I get sick of these single mother man-hater movies. Bad dad bad boyfriend bad husband Bad bad bad. Here's this 18 year old daughter who is living under her roof and I am sure her mother is paying for her cell phone. As soon as the little Brat tells me that she's 18 years old and can live her life. I'm taking her cell phone and probably her vehicle away from her. And her 38 year old
Boyfriend can support her.
2nd are they always make is when someone is missing there is no 72 or 48 hour time limit to report someone missing. I know this because I am a retired law enforcement officer and if someone wants a report for a person missing for 3 hours you have to take it. Just another boring unrealistic man-hater TV show. I'm sure it will end happily as usual.
13 Reviews
Needs Work...
vnssyndrome8926 September 2023
Dating to Kill/Cradle Robber/Seduced by a Killer (TV Movie 2019)
3.7 out of 10 stars
Time to Read: 2:48min
BASIC PLOT: Tessa (Mia Topalian) is living a charmed life. She has a close relationship with her mother, Jessica (Clare Kramer), top grades, and a boyfriend, Will (Connor McRaith) who loves her.
Her senior year couldn't be going any better, until Will suddenly dies from a bizarre poisoning. Tessa is devastated, and shuts down, closing herself off from Jessica, a mother she's usually close to. After many months of counseling, Tessa seems to be coming out of her shell. She's found a grief survivors website, and made a new friend. Tessa is keeping this new friend a secret from her mother, who is busting with curiosity. Who is the stranger (David Fumero) in Tessa's life, and is he everything he pretends to be?
WHAT WORKS: *THE WARDROBE MISTRESS DOES A GREAT JOB It's rare, in this day and age, to see people dressed well. But this movie, for the most part, has decent outfits and jewelry. It's a pleasure to see.
*THE LOCATION SCOUTS DID A GREAT JOB Except for Jessica's house being too big, all of the locations in this movie, set the stage appropriately.
*EXCELLENT TRAILER! Like most trailers from Reel One Entertainment, this trailer is fantastic (no terrible voiceovers!). Trailer created by Chris Santana
*MIDDLE OF THE ROAD COVER ART The cover art is just middle of the road, but I've definitely seen worse.
WHAT DOESN'T WORK: *THEIR HOUSE IS TOO BIG!
The house Jessica and Tessa live in is massive, and wa-a-a-a-y out of their price range. It's a bit much for someone who owns a hair salon, unless that salon is on Rodeo Drive.
*TESSA'S GRIEF IS NOT BELIEVABLE There should be grief consultants, just like every other kind of consultants, for movies and TV. This movie really could have benefited from some mental health consulting. Not only does Tessa not shed a single tear (hello, onion drops!), but she also acts like she lost her favorite purse, instead of her boyfriend.
*WHY DOES JESSICA GHOST CHRISTIAN?
Why does Jessica, the mother, ghost Christian, her boyfriend (Ron Melendez), after Will (Connor McRaith) dies? I know she's trying to take care of her daughter, but what does that have to do with her relationship with Christian? It doesn't make any sense at all, as people tend to rely on each other when they are in extremis.
*JESSICA'S PRETTY UNLIKABLE FOR A MAIN CHARACTER She treats her boyfriend like crap, she ghosts him first, then keeps coming to him when she needs something (a therapist referral, asking him to risk his job breaking into confidential medical files, etc.) She doesn't come across as a concerned mother, more like a selfish harpie, and a terrible girlfriend.
*JESSICA BREAKS INTO ERIC'S HOUSE AND THEN WONDERS WHY SHE GETS ASSAULTED It doesn't matter if you think he's a bad guy, or a liar, you can't break into people's homes, and not expect retaliation. I think Eric assaulting her is supposed to be a plot device showing he's dangerous. That's not what it says to me at all. It says Jessica is as obsessed, and unhinged as he is, and that's A FAIL!
*THIS IS A PRIME EXAMPLE OF WHY WE HAVE KIDS WHO CAN'T THINK FOR THEMSELVES Jessica does everything for Tessa, and acts like she's ten, not eighteen. It's ridiculous!
*JESSICA SAYS SHE DOESN'T WANT A GUN IN THE HOUSE WITH TESSA She's eighteen for pity's sake, I don't think that's a problem!
*THE WAY JESSICA TALKS TO THE DETECTIVE IS UNBELIEVABLE This woman has serious control issues! She demands the detective arrest a guy, who's done nothing wrong! She claims he assaulted her, he didn't, she broke into his house. She claims he killed someone, but there's no proof of that either. They'd throw her lunatic a$$ out of there!
*YOU CAN TELL THIS IS WRITTEN BY A MAN Another reviewer commented that the women in this were "man haters", I don't get that, but I do get it was written by a man. The women are all shrill, over protective harpies, and useless. This is clearly a man's perception, not a woman's. Nancy (Heather McComb) allows herself to be drug off, without a fight, begging for someone to, "help me!". Tessa (Mia Topalian) is a sharp tongued, spoiled brat, who's been ruined by an over protective mother. And Jessica (Clare Kramer) is a woman who seems to use men to fulfill her needs, and dumps on them the rest of time, always thinking life's rules don't apply to her. These are ugly stereotypes about women propagated by men, and a man, Bo Johnson, did write this. It says more about him, and his biases, than any real woman. (I wonder why he didn't add his name to the credits on IMDB, if he wasn't proud of this work? That's ok though, I added him, just so we all know who perpetuates this kind of garbage.)
*WHY IS THERE A SIX MONTH JUMP IN THE SCRIPT? There's no real need for the "Six Months Later..." jump in the script. It would make better sense if all this happened closer to Will's death. Tessa would be more vulnerable then, and poor decision making comes along with grief. Waiting six months doesn't compute, unless we're trying to hide the fact that Mia Topalian can't portray grief (it's one of the hardest emotions for actors to accomplish accurately).
*MOST PARENTS WOULD SAY IT'S TIME FOR SOME TOUGH LOVE... and they would be right. Jessica should tell Tessa, "if you want to live under my roof, there will be some house rules". If Tessa doesn't want to abide, her mother should make her leave (and stop paying for her phone and car, and demand she gets a job, when she says she's not going to college). Sometimes, tough love is the most productive and constructive type. Jessica's helicopter parenting is not believable, and not helpful.
*HOW DOES ERIC KNOW WHERE NANCY LIVES? WHY DOES HE TARGET HER?
Eric (David Fumero) shows up in Nancy's (Heather McComb) home. Why? How does he know where she lives? Why target her? If it's just to get at Jessica, that doesn't work. Jessica doesn't seem to care about anybody, except herself and her daughter.
*JESSICA IS STRONG ENOUGH TO STAND UP TO POLICE, BUT WEAK WHEN IT COMES TO DEFENDING HER DAUGHTER I'm not sure if this is a script choice, or directorial choice, but having Jessica be a relentless protector thought the movie, THEN quiver, when she has to pull a gun on Eric, is NOT BELIEVABLE! I'm sick of seeing these male writers, put forward their own prejudices. C'mon guys, really?
*WOW! A THERAPIST THAT COMES TO YOUR HOUSE?! C'mon, really? For safety reasons, most people in the mental health field, would never go to a client's home for therapy sessions. People are just too unpredictable for that to be accomplished safely, and would be a major pain in the butt driving all over town.
*WHY, OH WHY, WOULD YOU SHOOT YOUR LEAD ACTRESS WITH HER BELLY HANGING OUT?! Clare Kramer is an attractive woman, but she's obviously a woman who's had children. So, why would you shoot her, lying in her bed, with her stomach rolls hanging out? That's a terrible things to do! Shame on you Danny Buday (director) and Brooks Ludwick (cinematographer).
TO RECOMMEND, OR NOT TO RECOMMEND, THAT IS THE QUESTION: *This movie had potential, but squandered it, with hateful, unlikable characters, terrible casting (a movie about grief, where the actress can't show grief), weird, go-nowhere plotlines (Jessica ghosting Christian), a bad guy, who's more of an afterthought, and over-kill, where it's not needed. If it had stuck to it's treatment (Girl attacked in college, gets away, attacker goes to mental hospital, comes back 18 years later to finish the job), it might have worked. But instead it meanders, hither and yon, and never finds it's cohesive voice. There are worse melodramas, but there are better (and far less irritating) ones too.
CLOSING NOTES: *This is a made-for-tv movie, please keep that in mind before you watch\rate it. TV movies have a much lower budget, and so your expectations should be adjusted.
*I have no connection to the film, or production in ANY way. This review was NOT written in ANY way by a bot. I am just an honest viewer, who wishes for more straight forward reviews, and better entertainment. Hope I helped you out.
BASIC PLOT: Tessa (Mia Topalian) is living a charmed life. She has a close relationship with her mother, Jessica (Clare Kramer), top grades, and a boyfriend, Will (Connor McRaith) who loves her.
Her senior year couldn't be going any better, until Will suddenly dies from a bizarre poisoning. Tessa is devastated, and shuts down, closing herself off from Jessica, a mother she's usually close to. After many months of counseling, Tessa seems to be coming out of her shell. She's found a grief survivors website, and made a new friend. Tessa is keeping this new friend a secret from her mother, who is busting with curiosity. Who is the stranger (David Fumero) in Tessa's life, and is he everything he pretends to be?
WHAT WORKS: *THE WARDROBE MISTRESS DOES A GREAT JOB It's rare, in this day and age, to see people dressed well. But this movie, for the most part, has decent outfits and jewelry. It's a pleasure to see.
*THE LOCATION SCOUTS DID A GREAT JOB Except for Jessica's house being too big, all of the locations in this movie, set the stage appropriately.
*EXCELLENT TRAILER! Like most trailers from Reel One Entertainment, this trailer is fantastic (no terrible voiceovers!). Trailer created by Chris Santana
*MIDDLE OF THE ROAD COVER ART The cover art is just middle of the road, but I've definitely seen worse.
WHAT DOESN'T WORK: *THEIR HOUSE IS TOO BIG!
The house Jessica and Tessa live in is massive, and wa-a-a-a-y out of their price range. It's a bit much for someone who owns a hair salon, unless that salon is on Rodeo Drive.
*TESSA'S GRIEF IS NOT BELIEVABLE There should be grief consultants, just like every other kind of consultants, for movies and TV. This movie really could have benefited from some mental health consulting. Not only does Tessa not shed a single tear (hello, onion drops!), but she also acts like she lost her favorite purse, instead of her boyfriend.
*WHY DOES JESSICA GHOST CHRISTIAN?
Why does Jessica, the mother, ghost Christian, her boyfriend (Ron Melendez), after Will (Connor McRaith) dies? I know she's trying to take care of her daughter, but what does that have to do with her relationship with Christian? It doesn't make any sense at all, as people tend to rely on each other when they are in extremis.
*JESSICA'S PRETTY UNLIKABLE FOR A MAIN CHARACTER She treats her boyfriend like crap, she ghosts him first, then keeps coming to him when she needs something (a therapist referral, asking him to risk his job breaking into confidential medical files, etc.) She doesn't come across as a concerned mother, more like a selfish harpie, and a terrible girlfriend.
*JESSICA BREAKS INTO ERIC'S HOUSE AND THEN WONDERS WHY SHE GETS ASSAULTED It doesn't matter if you think he's a bad guy, or a liar, you can't break into people's homes, and not expect retaliation. I think Eric assaulting her is supposed to be a plot device showing he's dangerous. That's not what it says to me at all. It says Jessica is as obsessed, and unhinged as he is, and that's A FAIL!
*THIS IS A PRIME EXAMPLE OF WHY WE HAVE KIDS WHO CAN'T THINK FOR THEMSELVES Jessica does everything for Tessa, and acts like she's ten, not eighteen. It's ridiculous!
*JESSICA SAYS SHE DOESN'T WANT A GUN IN THE HOUSE WITH TESSA She's eighteen for pity's sake, I don't think that's a problem!
*THE WAY JESSICA TALKS TO THE DETECTIVE IS UNBELIEVABLE This woman has serious control issues! She demands the detective arrest a guy, who's done nothing wrong! She claims he assaulted her, he didn't, she broke into his house. She claims he killed someone, but there's no proof of that either. They'd throw her lunatic a$$ out of there!
*YOU CAN TELL THIS IS WRITTEN BY A MAN Another reviewer commented that the women in this were "man haters", I don't get that, but I do get it was written by a man. The women are all shrill, over protective harpies, and useless. This is clearly a man's perception, not a woman's. Nancy (Heather McComb) allows herself to be drug off, without a fight, begging for someone to, "help me!". Tessa (Mia Topalian) is a sharp tongued, spoiled brat, who's been ruined by an over protective mother. And Jessica (Clare Kramer) is a woman who seems to use men to fulfill her needs, and dumps on them the rest of time, always thinking life's rules don't apply to her. These are ugly stereotypes about women propagated by men, and a man, Bo Johnson, did write this. It says more about him, and his biases, than any real woman. (I wonder why he didn't add his name to the credits on IMDB, if he wasn't proud of this work? That's ok though, I added him, just so we all know who perpetuates this kind of garbage.)
*WHY IS THERE A SIX MONTH JUMP IN THE SCRIPT? There's no real need for the "Six Months Later..." jump in the script. It would make better sense if all this happened closer to Will's death. Tessa would be more vulnerable then, and poor decision making comes along with grief. Waiting six months doesn't compute, unless we're trying to hide the fact that Mia Topalian can't portray grief (it's one of the hardest emotions for actors to accomplish accurately).
*MOST PARENTS WOULD SAY IT'S TIME FOR SOME TOUGH LOVE... and they would be right. Jessica should tell Tessa, "if you want to live under my roof, there will be some house rules". If Tessa doesn't want to abide, her mother should make her leave (and stop paying for her phone and car, and demand she gets a job, when she says she's not going to college). Sometimes, tough love is the most productive and constructive type. Jessica's helicopter parenting is not believable, and not helpful.
*HOW DOES ERIC KNOW WHERE NANCY LIVES? WHY DOES HE TARGET HER?
Eric (David Fumero) shows up in Nancy's (Heather McComb) home. Why? How does he know where she lives? Why target her? If it's just to get at Jessica, that doesn't work. Jessica doesn't seem to care about anybody, except herself and her daughter.
*JESSICA IS STRONG ENOUGH TO STAND UP TO POLICE, BUT WEAK WHEN IT COMES TO DEFENDING HER DAUGHTER I'm not sure if this is a script choice, or directorial choice, but having Jessica be a relentless protector thought the movie, THEN quiver, when she has to pull a gun on Eric, is NOT BELIEVABLE! I'm sick of seeing these male writers, put forward their own prejudices. C'mon guys, really?
*WOW! A THERAPIST THAT COMES TO YOUR HOUSE?! C'mon, really? For safety reasons, most people in the mental health field, would never go to a client's home for therapy sessions. People are just too unpredictable for that to be accomplished safely, and would be a major pain in the butt driving all over town.
*WHY, OH WHY, WOULD YOU SHOOT YOUR LEAD ACTRESS WITH HER BELLY HANGING OUT?! Clare Kramer is an attractive woman, but she's obviously a woman who's had children. So, why would you shoot her, lying in her bed, with her stomach rolls hanging out? That's a terrible things to do! Shame on you Danny Buday (director) and Brooks Ludwick (cinematographer).
TO RECOMMEND, OR NOT TO RECOMMEND, THAT IS THE QUESTION: *This movie had potential, but squandered it, with hateful, unlikable characters, terrible casting (a movie about grief, where the actress can't show grief), weird, go-nowhere plotlines (Jessica ghosting Christian), a bad guy, who's more of an afterthought, and over-kill, where it's not needed. If it had stuck to it's treatment (Girl attacked in college, gets away, attacker goes to mental hospital, comes back 18 years later to finish the job), it might have worked. But instead it meanders, hither and yon, and never finds it's cohesive voice. There are worse melodramas, but there are better (and far less irritating) ones too.
CLOSING NOTES: *This is a made-for-tv movie, please keep that in mind before you watch\rate it. TV movies have a much lower budget, and so your expectations should be adjusted.
*I have no connection to the film, or production in ANY way. This review was NOT written in ANY way by a bot. I am just an honest viewer, who wishes for more straight forward reviews, and better entertainment. Hope I helped you out.
OMG really?!
haroot_azarian22 February 2020
Warning: Spoilers
Did a third grader write the script? So this Nancy woman gets her gun out of the drawer to give it to Jess for protection, but she refuses. Later on Nancy returns home and sees muddy footprints in her house. so what does she do? no she does not go to get the gun, instead she follows the footprints right into the arms of mister psychopath!
I give up! LMN either make decent to good movies or really really crap ones! Oh and my money's on the script writer and his or her family members posting great comments with maximum ten points! LOL
"What the hell did I just watch"
fwbard19 February 2019
Comment is don't waste time at this
ks-6050021 September 2019
So much teenage disrespect, it's disgusting
mzefabulous29 March 2019
An 18 year old girl who is dating a 38 year old man and so disrespectful to her mother that it's hard to watch. No way an 18 year old should be talking to her mother the way the writers have this girl talking to her mother. Lifetime and LMN love these types of movies.
"His Name is Eric, and He Wants to Meet You"
lavatch18 September 2019
Warning: Spoilers
"Seduced by a Killer" (a.k.a., "Dating to Kill," a.k.a., "Cradle Robber") recycles a familiar Lifetime movie theme: a mother's devotion for her daughter.
As apparent in the relationship of Jessica and her daughter Tessa, nothing (including an especially inept police force) can prevent the mother from keeping her daughter out of the clutches of an older man with a history of psychiatric problems. There is no father figure to Tessa, as appropriate for a Lifetime movie. Thus, everything is riding on the tenacity of Jessica to save her daughter from a psychopath.
Late in the picture, the filmmakers cleverly tied in an episode of an assault on a college campus that is the opening scene of the film. Jessica, who runs a successful styling salon, is desperately trying to thwart the efforts of a man named Eric, who is twice the age of her daughter, from dating her Tessa after they met online. The fragile Tessa is still in recovery from the death of her boyfriend, Will Radford, due to oleander poisoning.
A turning point in the film is when Jessica meets Eric for the first time. Tessa has paved the way for the meeting by telling her mom that "his name is Eric, and he wants to meet you." While Jessica does not recognize Eric, she senses something is not right and insists that Erica stop seeing Tessa. From that point on, the truth about Eric slowly begins to emerge.
The scenes in the styling salon were not very credible, as Jessica was continuously leaving her clients in midstream while they were in their chairs. The relationship of Jessica with a doctor named Christian also seemed forced, especially when the doctor violated medical ethics by searching for the medical history of Eric.
A breath of fresh air in the film was the Auntie Nancy, who had a good legal background and advised Jessica on her rights for pursuing a civil suit against Eric. She also kept a trusty revolver in her kitchen drawer. The final half hour of the film included good suspense, as Jessica is relentless in demonstrating a mother's love for her daughter.
As apparent in the relationship of Jessica and her daughter Tessa, nothing (including an especially inept police force) can prevent the mother from keeping her daughter out of the clutches of an older man with a history of psychiatric problems. There is no father figure to Tessa, as appropriate for a Lifetime movie. Thus, everything is riding on the tenacity of Jessica to save her daughter from a psychopath.
Late in the picture, the filmmakers cleverly tied in an episode of an assault on a college campus that is the opening scene of the film. Jessica, who runs a successful styling salon, is desperately trying to thwart the efforts of a man named Eric, who is twice the age of her daughter, from dating her Tessa after they met online. The fragile Tessa is still in recovery from the death of her boyfriend, Will Radford, due to oleander poisoning.
A turning point in the film is when Jessica meets Eric for the first time. Tessa has paved the way for the meeting by telling her mom that "his name is Eric, and he wants to meet you." While Jessica does not recognize Eric, she senses something is not right and insists that Erica stop seeing Tessa. From that point on, the truth about Eric slowly begins to emerge.
The scenes in the styling salon were not very credible, as Jessica was continuously leaving her clients in midstream while they were in their chairs. The relationship of Jessica with a doctor named Christian also seemed forced, especially when the doctor violated medical ethics by searching for the medical history of Eric.
A breath of fresh air in the film was the Auntie Nancy, who had a good legal background and advised Jessica on her rights for pursuing a civil suit against Eric. She also kept a trusty revolver in her kitchen drawer. The final half hour of the film included good suspense, as Jessica is relentless in demonstrating a mother's love for her daughter.
The mom was almost as bad as the villain
MIamiReviewer14 January 2022
Warning: Spoilers
So I get that the mom was on edge, because she's been having a lot of bad things happen in her life.... she was assaulted in college, and more recently was attacked at her salon.
However, this movie drives me bonkers because the mom acts deranged about her daughter's boyfriend for the first half of the movie. I get that it would be off putting to find out your 18 year old daughter is dating a 38 year old man. However, without knowing anything is amiss about the boyfriend, the mom goes crazy stalker - sneaking around at the restaurant, tracking her phone, and then shows up at the guy's house, goes inside and then PHYSICALLY ASSAULTS him. Just because he is 38 and is dating her 18 year old daughter. Listen, I would be concerned if my 18 year old was dating someone twice their age. However, it happens. It is not illegal. Eighteen is an adult. I remember at college, there was always a couple first year students who dated older men. Gross? Absolutely. Worth an intervention? Uh, no.
It was not until hour 1:07 of the movie that the guy went psycho on her - by grabbing her neck and making a crazy threat. Although i note that this was in fact in response to the mom taking a swing at him. So for the first hour of the movie, the mom is acting this deranged solely because her daughter is dating a 38 year old man. Anyhow, rant over...
Separately, the daughter is unbearable in this movie.
However, this movie drives me bonkers because the mom acts deranged about her daughter's boyfriend for the first half of the movie. I get that it would be off putting to find out your 18 year old daughter is dating a 38 year old man. However, without knowing anything is amiss about the boyfriend, the mom goes crazy stalker - sneaking around at the restaurant, tracking her phone, and then shows up at the guy's house, goes inside and then PHYSICALLY ASSAULTS him. Just because he is 38 and is dating her 18 year old daughter. Listen, I would be concerned if my 18 year old was dating someone twice their age. However, it happens. It is not illegal. Eighteen is an adult. I remember at college, there was always a couple first year students who dated older men. Gross? Absolutely. Worth an intervention? Uh, no.
It was not until hour 1:07 of the movie that the guy went psycho on her - by grabbing her neck and making a crazy threat. Although i note that this was in fact in response to the mom taking a swing at him. So for the first hour of the movie, the mom is acting this deranged solely because her daughter is dating a 38 year old man. Anyhow, rant over...
Separately, the daughter is unbearable in this movie.
Good Movie worth seeing
shydreamguywantsabboyfriend28 January 2019
The movie is good but....
holeyfield-4592629 February 2020
Lifetime Movies are predictable, and pretty much all the same. There's always someone sneaking around someone's house, walking in someone's house without knocking, they follow footprints or suspicious sounds without a weapon or calling the police, and they always let the crazy person know that they are onto them. Oh yeah, after knocking the person down, they turn their backs, leaving the person's weapon within their reach, instead of picking it up. Dear Lifetime Movies, please make movies that are unpredictable, truly a mystery, and a true thriller. Thank you
Great Film
Kristamw12 September 2019
No cookie-cutter acting here. The actors breathe real life into their roles and leave you with a convincing and believable thriller.
Quality of Writing: Good strong story line with engaging characters and a believable plot. The mom is amazingly patient with her daughter when she stops listening to reason and surfs on her emotions instead. An early scene is sad, but thankfully there's a satisfactory closure to it later on.
Scare Factor: The opening hook is scary as a man grabs a young woman and she screams. A man is physically and verbally threatening to women. David Fumero, who plays the villain, performs his role quite effectively; he leers, he whispers invasively--his mere presence is threatening.
Content (sex, language & violence): No sex, though one scene shows a man's unbuttoned shirt; the daughter stays out late, so an intimate relationship is suggested. No language. Moderate violence in opening and ending scenes as well as a few scenes throughout.
Values & Themes: Mom & Daughter relationship is solidly developed. If you are a mother, you will especially appreciate this dynamic and how very real their closeness and then later tension is. Themes: Looking out for a child's well-being, protecting the family, compassion for the loss of someone.
One of the better Lifetime thrillers with a mom & daughter team you root for and an incredible twist that proves to be both logical and credible.
See also
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