“A friend of the family”, starring Laura Harris is a Canadian Thriller movie released in 2005. The movie is based on Alison Shaw’s popular nonfiction novel of the same name which was published in 1998. The movie was directed by Stuart Gillard. Eric Johnson, Kim Coates, and Shaun Johnston also played very important roles in the movie.
Alberta Filmworks and Slanted wheel Entertainment jointly produced the film. Manfred Guthe had done the cinematography and music were arranged and composed by Lawrence Shragge. The movie was liked by audiences and praised by critics all across the world. The movie is fairly entertaining and the actors did praiseworthy acting.
What Does the Plot Say?
The movie is about a couple finding the evil secret of their new neighbor. Laura Harris as Alison Shaw is an artist who moves to a small rural area with her family after escaping an attack in Toronto. Kim Coates as David Snow is their new neighbor who welcomes them heartily.
But Alison finds David’s behavior extremely fishy and starts suspecting David as a serial killer. Eric Johnson as Darris Shaw is extremely enjoyable and very much resembles Brad Pitt’s character in the movie Burn After Reading.
The credits, though, claim that the movie is based on a true incident. There are some add-on superficialities that make it hard to believe.
Where to Watch?
This movie is available only on very few online streaming platforms. Like, Just watch, and Stream4u. And to watch it on these platforms one has to buy a subscription plan at a very affordable price. It’s sad that no big OTT platforms are streaming it as of now and it’s barely available on any popular platforms.
Cast
The movie stars Laura Harris in the lead role of Alison Shaw who is an artist and can also be considered as the protagonist. Apart from that, Eric Johnson as Darris Alison, Kim Coates as David Snow, Shaun Johnston as Coleridge, Sabrina Grdevich as Heidi, Greg Lawson as Police Chief, David LeReaney as Dr. Gordean did a pretty good job. As is mentioned earlier, all the actors did praiseworthy acting and showcased their talents as per the given roles.
Filming Location
Since the plot of the novel is set in Canada, the movie too has been filmed in the large part of Ontario and Alberta in Canada to maintain the settings with the novel. Also, a few parts of the movie were shot in various cities of Canada.
Stream It Or Skip It?
The audiences worldwide loved the movie mainly because of its intriguing plot. Though, critics pointed out a few legit loopholes which as per them provided the movie with a bit of a superficial tone. Few scenes are hard to digest and far from reality and don’t justify the claim of it being a non-fiction movie.
In fact, a lot of people loved the book more than the movie and didn’t really recommend the movie over the book. IMDB rated this movie 6 out of 10. However, you can watch if you do not expect a lot from this. Watch it for entertainment purposes only otherwise skip it.
