Lifetime Review: 'Deadly Delusion'

Poor poor Haylie Duff. It seems she just can't catch a break in the Lifetimeverse. Whether it's getting married to a psycho doctor or being chloroformed by her college stalker, Ms. Duff seems to always be getting put through the wringer by this channel. The trend continues with her latest return to Lifetime's small screen, with Haylie being the victim of a tale circa 1944's Gaslight.

Duff plays Julia McNeil, a young woman who has recently moved to Los Angeles with her boyfriend Shane (Mike Faiola). In other events, this would be a dream come true for a young woman—if only Julia weren't desperate to escape her troubles. Her parents having died when she was younger, Julia is suffering from paranoid hallucinations that appear to only be getting worse, despite the support she gets from Shane and her therapist Dr. Leary (Teri Polo of The Fosters fame).

Julia is hoping a change of scenery will help her heal... but it's not long after she and Shane move into the house sold to them by Shane's friend Arthur (Michael Rene Walton) that Julia's paranoia begins to skyrocket. She begins hearing and seeing unexplained things in the house, things that disappear before Shane can see them. A strange man appears to follow Julia everywhere. It's after Julia makes a horrifying discovery at Arthur's real estate office that she begins to believe someone is watching her. Is Julia's mind finally falling apart—or is something sinister going on outside of Julia's mind?

Going off of how Lifetime's Twitter community reacted to Deadly Delusion, I believed that the movie would be as boring and painful as Ex-Wife Killer (#NeverForget). But after watching the movie myself, I was surprised by how enjoyable it was. While the plot pacing definitely needed work (much of the film's second act is a drawn-out "I'm not crazy! Yes, you are!" argument between Julia and everyone else in her life), the film managed to keep me engaged in the torment Julia was suffering from, waiting for the moment when Julia could finally escape her living nightmare.

Speaking of Julia, Haylie Duff is a large part of what made Deadly Delusion an interesting watch, even in its duller moments. As played by Duff, Julia is a tragically sympathetic character, one that makes you want to crawl through your television screen so you can hug her and tell her it's all going to be okay. Throughout all the drama and craziness, as Julia's fears increase and are increasingly ignored by Shane and others, you feel her desperation to find peace and her frustration at everyone telling her that the terror she's experiencing is just in her head. Thanks to all of that, by the film's climax, you'll be cheering for Julia with every ounce of your being.

(WARNING: SPOILERS IN SECTION BELOW)

As for the rest of the cast, while no one is given as much screen time or development as Julia, everyone is effective in their roles throughout the film. Melissa Mars does a decent job as Julia's naive (but not painfully so) BFF. The film's villains (including budding Lifetime regular Louis Mandylor) are realistically chilling as the greedy, sadistic members of an elaborate snuff film operation, with Mike Faiola making a spine-chilling transformation from desperate and concerned boyfriend to a cold-hearted killer with a penchant for manipulation. The weakest link of the bunch, however, is sadly Dr. Leary, whose detached way of providing "counselling" to Julia makes it more than obvious that she's not as she appears (though whether this is the fault of the script or the fault of Teri Polo's lack of screen time and character development).

Overall, while Deadly Delusion has moments of being dull and dragging, Haylie Duff's performances and the general feeling of terror and dread throughout makes the film an entertaining watch for anyone who enjoys Lifetime's brand of drama and mayhem (or just drama in general).

Score: 6.5 out of 10 hidden cameras.