• Release year: 2024
• Director: David I. Strasser.
• Screenplay by: Donna Hoke.
• Cinematography by: Jason Habicht.
• Music by: Massimo Sammi.

Shotgun Commentary: this is so bad it’s not even funny.

Review

Deadly Wives Club is a mystery film with very low budget and even less talent involved. Every time one sees reasons to get excited about the future of the horror/mystery genre, movies like this show up to destroy that dream.

Lame, generic sets and bad acting can be forgiven given it’s up to budget. However, the character development is outrageous, so much so that a caveman would be shocked of how outdated it is.

Concept was good, but then life happened

First things first, the story is not half bad. The intrigue is there, and it is engaging enough to make you curious about what is going on. Still, there are many plot holes and details going nowhere, such as a garage without a door to the inside of the house, or a potential attack that never happens and is completely irrelevant to the story. These issues, along with nonsensical actions like reading out loud awkwardly for no apparent reason, could’ve been salvaged by good acting, interesting characters, or a fascinating ending. Sadly, the film has none of those.

Cringe-worthy acting

The acting is downright pitiful, it’s so bad it goes past comedic and straight into the realm of annoying. The protagonist is the only one who delivers a decent performance. Sadly, only one of the professionals from the supporting cast manages to have a couple of good days. Everything else is pathetically fake. So much so, that it will make you wonder if it wouldn’t have been better to just get some life-sized cutouts and have two people move them around. That might have brought more expression and emotion into the scenes.

Additionally, the character creation and the dialogues only make matters worse with their outdated, clichéd, and irrational ideas. There is one example that is absolutely perfect to illustrate how bad the dialogues are: when a woman talks about how much a party reminds her of a past gathering. Her reasons are that it is happening during the same time of the year, and the weather is the same. That’s like saying, “it’s June and the sun is out, what a terrible coincidence”. Makes you wonder if the victim wasn’t the only one falling from those stairs…possibly head first…

50s characters

As for the characters, they are the reason films like Barbie (2023) are so popular and necessary. The fact that, in 2024, a “normal family” is still a man who controls who his wife can or cannot speak to; who throws a tantrum if she even hugs a man; who gaslights her very real, very rational concerns and writes them off as her being too over the top; is not shocking, it’s enraging.

Apparently, in this society, being friends with someone from the opposite sex is considered an “emotional affair”. One can only assume that is conservative for “I’m so closed-minded and insecure that if you talk to anyone from my gender, you will have to put up with my tantrum”. According to this film, cutting off your wife and belittling her thoughts and interests is perfectly acceptable behaviour.

Just one thing though, if your husband does this, you guys don’t need council. He needs a psychiatrist to deal with his issues, and you need a divorce. You deserve better than to have your freedom taken by a man-child.

This guy thinks giving your child to a person who looks like (and these are his words) “a wreck” is a perfectly normal thing to do. Plus, instead of owning up to that mistake, he ends up turning the whole situation around, and it’s the mother who, no joke, APOLOGISES for acting up. Because worrying about not knowing the whereabouts of your child who has left with an unstable person is acting up now.

Bad to worse

This is already too much time to invest in a film as bad as this one, probably more than what was invested in writing the script, so let’s finish off quickly. If the aim was to comment and not normalise these behaviours (doubt), they got it severely wrong. This would be the perfect example to show future filmmakers the difference between a commentary of a problem, and being part of said problem, a lesson lots of directors could do with.

All in all, Deadly Wives Club only has the name going for it. The mystery is good, but everything else is so horribly bad that any positive remark is drowned by the endless misjudgements and poor decisions. A mystery is only as good as its ending, and this one makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. Then again, after over an hour of nonsense, the difference between reality and fiction will be so blurred you’ll probably just roll with it. After all, why try to dry an ocean with a bucket?

Advice to take from this movie:

• Marriage council is not going to change the fact your husband is a piece of sh*t and you refuse to acknowledge it.
• If a person tries to run you over, there is no way they “never meant to hurt anyone”. What are you on about?
• “Gossip is not the best way to make friends”. Well, saying things like that to your wife is not the best way to stay married. So, maybe tone it down with the puppeteering, Jiminy Cricket.

What’s your take? Have you watched Deadly Wives Club? If so, my most sincerely condolences for your lost time. Do you know any films you might want to warn other people about? Do share!

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