STALKERS Lifetime Movie: Advanced Review

This Saturday, April 13, Lifetime will debut the new made-for-TV movie called Stalkers, which – shocker of all shocks (or not) – is inspired by a true story; specifically the book entitled “Whisper of Fear: The True Story of the Prosecutor Who Stalks the Stalkers” written by Rhonda B. Saunders and Stephen G. Michaud.

The film stars Drea de Matteo (The Sopranos) as Detective Diane Harkin, a newly transplanted cop from Las Vegas to Seattle, who seems to have an uncanny insight into stalkers – turns out she was the victim of one (but I won’t spoil that reveal) – and Jodi Lyn O’Keefe (Prison Break) as passionate prosecutor Julia Winston, who is determined to create a special threat task force in the City of Seattle to track down stalkers.

The main storyline of the film is focused on a young stalker victim named Jen (Lela Loren from the online series H+), who has been the prey of her former lover Ivy Hicks (a very disturbing Mena Suvari of American Beauty fame) for at least several years (or at least that was my take on how long the character Jen had survived abuse by this woman). The big problem for Jen is that Ivy is VERY smart – she knows the law backwards and forwards and knows just how to skirt being caught. She seduced poor Jen during a very vulnerable moment in the woman’s life, and then made sure to push anyone of importance out of Jen’s life, including former boyfriend Sean Bauer (Jeremy Guilbaut from The Guard).

When Jen’s grandmother passed away, and after far too much violence and intimidation forced on her by Ivy, Jen ran; seeking solace inside her grandmother’s home, hoping to never encounter Ivy again. That is until Detective Harkin enters her life. That is when Ivy finds out where Jen has been hiding; and the general action of the movie is how Ivy starts to stalk poor Jen all over again.

I don’t want to ruin the resolution of the main storyline behind the movie, but let’s just say that Ivy gets what is coming to her and Attorney Winston gets her Special Threat Task Force, despite fighting male politicians who are less than eager to grant her said task force.

The cast of this film includes Henry Simmons (NYPD Blue) as Cliff, Diane’s supervising officer at the precinct; Tahmoh Penikett (Battlestar Galactica) as District Attorney Jacob Waring (who is having an affair with Julia); Jesse Moss (Whistler) as Brian, Julia’s assistant at the DA’s office; Brendan Fletcher (The Pacific mini-series) as Tim, the precinct’s IT expert; Mike Dupod (Stargate: Universe) as Cox and Zak Santiago (Cult) as Romero, as members of the newly formed Special Threat Task Force.

Make sure to tune into Lifetime this Saturday, April 13 at 8 PM to check out what happens in Stalkers.