Director: Martin Guigui
Writer: Sherry Klein (Screenplay)
Starring: Todd Grinnell, Mena Suvari, Kristin Bauer van Straten, Eddie Goines, Krista Allen, Horacio Galaviz
Plot: A contractor and his wife move to Malibu to flip his mother’s beach house and are terrorized by the deranged homeless lady living under the house.
Runtime: 1 Hour 43 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: Paradise Cove starts as Knox (Grinnell) and Tracey (Suravi) are looking to flip the Malibu home of Knox’s mother, which will see them getting the frowns by the neighbours, but it is the homeless lady Bree (Straten) who lives under the beach house that is causing more problems.
As the development starts hitting problems, Tracey is still trying to get pregnant, but it has the nightmares of the Bree is making their lives a living hell.
Thoughts on Paradise Cove
Characters & Performances – Knox is the husband who is looking to develop his mother’s home after her death, he has big plans for the home, to flip it to give his wife a future that is secure, he has to overcome a few legal issues with permits and then a homeless lady he can move out, he is trying to hold everything together despite everything falling apart around him. Todd Grinnell does give us a role which will see him dealing with everything and holding it together, but never looking the confident guy it seems like the character wants to be. Tracey is the wife of Knox who has been trying to have their first child, dealing with the procedures to make it happen, she sees the added stress in her life with the homeless women messing up the plans, even if it means she might learn more about her husband’s family. Mena Suvari might well be the draw for this film, only she seems to be just the ‘partner’ role in the film, not getting enough screen time. Bree is the homeless woman living below the home, she believes the home is hers and will not be bought off, looking to make the lives of the couple a nightmare, she is a lot more calculated than first thought. She is a clear case that shows that trauma will always cause problems with someone’s mental health. Kristin Bauer van Straten brings us this unstable performance, which despite being the villainous role, we do get to feel sympathy about what has happened to her.
Story – The story here follows a couple that are looking to flip a family home only to find themselves dealing with problems including a homeless woman who claims the home is hers. This is a story that does start off well, showing how things could be going better, with the homeless mentally unstable woman causing problems for the dream project. If we kept everything as it was, it would all come off as an easy watch, which could have a mixture of Cape Fear and Fatal Attraction with how the couple are pestered. We do end up diving into the idea that she does believe she has a right to the home, which we get moments of investigation, but we just don’t go deep enough into it, which leaves us feeling like we could have had much more.
Themes – Paradise Cove is a thriller showing a couple dealing with the nightmares thrown at them by their homeless woman who believes she should have, we get creepy moments, but never becomes as intense as it could have been.
Final Thoughts – Paradise Cove is a tidy thriller that gets the everything right, just not everything on a truly intense level.
