By Melissa Antoinette Garza
When the husband’s away Lifetime movies will play. So, I put on my ROKU TV and rented A KILLER AMONG FRIENDS (1992) from AMAZON. It was an old TV movie based on true events.
Tiffani -Amber Thiessen, who was one of my idols as a child, starred in it and for nostalgia reasons alone I decided to watch it.
Admittedly, I’m a sucker for True-Crime Movies. I’ve been looking for ages to get THE POSITIVELY TRUE ADVENTURES OF THE ALLEGED TEXAS CHEERLEADER-MURDERING MOM (1992) and have finally bought a copy for $10. I wish it was available for streaming, but alas I have to wait two days. I remember when I was a kid having to wait 6-8 weeks. I love AMAZON!
I honestly expected A KILLER AMONG FRIENDS to be a low-grade exploitative film packed with horrible dialogue and worse acting. I was wrong. This was a heartfelt portrayal of a woman who lost her teenage daughter and was desperate to find the killer.
It all begins when Jean (Patty Duke) encourages her high-school daughter Jenny (Tiffani Thiessen) to spend time with Ellen (Margaret Welsh). Ellen was Jenny’s best friend since the age of 8, but the two drifted apart. Ellen also had a child. Though Jean and Jenny loved Ellen’s little girl, it did make it harder for the two girls to hang out.
Jenny takes the advice and the two go on a shopping trip together. Ellen sticks a bathing suit in Jenny’s purse and the two get caught by security. Jenny gets angry with Ellen and it takes a while for the two to reconnect.
It’s evident that Ellen is envious of every aspect of Jenny’s life. When Ellen and a mutual friend Carla (Angie Rae McKinney) believe that Jenny has slept around with their boyfriends, they decide to get her out of the picture – for good. They bludgeon her to death and put a 100lb log on her body to ensure she wouldn’t survive.
Jean turns over every stone and hounds the police daily to find out who killed Jenny. Ellen moves into their house under the pretense of wanting to help. Really, she intends to take Jenny’s place. She gives false leads and tracks down people who had nothing to do with the killing. Ellen goes as far as to ask Jean to braid her hair and then attempts to move into Jenny’s room.
Even when the police suspect Ellen, Jean refuses to believe it. It isn’t until Ellen’s old roommate who had been brought along for the killing but didn’t participate fesses up that Jean realizes the truth
Patty Duke is amazing in this film. She made it better than it had any right to be. She sold every line. I sympathized with her throughout and could not wait to see Ellen fall. Sadly, Duke died only six months ago. She was not only an outstanding Emmy award winning actress and TV legend, but she openly discussed her mental health problems and was an advocate to help many others.
There are many other roles one can point at to show Duke’s contributes, but nonetheless, even in this TV movie, she shined.
A KILLER AMONG FRIENDS is sadly based on the true account of Michelle (Missy) Avila’s murder. Missy was murdered in 1985 by two women she considered friends.
Some of the incidents surrounding the real Ellen, Karen Severson, is disputed. Karen denies living with Missy’s mother, but Missy’s brother has confirmed she has.
Both women who participated in the murders, have now been released from prison. Though they served their sentence, one can’t say that they fully paid for their crime. To be fair, there really isn’t a way one could pay penance for such a heinous act.
In 2014, Karen appeared on DR. PHIL and it appeared her regret was genuine. It’s impossible to know if that regret is for killing Missy or for having to spend half her life in prison. There were aspects of the crime she denied, which colors a slightly better picture for her. She stated that Missy was arrogant and cocky. When she walked away, she claims that Missy taunted her despite Laura standing next to her. I call bull on that one, but even if that was the case and even if Karen only did those acts that she admitted to, she still committed the worst act that one could do.
A KILLER AMONG FRIENDS was one of the most respectful true crime films I’ve seen. It did its best not to exploit the characters. Whether or not Jenny or Missy was promiscuous doesn’t matter – and the film treated it that way. They never went into her sex exploits other than the unfounded accusations made by her murderers.
Tiffani-Amber Thiessen was superbly cast as Jenny. She was dignified in her performance focusing on the kind side of her character without making her perfect. She was still a selfish teen at times and did foolish teenage things.
Another shining light of the production was Margaret Welsh. I hated Ellen! Welsh made sure that every misdeed, every deception and every threat was highlighted with a dark, sinister, jealous tone. I think that since the film was based on a true story, Welsh was careful in her execution of Ellen. She wanted to express the emotions behind the girl without garnishing undeserved sympathy.
I highly recommend it. I rented it for $2.99, but next time I get the urge to see it, I’ll just buy it.
Scared Stiff Rating: 7.5/10
