Fatal Flip

FATAL FLIP (TV Movie 2015)

BASIC PLOT: Alex and Jeff are a young couple who are tired of living the humdrum, 9-5 life. They've decided to take on house flipping, and they've put their future on the line to do it. They quit their jobs, cashed out, and put everything they own into an old colonial. If it works, there will be a big payday. The problem? They've never done this before, and they only have 45 days to do it. After only a few days, and a lot of nightmarish problems, they realize they are in way over their heads. They might lose everything, if they can't find help, and fast. But a trip to the hardware store changes all that. They "run into" Nate (Mike Faiola) in the plumbing aisle, and he seems like a godsend. He's willing to work for room and board, until the house is sold, and he's a contractor. Everything should be fine now, but there's something a bit off about Nate. Have Alex (Dominique Swain) and Jeff (Michael Steger) invited in a helpful stranger, or something much more dark and dangerous?

WHAT WORKS: *NATE'S SLOW MOVING IS AWESOME He's like a killer in a slasher movie. He never moves fast, he doesn't have to, and that makes him more scary. Also, he has power tools.

*I LOVE WHEN THE WOMAN IS HER OWN SAVIOR In this movie, Alex (Dominique Swain) is her own heroine. She doesn't wait for a man to save her, in fact, she saves him. She doesn't cower, or freeze, she doesn't even scream when she realizes she's hiding in the closet with a bunch of decaying bodies. These are excellent choices from the writers, Maureen Bharoocha and Ellen Huggins. They often write strong women taking care of themselves, see also Die Spannerin - Spiel mit dem Feuer (2016)

*THE PROBLEMS BETWEEN JEFF AND ALEX ARE AUTHENTIC Jeff is more into Alex than she's into him, and it's established they were having problems before they bought this house. Neither of them is mature enough to be in a relationship, and their problems stem from this lack of empathy. The couple's problematic relationship, is well written by Maureen Bharoocha and Ellen Huggins. The fights are realistic portrayals of two people not ready to be in a relationship (and of course, the psycho in their midst, takes advantage of this).

*JEFF'S INSECURITIES AND PETTY JEALOUSIES ARE ALSOWELL WRITTEN The writers did a fine job creating a clingy, smothering, and insecure man. Michael Steger also plays this role well, I often found myself wanting to shake him.

*THE ANCILLARY CHARACTERS ARE WELL WRITTEN AND ACTED Tatyana Ali does a great job as Roslyn, and her argument with Alex (Dominique Swain) is believable. Paula Plum also does a fine job as Beth, the quirky realtor.

*EXCELLENT COVER ART! It's rare to see this quality of cover art for made-for-tv movies, I wish I could give credit here for who did it, but sadly, our search engines don't actually give out information anymore.

WHAT DOESN'T WORK: *IF THE LADDER BROKE, THEY'D GET A LAWYER, AND THEY WOULDN'T BLAME NATE Some ambulance chaser would show up at the hospital, and they'd get the payday they need from them lawsuit. Money problems solved! Also, why is Nate apologizing about the ladder breaking? As far as they know, it was a defect, so why?

*WHY DOES JEFF SUDDENLY SOUR ON NATE? Characters need motivations. Jeff has been out of commission since the fall off the ladder, so why is he suddenly mad at Nate? These kind of plot holes could be fixed with a few lines of dialog. Maybe he sees the dirty dishes in the sink, and realizes they had a romantic dinner together, maybe he finds her panties in his toolbox. Jeff needs a reason to change his mind about Nate, because Nate's behavior doesn't change throughout.

*WHY DOES ROSLYN NOT TEXT ALEX OR JEFF? I understand not going to the police right away, but the FIRST thing Roslyn would do, when she finds out Nate is dangerous, is text her friends. She'd do that before calling police, because they could be in danger. So, you have to create a plot line that addresses why she's doesn't call or text, her phone broke, she can't get a signal, they live in a dead zone, something. (Message to Maureen Bharoocha and Ellen Huggins, when several of the reviewers notice this plot hole, IT'S A FAIL!)

*WHY DON'T THEY HEAR NATE NAIL THE DOORS SHUT? Nate nails the doors shut, and they don't hear it? They don't have a radio or TV, so why don't they hear it?

*STOP USING THE WRONG VOICEOVER ARTISTS FOR YOUR TRAILERS! The trailer would have been fine, if not for the voiceover guy, who sounds like he's selling hemorrhoid cream! Get some spooky sounding voiceover artists, and put them to work! (On a side note: The Wrong Voiceover Artist sounds like a movie I'd like to see ; )

TO RECOMMEND, OR NOT TO RECOMMEND, THAT IS THE QUESTION: *I would definitely recommend this movie if you like low budget melodramas/thrillers, or appreciate movies where the woman is the heroine. The acting and writing is above average for a made-for-tv movie, and it's one of my favorites.

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.

This movie is just as bad as you think it's going to be... and worse. I was rooting for the bad guy all the way through because the rest of them were so darn annoying. Beware, Fatal Flip may be bad for YOUR health.

I watched last night's Lifetime "world premiere," a film called "Fatal Flip," a pretty routine production from that channel — it was also shot under the working title "The Fixer Upper" but if Christine Conradt had written it (she didn't, though it might have been better if she had!) she would have called it "The Perfect Handyman." Jeff (Michael Steger) and Alex (Dominique Swain), a young couple who've been living together but have avoided even getting formally engaged, much less married, decide to take out a loan, buy a dilapidated house somewhere (this is nominally taking place in New England but, being a Lifetime production, it was almost certainly shot in Canada), fix it up themselves and then "flip" it — sell it to someone else for a higher price that will cover the loan and their expenses. Only because of the terms of the loan, if they can't finish the job and resell the house in 45 days they're going to be socked with heavy interest penalties and will lose so much on the deal they'll probably have to declare bankruptcy. They quickly realize they're in over their heads on the repair job, and one day at the analogue of Home Depot in this fictional world they run into Nick (Mike Faiola), an all-purpose handyman. Jeff cuts a deal with Nick to hire him to help them with the remodel in exchange for a share of the profits they expect from flipping the house, and since he's homeless part of the deal is that he can live in the house while they do the job.

There seem to be only two other significant characters, both women: the realtor who sold them the house (unidentified, at least this early, on IMDb.com's cast list), and Alex's friend Roslyn (Tatiana Ali — the only cast member I've heard of before), whose plot function is obscure but who at least provides some nice eye candy for any straight guys who might be watching this. Both the women are instantly attracted to Nick and they even make a bet with each other over who can get him first, but Nick is casting lascivious eyes at Alex and challenging her to go to bed with him just to prove she wants something more than the boring life she's trying to escape. Of course, being a reasonably attractive man in a Lifetime movie, he's also got other particularly unpleasant quirks. "Fatal Flip" is a pretty straightforward Lifetime movie, neither as bad as some of them nor as good as others, and though director Bharoocha gets some nice Gothic effects during the silent scenes in which Nick is sinisterly stalking Jeff and Alex through the crumbling old pile they're trying to restore into something saleable, she's hamstrung by the weaknesses of her cast. Mike Faiola as Nick is a reasonably attractive man but hardly the drop-dead gorgeous babe-magnet the script tells us he is, and Michael Steger looks like the result of a bizarre genetic experiment that attempted to cross-breed Harry Langdon and Tim Allen. I can't really tell you how good these people are as actors since the script doesn't require much from them in the way of acting, but I suspect there's a reason Tatiana Ali is the only cast member here you're likely to have heard of before!

Fatal Flip is a catchy title, isn't it? Ended up watching this recently and so glad I did. The script is unusual in that it really concentrates on 4 characters. Alex and Jeff are house flippers who buy a run-down colonial home and have 45 days to fix it up. Not enough time when they see all that is wrong with it. Enter Nate, a killer contractor who ends up doing a lot of the work in exchange for free room and board. Nate has the hots for Alex, played by the lovely Dominique Swain. She rejects Nate's advances and Nate goes nuts. What does he do? Tune in to find out. Fatal Flip, a definitely exciting thriller and recommended.

The couple should have done their homework before hiring Nate to be their contractor for the fixer upper on the house they bought. That Nate is very deranged! Nate could have the opportunity to shave off his beard or alter his appearance after he had murdered one or two persons in Fatal Flip. Also, was not sure if his name was really Matthew (as the couple's friend found out on the internet) or Nate.