User Reviews

***SPOILERS*** This movie about madness in the family starts with honor student Ryan O'Connor, John Tomson, going completely nuts and on a whim blowing his parents away as well as himself for what seems like no reason at ail. It's writer Elizabeth Hayes, Raquel Welch, who sees a connection to Ryan's actions and that has to do with him being adopted from a mental hospital where his mother was a patient! With that information Hayes is out to find out not just why Ryan's mother was institutionalized but if he had any sibling who may be as mentally unstable as he was!

As Hayes is searching for the late Ryan O'Connor's possible brothers and sisters we see the Patterson family having trouble with their adopted daughter Tori, Terry Green, who suddenly meets and becomes best friends with her next door neighbors daughter Lissa Drew, Natasha Gregson Wagnar,who's you guessed it is also adopted! It becomes apparent to us watching that there's a blood connection between the two girls and Ryan but the person who's trying to find it, and stop a future massacre, Mrs. Hayes is totally out in the dark. That in Ryan's records sealed by the state so it won't- with him being dead which by now makes no sense at all-affect his future employment & marital status!

***SPOILERS*** Writer Elizabeth Hayes works against the system not only in getting the big story but also preventing a future mass murder that the system is frustrating her at every turn from happening. As expected Tori's parents Mr.& Mrs. Pattersen are torched in their sleep and Tori is suspected of doing the torching but then there's no evidence of her doing it. We soon get to see that not only Tori is a bit off the wall but her friend Lissa isn't playing with a full deck either! That leads to the final confrontation with Mrs. Hayes who by now discovered the two girls identifies, as being adopted at the very same hospital where the late Ryan O'Connor was, coming on the scene in the films mind boggling climax! In a very controlled role, without once taking her cloths off,Raquel Welch as writer Elizabeth Hayes is very effective in her part as writer Elizabeth Hayes without exploiting her very curvy and ample,to the male audience, T & A. And the ending that has to be seen to be believed more then proves her point in what she did in trying to find Ryan's siblings before they end up imitating him!

Joan van Ark smokes cigarettes and drinks and slaps her daughter! Watch this for the character acting talents of Joan van Ark. Joan's character is a total mess! She smokes, drinks and slaps her daughter. She has several breakdowns in front of the neighbors and paints her nails and drinks in bed all day. This is a must watch for any knots landing fan to see Joan's great acting range! She blew me away, just fantastic. The rest of the movie is pretty good and interesting too in a dark way. Just when you think something is one way, the ending will blow you away! Another cute thing for knots landing fans in Emily Ann Lloyd who played Val's daughter Betsy on Knots Landing shows up in the film. Also, some fabulous acting by Raquel welsh! I'd recommend the movie for everyone to watch. It's a bit dark and shocking, but good!

Tainted Blood is an okay TV-movie that holds the attention, nothing more that.

The conclusion didn't occur to me for most of the film, I think because of the convincing acting by Natasha Wagner and the adopting mother being nutters, as well as Alley Mills of "The Wonder Years" on the other hand being so wholesome. It hit me, like oh! Yeah obviously... when they fight and Lissa picks up the baby wanting to leave, you recall the girl standing over the boy with scissors, which you never actually saw who it was. The only problem with this is the screaming nightmares, as Mrs. Patterson hears it for the first time when Lissa's there, making little sense. The role of Raquel Welch is still important, though secondary.