Another one of those melodramaic made-for-TV movies with an interesting concept but completely overblown delivery.
This particular flick features a psychotic therapist who ends up tearing an unsuspecting family apart by making the wife confess to an affair she had years back, sleeping with the husband while wifey is outta town, pretending hubby abuses the daughter when he rejects her later, manipulating the son into setting fire to their house, then later murdering anyone who steps on her toes.
You know, the usual. Maybe it's time to find a new specialist.
Discard all pretensions that this might be an intimate study of her mental illness at the door, everything here is simply done for cheap thrills... mentions of the psychiatrist's childhood abuse at the hands of her dad are slightly touched on, but are swiftly swept under the carpet as she spins her web of seduction and lies. At times it's fun to watch, but you'd forgive your brain for shrinking considerately whilst you feed it this trashy junk food passing as entertainment. You should feel bad, I know I did.
What really sinks the movie though, is aside from the ever-growing sensationalism which becomes more and more grating as it carries on, is how stupid it treats it's audience. This therapist is supposed to be pretty smart, right? Well, how come the mother is able to break into her house to discover evidence of her past crimes... by finding a KEY hidden underneath an ornament outside?! Who even DOES that anymore? Probably a dumb scriptwriter desperate for a ciggie who couldn't think of a better way to get from point A to B. Hey, at least he didn't write that the therapist left the door unlocked. That would've been REALLY stupid...
Oops, sorry I forgot... he saved that 'gem' up for the climax, when our insane psychiatrist just strolls into the remote log cabin where the family are hiding from her. They know they're in danger... it's the middle of the night... and she's allowed to waltz in to steal their little daughter. And frankly, what happens next is beyond belief... the psychiatrist spends all night dressed up in the mother's clothes, then waits until the crack of dawn to steal the daughter, then she takes off in the family car... which promptly crashes. The family rescues their daughter from the burning wreck, but the therapist obviously decides to kill herself for some reason so stays behind to die in the explosion. Umm...
It's the kind of conclusion that gives the term anti-climax a bad name. We've suffered all the way through this drivel... for THAT?!
Maybe the ones playing the true 'Mind Games' here are the makers, to see how we'd react. Only, instead of giving us a twist ending, they decided to throw us the stupidest one ever.
Well guys, if you're reading this right now and it was your stated aim to tick me off something royally, then congratulations! Mission complete! Now go out there and complete your paper, because I'm sure you'll pass with flying colours.
You utter gits. 4/10.
Plot summary
A couple that seems perfect is hiding big secrets from each other. They are all revealed after they meet a psychotic psychologist.
Uploaded by: FREEMAN
December 23, 2021 at 07:58 PM
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I may need therapy after this... no, not from HER.
Bad TV movie
This is a really bad TV movie. A couple that seems perfect is hiding big secrets from each other. They are all revealed (the secrets) after they meet a psychotic psychologist... Imagine that!
Mind Games is a low budget, ordinary, un-interesting and predictable B-movie. The plot is so obvious from the beginning that you don't even have to use your brain to figure it out. There are no twist and turns, nothing interesting, just your ordinary stupid TV movie.