Surpassing all of the celluloid screen gems based on Stephen King's on-going premise that most of the horror in the world takes place in Maine ("as Maine goes so goes the nation...") is the fact that many non-fictionally based movies dealing with the sinister, seamy, and downright bizarre, are set in Maine's straight-laced neighboring state of New Hampshire. Add the 1991 made-for-tv film "Wife, Mother, Murderer" to the growing list of "farcical film noir" granite state fare. Twentieth-century Lucretia Borgia-esque family poisoner Audrey Hilley flees the clutches of Alabamian justice and seeks refuge in New Hampshire's hallowed hills (not to be confused with real-life characters Barney and Betty Hill, the subjects of an earlier made-for-tv movie, "The Ufo Incident" (1975),based on the first "documented" alien-abduction account involving a Portsmouth, New Hampshire couple "saucer-napped" during a vaction in New Hampshire's White Mountains in 1961).
Current info-merical actress Judith Light's stellar, soap opera-tinged performance relegates this flick to #1 amongst "Naughty New England Melodramas"! Thrill to the scenic beauty of charming Cheshire County (even though this was filmed in North Carolina where they have a more active film commission)! Such sumptuous cinema begs viewers to check out other New Hampshire-based nuggets, such as 1995's "To Die For", in which Nicole Kidman plays egotistical sociopath Suzanne Stone (based on New Hampshire's real-life Pamela Smart), in a sordid tale of a seductive tv weather commentator/high school instructor who orchestrates the murder-for-hire killing of her husband by her teenage, student lover; watch for a cameo role by author-turned-actress Joyce Maynard as Suzanne's lawyer. Maynard wrote the original novel from which the film was adapted and is the purported former lover of "Catcher In The Rye" author J.D. Salinger). Who could forget the 1962 Stanley Kubrick film "Lolita", in which middle-aged mentsch Humbert Humbert pursues the affections of a 14-year-old nymphet (played perfectly and purringly by Sue Lyon) amidst an array of oddball, small-town New Hampshire bizarros? Other neurotic New Hampshire-based nefariousness includes the films: "Murder In New Hampshire: The Pamela Wojas Smart Story" (1991), a quick, slick, made-for-tv instant recount (starring oscar-winner Helen Hunt) of the actual real-life inspiration of "To Die For"), "In The Mouth Of Madness" (John Carpenter's 1995 horror-ode to what happens to over-the-edge writers who seek solace in the granite state), "Peyton Place" (1957), the grandparent of all "sleazy soaps" (and yes, also set in New Hampshire), "The World According To Garp" (1982), and "The Hotel New Hampshire" (1984), screen adaptations of New Hampshire-born writer John Irving's homage to peaceful, wholesome New Hampshire piety and pragmatism. Even 1995's "Jumanji", a bland, spfx-befuddled Robin Williams flick concerning a young boy who acquires a mysterious board game and is trapped in an alternate dimension (a thinly-veiled, not-terribly-engaging horror story passing itself off as a big-budget Hollywood children's movie) is New Hampshire (and Cheshire County) based! All-in-all, "Wife, Mother, Murderer" is notable (aside from the competent job done by Judith Light) more for its addition to and epitomization of "New Hampshire Folklore Film Fodder", than for its recounting of a latter-day Lucretia! And yes, this reviewer is a native of and lives in Cheshire County, New Hampshire!
Current info-merical actress Judith Light's stellar, soap opera-tinged performance relegates this flick to #1 amongst "Naughty New England Melodramas"! Thrill to the scenic beauty of charming Cheshire County (even though this was filmed in North Carolina where they have a more active film commission)! Such sumptuous cinema begs viewers to check out other New Hampshire-based nuggets, such as 1995's "To Die For", in which Nicole Kidman plays egotistical sociopath Suzanne Stone (based on New Hampshire's real-life Pamela Smart), in a sordid tale of a seductive tv weather commentator/high school instructor who orchestrates the murder-for-hire killing of her husband by her teenage, student lover; watch for a cameo role by author-turned-actress Joyce Maynard as Suzanne's lawyer. Maynard wrote the original novel from which the film was adapted and is the purported former lover of "Catcher In The Rye" author J.D. Salinger). Who could forget the 1962 Stanley Kubrick film "Lolita", in which middle-aged mentsch Humbert Humbert pursues the affections of a 14-year-old nymphet (played perfectly and purringly by Sue Lyon) amidst an array of oddball, small-town New Hampshire bizarros? Other neurotic New Hampshire-based nefariousness includes the films: "Murder In New Hampshire: The Pamela Wojas Smart Story" (1991), a quick, slick, made-for-tv instant recount (starring oscar-winner Helen Hunt) of the actual real-life inspiration of "To Die For"), "In The Mouth Of Madness" (John Carpenter's 1995 horror-ode to what happens to over-the-edge writers who seek solace in the granite state), "Peyton Place" (1957), the grandparent of all "sleazy soaps" (and yes, also set in New Hampshire), "The World According To Garp" (1982), and "The Hotel New Hampshire" (1984), screen adaptations of New Hampshire-born writer John Irving's homage to peaceful, wholesome New Hampshire piety and pragmatism. Even 1995's "Jumanji", a bland, spfx-befuddled Robin Williams flick concerning a young boy who acquires a mysterious board game and is trapped in an alternate dimension (a thinly-veiled, not-terribly-engaging horror story passing itself off as a big-budget Hollywood children's movie) is New Hampshire (and Cheshire County) based! All-in-all, "Wife, Mother, Murderer" is notable (aside from the competent job done by Judith Light) more for its addition to and epitomization of "New Hampshire Folklore Film Fodder", than for its recounting of a latter-day Lucretia! And yes, this reviewer is a native of and lives in Cheshire County, New Hampshire!