Praying Mantis Review
This otherwise serviceable TV thriller suffers from an insurmountable problem endemic to the genre: The script is told from the point-of-view of the titular murderess, leaving little mystery save for who will find her out, and how. Perhaps the police procedural format is so popular for the simple reason that serial killers aren't that interesting when they're unmasked in the first reel. Nonetheless, Praying Mantis goes down easily enough thanks to the slick professionalism of TV mainstays Jane_Seymour and Barry_Bostwick -- and aging Aryan moppet Chad_Allen, Seymour's Dr._Quinn,_Medicine_Woman co-star. The lone truly interesting performance comes from Frances_Fisher, who tries to invest her character with more grit and intensity than the rote material really allows. As for director James_Keach (a.k.a. Mr. Jane_Seymour), well, he sticks to genre conventions, for better or for worse. For a smarter, more ambiguous, and altogether scarier variation on the same theme, seek out Bob_Rafelson's theatrical feature Black_Widow. Brian J. Dillard, Rovi
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