between a 4 and 5 out of 10. IMDB does allow a 4.5 so I have give it a 5. Unless you have nothing else better to do, I would avoid.
Truly Awful
btmgsnncnj23 June 2021
Total rubbish
andykowal-2316131 December 2020
Absolute Rubbish! AVOID
sl-5383325 April 2021
Warning: Spoilers
I don't know where to begin, I have to admit this has to be one of the worst film I have seen this year! Acting is beyond terrible so no wonder I've never heard of any of them. The storyline is so unbelievable it actually highlights the terrible acting even more.
The main character (mother/wife) kicks her husband out for cheating, daughter asks if she can go with him and she says no. Guy dies in a car accident which we don't see! Neighbour moves in next door and is overly familiar with the main character, they become friendly and the new neighbour asks if her and her daughter want to go camping, mother says no but she will ask her daughter if she wants to go...ok then!
Daughter comes home later that day and tells her mum she has been chatting with the new neighbours daughter and they have asked her if she wants to go camping and she agrees...so that's that, she's going camping! Mother wakes up and sees her get in the neighbours car and waves her off! A couple of days go by and she can't get through to the daughter so she puts it down to a bad signal! Day arrives for their return and she goes out and asks the neighbour where her daughter is and she says she never went with them... ok but we seen her getting in the car etc so you can imagine how the story is going to pan out right...
so the neighbours daughter and the neighbour claim they have never met the girl but the mother thinks their for whatever reason lying...however she never mentions how the daughter could of known about the camping trip and her neighbours husband also dying a year prior if she hadn't met them....so that's that!
Skip forward a load of melodramatic rubbish and we are in a Forrest running from someone with a knife (won't say who as some may choose to see how dreadful it really is) and as she's running guess who she runs into..because that's how real life works isn't it! Then someone is shot but you just hear the bang and when the camera swings back around 2 people are dead?! Beating in mind there was 1 shot and they were standing apart, both were suddenly laying on top of each other!
The end...the mother starts dating her friend who runs the gallery with her, he gives her a picture which in the beginning he said he has sold but that gets forgotten about and it's now a present for her, the acting has you grinding your teeth it's that cheesy! The best part of the film was when the credit went up! I carried on watching it because 1 I invested time into it so wanted to see what the catch was (clicked on within 20 mins but still) and 2 the acting and storylines were so so poor I couldn't help but watch how bad it was. It's laughable.
The main character (mother/wife) kicks her husband out for cheating, daughter asks if she can go with him and she says no. Guy dies in a car accident which we don't see! Neighbour moves in next door and is overly familiar with the main character, they become friendly and the new neighbour asks if her and her daughter want to go camping, mother says no but she will ask her daughter if she wants to go...ok then!
Daughter comes home later that day and tells her mum she has been chatting with the new neighbours daughter and they have asked her if she wants to go camping and she agrees...so that's that, she's going camping! Mother wakes up and sees her get in the neighbours car and waves her off! A couple of days go by and she can't get through to the daughter so she puts it down to a bad signal! Day arrives for their return and she goes out and asks the neighbour where her daughter is and she says she never went with them... ok but we seen her getting in the car etc so you can imagine how the story is going to pan out right...
so the neighbours daughter and the neighbour claim they have never met the girl but the mother thinks their for whatever reason lying...however she never mentions how the daughter could of known about the camping trip and her neighbours husband also dying a year prior if she hadn't met them....so that's that!
Skip forward a load of melodramatic rubbish and we are in a Forrest running from someone with a knife (won't say who as some may choose to see how dreadful it really is) and as she's running guess who she runs into..because that's how real life works isn't it! Then someone is shot but you just hear the bang and when the camera swings back around 2 people are dead?! Beating in mind there was 1 shot and they were standing apart, both were suddenly laying on top of each other!
The end...the mother starts dating her friend who runs the gallery with her, he gives her a picture which in the beginning he said he has sold but that gets forgotten about and it's now a present for her, the acting has you grinding your teeth it's that cheesy! The best part of the film was when the credit went up! I carried on watching it because 1 I invested time into it so wanted to see what the catch was (clicked on within 20 mins but still) and 2 the acting and storylines were so so poor I couldn't help but watch how bad it was. It's laughable.
gaslit - a psychological phenomena
NijazBaBs2 January 2020
I thought at first that this is about putting somebody on fire. But looks like this is some psychological manipulation phenomena, which i learned during watching. This movie is similar to many lifetime channel movies all which deal with deceiving, lies, manipulations, crimes. It is also similar to movies: Fractured (2019), Unsane (2018), Unknown (2011). All dealing with difficulties of knowing what is reality what is illusion, or lie or truth. All dealing wiht psychology or psychiatry. This movie is good because it is realistic, meaning this can really happen to somebody, and as it was in the movie, can leave consequences such as deaths. Lesson is to avoid doing gaslighting and being victim of it. But besides that there is too much talk, meaning drama. Too much skipped parts and lack of police and many things. Too empty. So not high quality movie. Although at least better than some other lifetime movies.
Laughably Bad
emylaroux-772488 January 2022
This is possibly the worst film I've ever seen. The storyline is ludicrous, the acting is dreadful, the pace will give you whiplash and the exposition is so ridiculous that you can tell that even the actors had lost all faith in the whole venture. There are no twists, because it's obvious from the start what's going on and who's involved. It's like a made for tv YA film with a hint of telenovela drama. There's even a point where a sociopathic mistress swings a knife around shouting "are you ready to die?!" without actually aiming at anyone and then occasionally stands quietly while another character talks for a bit, before launching back into her badly acted tirade. Imagine a college media studies project written, directed and starred in by unimaginative teenagers who wanted to hit every cliche without having any concept of how the real world works and you might have an idea of how this film plays out.
Intriguing but not sure...
liberty_lee7 November 2020
Warning: Spoilers
So I watched this film called fatal deceit, on here it's called gaslit. Its starts off fairly well, but it's kind of like on of those cheesy b movies, which is fine if that's what you want, and I knew what I was getting into. It's very intriguing to see how it pans out, but then when we start to find out the truth of the situation, it gets abit weird. Like all the trouble Layne went to to make his wife think she was mad, and the girlfriend tried to kill the mum and daughter....when basically you think, he already let on that he was dead and he had already left his wife, by her decision also. So he could've just lived his new life with his mistress and her kid, with no problems. So yea, I guess it took a strange turn... worth a look anyway.
Good for a laugh.
colinmardell7 November 2020
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