This is not the type of movie I generally watch but I was channel surfing and found myself drawn in by the sheer awfulness of the characters (NOT the sheer awfulness of the acting...I thought the actors all did just fine playing their despicable parts).

Plot summary: Three children of a wealthy woman hire a woman with a shady past (who desperately needs the money) to help them drive their mother insane. The hired woman is ostensibly the "heroine" but...frankly, I think it's a movie with a "protagonist" but no hero. To say anything more would reveal too much of the twisty plot but suffice to say, things are not as they appear initially.

Ultimately, I found the film just a bit too mean-spirited for a whole-hearted recommendation but it's definitely not boring!

NO SPOILERS!! This movie was a total surprise to me and I don't know how I never heard of it. It is a creative domestic thriller with lots of twists and turns. It has some laughs here and there but make no mistake, it's a dark story! I highly recommend it!

Somewhere in or around Pasadena, CA, wealthy matriarch Harriet Sansom Harris (as Dina Stratton Cotton) is awakened in her mansion by a ghostly male voice. She grabs a knife for protection, looks around the house, and accidentally slashes her daughter's arm. The next morning, Ms. Harris is confronted by her three grown children. The siblings are concerned (and one is wounded). Womanizing leader Patrick Fischler (as Gill),unhappily gay Michael Graziadei (as Harold Cotton) and bored partying Fiona Dourif (as Iona Cotton) want to know why mother went sleepwalking with a knife. They question Mama Harris' mental state but, when she exits a scene, the three siblings exchange giddy glances. Something is rotten in Pasadena...

One week earlier, in another part of town, we meet financially desperate Rya Kihlstedt (as Margaret "Maggie" Rayfield). She receives a job offer from Mr. Fischler and Mr. Graziadei. When their mother starts giving her fortune away in $5 million doses, the brothers offer Ms. Kihlstedt $90,000 to drive the old woman insane and gain control of the estate. Watching the alternately creepy, sad and bored looking kids try to drive their mother crazy is more fun that it should be. Like a "golden age" movie star regulated to old lady TV roles, Harris is a delight. Director Anthony DiBlasi guides the cast with ease and Adam Barber's music highlights their movement. They show a quick, low budget TV movie can be quite good.

****** Her Last Will/Beneficiary (11/25/2016) Anthony DiBlasi ~ Rya Kihlstedt, Harriet Sansom Harris, Patrick Fischler, Michael Graziadei