Glass House - The Good Mother (2006)

After losing their mother and father in a tragic accident, teenager Abby Snow and her younger brother Ethan find a new home with Eve and Raymond Goode. Moving into their adoptive parents' remote mansion, the siblings soon come to the shocking realization that the Goodes are not exactly who they seem to be and the Snows' dream of love and security turns into a living nightmare of cruelty, hate and terror.

Angie Harmon (TV's 'Law & Order') and Joel Gretsch (The Legend of Bagger Vance) star in this chilling suspense thriller. After losing their mother and father in a tragic accident, teenager Abby Snow and her younger brother Ethan find a new home with Eve (Harmon) and Raymond Goode (Gretsch). Moving into their adoptive parents' remote mansion, however, the siblings come to the shocking realization that the Goodes are not exactly what they seem, and the Snows' dream of love and security turns into a living nightmare of cruelty, hate and terror.

Suspene!!

I love this movie. Angie Harmon usually plays the cop, the lawyer, the victom,etc,ect, but in this movie she changes her image completely!! She is such a talented actress. I never really paid that much attention to her before, but after this, I'm going to...watch this movie. It's Way better than the first one... May 22, 2007

Entertaining But Not in the Way the Film Was Intended

"The Good Mother" begins with recently orphaned children, Abby and Ethan, who are adapted by seemingly nice husband and wife Raymond and Eve living in a fancy house. But of course the two children will find that the couple's nice and kind attitudes hide something else, something that was NOT seen in the previously released "The Glass House," made about five years ago.

I don't spoil your fun of watching "The Good Mother" another entry of Sony's direct-to-video film, of which story itself, predictable and ridiculous, would not be of much interest to most of you than the (intentionally, I guess) campy acting from the leading lady Angie Harmon as Eve. Her unique character would surely remind you of "Mommy Dearest" if not as intense as Faye Dunaway's now legendary performance. Look how Eve, or a good mother if you like, checks out each item before having dinner with awfully boring husband, saying "Chicken, beans, salad, wine ... perfect." In a scene you can see her actually growling like a tiger. That's hilarious.

If you can ignore the countless plots holes and incredible stupid decisions some characters make, you might find yourself enjoying this B thriller. Surprisingly good is Jordan Hinson as Abby, who deserves a much better script than this. To these two leading ladies go my two stars. April 21, 2007

Major Disappointment !

I have always said when it comes to Hollywood sequels they are usually always worse than the "original" movie.
Unfortunately, I was proven right again by this sequal to the excellent "original" Glass House movie.

The problem with "Glass House 2" is its absolute predictability: This starts with the plot, moves to the general atmosphere, applies to the fate of the characters, and lasts right up to the happy ending. Therefore, really everything is sooo predictable, that it takes the suspense out of even the most promising scenes, where one can tell that the producers were trying desperately to conjure up some suspense, but, nonetheless, everything comes to no avail.

While watching this movie, as an avid Thriller fan, I kept thinking to myself this can't be it, there must be some kind of a departure or twist in the story coming any time soon, from this all too predictable plot. Well, there was none what so ever, the movie just kept draging on, in its rather slow pace and fashion.
The acting was solid, especially the "good" mother, but what's the use, when even that is wasted in such a run of the mill story.

One can really see that the only motive in making such sequels, and films in general, is money. Also the aforementioned 2 instances where the figure that the sister of the younger brother sees is never explained, as well as the bed in the basement are logical flaws, that were added undoubtedly for suspense purposes. I don't think that they really mar the film much. These cases are not real problems, the real problem is the sheer predictability, which makes everything seem dull and tedious.

So do yourself a favor and avoid this one, if you haven't see the first movie, see it, its fabulous and in contrast to this one very exciting and unpredictable 'til the end.

P.S. Maybe my rating wouldn't have been as harsh, had this movie not been called "Glass House 2", but with that title it just raised my expectations immensly, hence, the 1 star rating. February 2, 2007

Should be camp but goes for art

This type of movie, more often than not, delves into the realm of camp. An over the top character like the mother in this film fits the bill perfectly. One minute sweet as pie, the next minute spitting venom to the enjoyment of all viewers. The problem with this film is that it takes itself far too seriously. There are endless shots of birds flying, sunsets,and exterior shots of the house all for no reason. The film moves at a glacial pace for most of the begining and is hampered by an absolutely ludicrous ending(even by thriller standards). Really only worth a watch for the performance by Angie HArmon. January 5, 2007

Very good for a sequel...

I have to say that I especially enjoyed this movie. I'm a fan of the first Glass House movie, so when I saw this sequel in the video store I thought it sounded good.

I didn't expect much at the start because I know that most sequels tend not to come up to the standard of the first movie.

But I was enormously enterained by this movie.

It is basically set out a little bit the same as the first movie, but with vast differences.

When Abby and her brother are adopted by Eve and Raymond, things look good, but Eve is hiding a dark secret.

I was very impressed with Angie Harmon (Eve). She is a sensual beauty and that makes her evil side all the more terrifying. She puts in a suberb performance and switches from good to evil in a heartbeat. The scene with the oven cleaner made me squirm.

An enjoyable treat.
December 26, 2006

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