When Tess and Mark Ellison decide to purchase their home at 39 Maple Drive in Hamilton Yards, the deal seems too good to be true. The price reduction was due to the violent deaths of the previous owners, Sylvia and Andrew Clark. As it turns out, the purchase of the home really was too good to be true.
The Ellisons immediately encounter some strange neighbors, including the unfriendly Don Seever. Selby is the quintessential nosy neighbor. But the more perplexing figure is the handsome David Gleason, who is constantly fibbing about his past.
The film's focus is on the traumatic experience of Tess Ellison with whom David becomes obsessed. Tess has just passed her bar exam, and she moves into action in researching the deaths of the previous owners. She is assisted by the journalist Harmony Hines, who believes that David was having an affair with Sylvia and may have been the killer.
While there was not a tremendous amount of suspense in the film, the filmmakers kept up a brisk pace and devised a number of intriguing situations. The highlight was Tess's bold move in entering David's house to find any evidence that would explain his strange behavior. She is shocked by what she discovers.
The performances were uniformly excellent. The actress playing Tess really conveyed the sense of anxiety in her new living quarters. Tess and Willow really looked and acted like they were sisters. There was an edginess to David. And Don Seever turned out to be a revelation. There was an especially effective denouement that tied up all the loose ends and put closure on the nightmare in Hamilton Yards.
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