Secrets in the Water

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source: Secrets in the Water

I give credit where it's due when it comes to mysteries and low budget but this was none of the above. There was no mystery. As soon as her friend opened her mouth and started to talk, there was no mystery to solve. This train wreck isn't even on the right track to begin with and yes the acting is bad, but a better script and some actual dialogue and simple direction might have changed that. I have seen much better with amateur student films than with what this contains. I don't even think Hallmark would pick this up, even if it was just to toss back. Please don't waste your time with this. Just don't.

From start to finish, "Secrets in the Water" had the semblance of an episode of the old cop show Hawaii Five-0. A mystifying murder has occurred in the idyllic shores of Hawaii. A set of improbable and convoluted circumstances are at the heart of the crime. A bereaved mother experiences the unthinkable in the fallout. The film was so sad that there was nothing uplifting except for a few precious minutes of flashback recalling the close relationship of Mia and her mother Laura. While the daughter was keeping some secrets from her mom, it was nonetheless a strong and beautiful bonding. Most of the film was taken up with Laura's grief over the loss of her daughter and her haphazard attempt to discover the murderer. A double loss for Laura was incurred when she took under her wing Mia's best friend, Bailey. But gradually the shell-shocked mother recognized that Bailey was not as she seemed. A second murder, that of Mia's nice boyfriend Kaleo, makes the film even more depressing. It was never made entirely clear how petty jealousy could have possibly been the cause of a double homicide. At least the television series Hawaii Five-0 offered plausible cases and police blotters in lieu of non-stop unpleasantness for ninety minutes.

This could've been a great who done it but...the acting was terrible by 98% of the cast! The scenery was beautiful and the story was interesting just very badly portrayed. They could have spent more time in the beginning focusing on the background of the characters and their relationships to one another. I feel like there were a lot of holes that could have been filled to make it smoothly transition from the introduction of the characters to the murder, to the investigations of potential suspects and finally the climax. Worst of all, it doesn't take Sherlock Holmes or even Dora the Explorer to figure out who the murderer is. I chalk that up mostly to awful acting. If you are looking for a decent thriller/mystery, skip this one.

As a storyline, it was ok, but too easy to see who killed Mia by watching Bailey's expressions. Acting of all cast was on a par with daytime soaps. Ok to watch if you've grown tired of watching the shapes of clouds above.

The acting in this was so bad it was difficult to watch to the end but I had to see if the obvious killer was the actual killer or if there was a twist. No twist. It seems they spent a lot of money on the location but not enough on actors or props. They didn't even do a decent job of cutting cardboard into the shape of a knife blade & painting it gray. And that poor sheriff could have been fitted with a much better toupee. It's hard to use up 600 required characters for a review when the movie is this shallow & transparent. What more can I say? It wasn't good and I don't recommend watching it unless you're desperate.

Review contains non-specific plot details - but no obvious spoilers. Implausible, yet predicatable storyline. Much of the plot is very implausible and unbelievable. For example: Police providing a relative of a murder victim with belongings of the deceased that were in posession of the deceased at the time they went missing. Really? You don't think that would be evidence? Especially the victim's phone? Another example: The murder investigation is handled by a regular uniformed traffic patrol officer, not a detective. Nobody ever visits a police station - they just pull up in their car next to where this police officer is regularly parked. Another example: Everyone's home looks to be a newly finished 5 star residence - regardless of whether the character occupying the residence is reputed to be trailer trash, an unemployed aspiring surfer or a high school student living away from their parents. One scene contains a very obviously fake television. Nobody in this movie lives in a plausible residence. Even the residence of the main character is implausible considering their occupation. There are many more implausible things about this movie but to go into detail on them would give away spoilers. Amateur directing, acting and dialog. Although in the actors defence - in some scenes they're forced to make the best of a bad situation. For example: A character opens a glass door and then looks surprised to see what's on the other side after opening it... Really? I get the dramatic effect the director was going for but in the end a good scene should be plausible with the actors acting logically. I would not watch this movie again or recommend it to anyone I like.

I figured out pretty quickly who committed the murder and why. What I wasn't expecting was how the daughter's best friend was able to talk the mother into doing something some questionable things. I clapped when the sheriff told the mother to stop following the advice of a teenager. I also wasn't expecting her fellow classmate to be the one behind the naked photos release. I know this was based on a true story and now I am going to have to research the real case because I have lots of questions. Is the best friend still in jail? Did her stepfather really treat her bad? How is the deceased mother doing nowadays?

Cerina Vincent is great as the mother after her daughters killer, the actress who plays her daughters best friend is good her performance kinda gets a bit over the top but overall if your bored on a weeknight and want to put something on in the background while you scroll through your phone you could do alot worse.