Yvonne Zima (Young and the Restless's Daisy) played identical twins in their early twenties. The film sets the story about how the twins, Juliana and Debra Hansen. They live in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with their mother. When their mother (Claire Rankin) wants to remarry, one of the twins is determined to stop it from the happening. The writing is pretty weak. I have to say that Yvonne Zima is the only redeeming quality in this film. Her performance as identical twins is worth watching at least once. I watched Yvonne Zima on "The Young & The Restless" as Daisy for years. It is nice to see this talented actress work her talent in a dual role performance. The film is camp and entertaining but not much else. It's also predictable even the twist of events in the film. You don't have to worry about figure out the plot. I wished Zima had better material to work with in the first place but she does a terrific job.
7 Reviews
One Redeeming Quality
Stoshie28 March 2020
Yet another typical Lifetime movie. Nothing really to see here, except Yvonne Zima's performance. She isn't an Oscar-caliber actor, but she did do a decent job of playing two different characters with entirely different personalities. Other than that , this is standard Lifetime fare. But everyone should expect that by now of these movies.
I do have to say, though, that I find it hard to believe that one reviewer here thought there was a "shocking twist" at the end. It was telegraphed immediately fairly early on. I can't believe anyone didn't see it coming, considering how obvious it was. Especially in first scene where....well, I don't like doing reviews with spoilers, so I'll leave it at that.
Anyway, my six stars may be generous, but it is only because of Yvonne Zima.
I do have to say, though, that I find it hard to believe that one reviewer here thought there was a "shocking twist" at the end. It was telegraphed immediately fairly early on. I can't believe anyone didn't see it coming, considering how obvious it was. Especially in first scene where....well, I don't like doing reviews with spoilers, so I'll leave it at that.
Anyway, my six stars may be generous, but it is only because of Yvonne Zima.
Why do I bother
krahnic-4457624 October 2019
Warning: Spoilers
Wow, another real "gem". Acting is terrible, costumes, brutal. Wtf. How do these movies even get made????
P.S. this is stupid because although twins share identical DNA, they do NOT have identical fingerprints. So, wouldn't work
P.S. this is stupid because although twins share identical DNA, they do NOT have identical fingerprints. So, wouldn't work
***1/2
edwagreen30 June 2016
Warning: Spoilers
Diabolical at its very best. A woman has twin daughters and one appears to be a loser in every way. A recovering drug addict who enjoys the booze, she is quick tempered, very hostile and not very easy to be with.
The other daughter is studying fashion design and appears to have it all straight. Yvonne Zima plays both daughters. Wasn't she the young girl in the television show "The Nanny." Grandma Yetta would be very proud of Max Scheffield's young daughter.
A shocking twist in the film is that the so called "normal" daughter is far from normal and her diabolical scheme to eliminate all around her is shocking, but quite normal for a Lifetime film.
The poor mother is caught up in all this. Go figure that the unstable daughter has been set up all these years by her sinister twin sister.
A very clever film.
The other daughter is studying fashion design and appears to have it all straight. Yvonne Zima plays both daughters. Wasn't she the young girl in the television show "The Nanny." Grandma Yetta would be very proud of Max Scheffield's young daughter.
A shocking twist in the film is that the so called "normal" daughter is far from normal and her diabolical scheme to eliminate all around her is shocking, but quite normal for a Lifetime film.
The poor mother is caught up in all this. Go figure that the unstable daughter has been set up all these years by her sinister twin sister.
A very clever film.
One of Lifetime's best -- but the trailer gives the big twist away!
mgconlan-116 June 2016
Warning: Spoilers
The Lifetime "world premiere" on Saturday, June 11 was "Killing Mommy," a.k.a. "Deadly Daughters," a surprisingly engaging thriller with a big twist about two-thirds of the way through, "presented" by Pierre David and Tom Berry (names that have previously been associated with a lot of Lifetime thrillers that have run the gamut from suspenseful to silly) and directed by Curtis James Crawford and Anthony Dufresne from a script by Trent Haaga. It's slow going at first mainly because there isn't anyone in it we actually like: it's about a mother and her two grown (25-year-old) twin daughters, though the twins don't look that much alike, at least partly because they're deliberately costumed differently to reflect their lifestyles. Mom is Eve Hanson (Claire Rankin), who's about to marry Winston Berlin (Rob Stewart), the guy she's been dating for four years since her previous husband Harlan (Jeff Teravainen) died in a bizarre accident: he was restoring a 1965 Mustang as a birthday present for one of his daughters when the jack that was holding the car up gave way and the car fell on him and crushed him.
The daughters are Juliana (Yvonne Zima), who wears her hair long and colors it auburn (mom is blonde) and is a wanna-be fashionista who's tearing through the family fortune left behind by her self-made father while ostensibly studying to be a fashion designer; and Deborah — usually called "Deb" and also played by Yvonne Zima — who has black hair that makes her look like she's auditioning to play Patti Smith in a biopic and generally wears a black leather jacket, a black T-shirt hailing the joys of LSD, and black jeans. She's also got a ring piercing on her lower lip. (Cinthia Burke and her associates in the makeup department deserve kudos for making the two Zimas look similar when they're supposed to and dramatically different when they're supposed to.) None of these women come off as sympathetic characters — mom seems like a controlling bitch, Juliana a spoiled one and Deb someone who's going out of her way to rebel by drinking, picking up sleazy guys at a dive bar, and giving herself points for being "clean" because at least she isn't doing "hard drugs" anymore. Mom's boyfriend Winston doesn't come off any better; he's obviously a gold-digger who's just after Eve for her money, which he's already lost $100,000 of in a bad stock deal, which hasn't stopped him from pestering her for control over the rest of the fortune. Given the title, the main suspense early on is over which sister is going to kill mom, or try to, for her money — Juliana, Deb or both of them in combination.
Though hamstrung by a plot that's all too predictable — especially since what writer Haaga obviously intended as a big surprise was given away in the trailer — Killing Mommy is great sleazy fun, not only because the actor playing Deke is the most genuinely handsome male in the film despite the stringy blond hair and scraggly beard he's outfitted with to make him look skuzzier (and the actor playing Winston is also genuinely handsome!) but because the characterizations are well drawn and genuinely complex even though our suspicion, based on hearing him talked about through the movie, that the late husband would be the only sympathetic character in the dramatis personae is borne out the one time we see him in a flashback.
The daughters are Juliana (Yvonne Zima), who wears her hair long and colors it auburn (mom is blonde) and is a wanna-be fashionista who's tearing through the family fortune left behind by her self-made father while ostensibly studying to be a fashion designer; and Deborah — usually called "Deb" and also played by Yvonne Zima — who has black hair that makes her look like she's auditioning to play Patti Smith in a biopic and generally wears a black leather jacket, a black T-shirt hailing the joys of LSD, and black jeans. She's also got a ring piercing on her lower lip. (Cinthia Burke and her associates in the makeup department deserve kudos for making the two Zimas look similar when they're supposed to and dramatically different when they're supposed to.) None of these women come off as sympathetic characters — mom seems like a controlling bitch, Juliana a spoiled one and Deb someone who's going out of her way to rebel by drinking, picking up sleazy guys at a dive bar, and giving herself points for being "clean" because at least she isn't doing "hard drugs" anymore. Mom's boyfriend Winston doesn't come off any better; he's obviously a gold-digger who's just after Eve for her money, which he's already lost $100,000 of in a bad stock deal, which hasn't stopped him from pestering her for control over the rest of the fortune. Given the title, the main suspense early on is over which sister is going to kill mom, or try to, for her money — Juliana, Deb or both of them in combination.
Though hamstrung by a plot that's all too predictable — especially since what writer Haaga obviously intended as a big surprise was given away in the trailer — Killing Mommy is great sleazy fun, not only because the actor playing Deke is the most genuinely handsome male in the film despite the stringy blond hair and scraggly beard he's outfitted with to make him look skuzzier (and the actor playing Winston is also genuinely handsome!) but because the characterizations are well drawn and genuinely complex even though our suspicion, based on hearing him talked about through the movie, that the late husband would be the only sympathetic character in the dramatis personae is borne out the one time we see him in a flashback.
Yvonne Zima Excels
vbacon-111-57832926 December 2020
Yvonne Zima has been one of LMN's young standouts with performances playing the bad girl in Killer Prom and The Girl He Met Online. Here she plays the bad and good girl and does it very well. She has seen success outside of LMN and let's hope this continues.
The plot here is formulaic and not very surprising. But it's what you should expect from a LMN movie. I find the better LMN movies where they delve into seedy people and their environments as opposed to rich people's lifestyles. This one visits both sides of the tracks.
The plot here is formulaic and not very surprising. But it's what you should expect from a LMN movie. I find the better LMN movies where they delve into seedy people and their environments as opposed to rich people's lifestyles. This one visits both sides of the tracks.
American Gothic
lavatch8 August 2020
Warning: Spoilers
In "Killing Mommy" (a.k.a., "Deadly Daughters"), there is an obsession to dress up as a Goth and playact the role of Dead End Deb. This is the story of twins who took divergent paths in life. Now, the drama focuses on their differences that will unlock the secrets of their past.
Deborah and Juliana Hansen grew up in a loving family. But everything changed when their dad died in an apparent accident while refurbishing a Ford Mustang as a gift for Deb on her birthday. Deb was never the same when her dad was crushed under the weight of the car due to a freak accident. But, was it really an accident?
One of the most interesting characters in the film was Deacon "Deke" Chance, the erstwhile lover of Deb. But the observant Deke notices that a tattoo is inexplicably missing from one of his lover's buttocks. The quick-thinking Deke knows that the twins are playing "games" with him and possibly a dangerous game with others. The best line in the film belongs to Deke, when in a compromising position, he blurts out, "Call Me Daisy!" Afterwards, the rest is silence. R.I.P., Deke Chance.
One has to feel for the long-suffering Eve Hansen, the mother of the twins. Eve lost her husband, then had to deal with Deb's descent into drug addiction and violence. She is also constantly beleaguered by Juliana, who cannot seem to manage money. Eve's engagement to marry Winston adds another layer to the dicey family dynamic, especially as Winston may have mismanaged the family funds to the tune of a $100,000 loss. Is Winston a gold-digger? Eve seems besieged from all angles.
The screenwriters built good suspense and the action moved swiftly to a thrilling confrontation at the end. The wisdom of Solomon must be invoked as Eve stands in the middle between two daughters, and she must make a life-altering decision in the moment. But the decision was made for her by the genuineness of one daughter and the other who was caught in the lie. A happy resolution ensues in a tale out of American Gothic.
Deborah and Juliana Hansen grew up in a loving family. But everything changed when their dad died in an apparent accident while refurbishing a Ford Mustang as a gift for Deb on her birthday. Deb was never the same when her dad was crushed under the weight of the car due to a freak accident. But, was it really an accident?
One of the most interesting characters in the film was Deacon "Deke" Chance, the erstwhile lover of Deb. But the observant Deke notices that a tattoo is inexplicably missing from one of his lover's buttocks. The quick-thinking Deke knows that the twins are playing "games" with him and possibly a dangerous game with others. The best line in the film belongs to Deke, when in a compromising position, he blurts out, "Call Me Daisy!" Afterwards, the rest is silence. R.I.P., Deke Chance.
One has to feel for the long-suffering Eve Hansen, the mother of the twins. Eve lost her husband, then had to deal with Deb's descent into drug addiction and violence. She is also constantly beleaguered by Juliana, who cannot seem to manage money. Eve's engagement to marry Winston adds another layer to the dicey family dynamic, especially as Winston may have mismanaged the family funds to the tune of a $100,000 loss. Is Winston a gold-digger? Eve seems besieged from all angles.
The screenwriters built good suspense and the action moved swiftly to a thrilling confrontation at the end. The wisdom of Solomon must be invoked as Eve stands in the middle between two daughters, and she must make a life-altering decision in the moment. But the decision was made for her by the genuineness of one daughter and the other who was caught in the lie. A happy resolution ensues in a tale out of American Gothic.
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