"My Family's Secret" has to be one of the more unpleasant of the Lifetime film scenarios. It is a sordid tale of child abuse, murder, and psychosis with few redeeming values.

The nicest character is Lara Darcie, who is desperate to help her husband get the care that he needs after a failed suicide attempt. When Lara married Jason, he refused to invite any of his family members to the wedding or even to disclose anything about them to his fiancée. To Lara, that should have been a sign of trouble.

Needing funds for her husband's treatment, Lara visits Coville where Jason grew up with his younger siblings, Grady and Kara Lynn. The little girl died under suspicious circumstances, and the finger points to the abusive father, who now suffers from dementia.

Lara's first contact with Grady appears successful, as he agrees to assist her with a loan. But it soon becomes clear to the viewer that Grady suffers from dissociative identity disorder. Indeed, the different personalities that inhabit Grady tear him in different directions. The enforcer side of his psyche is "William," who will stop at nothing in order to "protect" the sensitive side of Grady's fragile self. The first casualty in the film is dear Auntie June, who falls down a set of stairs to her death with assistance from "William."

By the time that Lara makes the ghoulish discovery of the family secret that William/Grady suffocated little Kara Lynn to keep her quiet so that the demented father would not hear them, the film has induced nausea in the viewer.

The filmmakers try to impose a happy denouement on the drama with a scene that reveals Lara Darcie as seven months pregnant and a revitalized Jason out of in-patient care and cracking jokes. But the tacked-on ending cannot make up for the disturbing events that had occurred at 297 Canal Street in Coville.

I want back the hour and a half that I spent watching this film!

After reading the storyline I looked forward to a film that I thought would be reminiscent of Sybil (one of my favourite films of the era) but I was bitterly disappointed. The only similarity is that one character has multiple personalities, oh and for a film made in 2010 there was enough cheese to make a 70's fondue! The story is about a woman's visit to her husbands home-town and his brother to find out more about her husbands past as he has tried to commit suicide. I spent the film waiting for some sort of surprise or twist but there was neither. The acting was truly awful and the actors looked like they were reading from cue cards. Anyway, I'm glad to be home and off to watch another film on DVD to take the bad taste out of my mouth!

Colossal bomb and first class stinker of major proportions.

Nicolle Tom must have wished she were back making The Nanny rather than this dreadful film.

A story where members of the family are being knocked off by a brother suffering from a multiple personality disorder. It's really off the wall, especially when the other personalities seem to emerge and create havoc.

The film definitely suffers from excruciating writing. As soon as the therapist knows of a dead sister, he immediately knows that she was murdered. What goes on here?