When Jennifer wakes up with amnesia after a traumatic attack, her doting husband cares for her. But she soon realises that the danger is far from over.
Now I know I posted it at the top of the page, but if you haven't seen Secret Obsession yet and are intending on seeing it, DO NOT WATCH THE TRAILER. The trailer does what Netflix has a horrible habit of doing, spoiling the twists in their psychological thrillers. Once you spoil the twist, you really can't call it a psychological thriller anymore. It becomes more of an action-drama. I will do my best to write this review without spoilers (including spoilers from the trailer).
Now I would say that this is a great example of what happens when someone takes on too many roles in a film. Peter Sullivan is down in the credits as Director, Screenplay Writer, and Co-Producer. One could look at that and think he may have split his attention too much, but when you consider the fact that he has directed 19 TV movies in the last eight or so years (13 of which being TV Christmas films) it's, unfortunately, safe to say that expectations for this film can be lowered. Significantly.
Secret Obsession stars Dennis Haybert (24), Brenda Song (Disney's The Suite Life of Zack & Cody and The Suite Life on Deck), and Mike Vogel (Cloverfield). While these are definitely some recognisable faces, it can't save what was a horrendously predictable movie. Even if you haven't seen the trailer, the film reveals the twist in the first act, undermining any sense of tension that the film has.
This isn't helped by legitimately bad writing. I would say acting, but I've seen these cast members in much better productions before. Our antagonist looks like an antagonist from the get-go. There is no sense of mystery, and our protagonist has little to do beyond moving to and from the bedroom. Despite Secret Obsession effectively being a poorly done remake of Stephen King's Misery, nothing good was added to this familiar stalker story. There are a few times during the story where it builds intrigue, and it's usually to do with the development of the supporting cast, but the arcs are disregarded before anything comes of it. The film is a 10-minute short that has been stretched out to 97 minutes.
This is the sort of film that has you actively sighing at the screen. The antagonist's motives don't make sense. The amnesia part of the premise is the most concerning. scenes and actions are constantly being repeated. It is a mess. The truth is, the pacing is so slow that I ended up closing my browser halfway through because it had failed to keep my interest. I ended up watching the rest a few days later out of boredom, and so I could warn anyone that cares enough to read this.
As far as positive things for the film? It was nice to see some diversity in the cast. I just wish they had a better story to tell. For a "psychological thriller" it didn't have any jump scares which I was happy to see, unfortunately, the film had no tension or suspense either. The production is reasonable, with some nice environment shots.
There is nothing new here. Well, there is nothing new that is good here. They have an action-packed opening scene that makes no sense, and they have a supporting cast that has more interesting storylines (David Haybert and Eric Etebari's characters specifically) implied but disregarded without consequence. I can only hope Fred Durst can do a better job with his upcoming stalker film with John Travolta, The Fanatic.