Sinister Switch (2021) Movie Review

I give this movie 5 stars out of 10.

This is a story about family bonds and how important it is to have a family, but the plot doesn’t have anything new or refreshing to offer. The abduction of some girls is the center point of the story, through which the message is conveyed.

This movie was an okay movie. It was a below average movie in the genre of thriller and mystery. It is directed by Christopher Redmond.

Source: Screenshot take from movie

The plot is about a separated couple Kristen and Justin whose daughter Olivia was kidnapped 6 years ago when she was just a child. After 6 years, they get a call from the police station that their daughter has escaped the kidnapper. They get excited and all, and they rush to the police station. Imagine their happiness. So, the daughter comes home safe and sound, and there is no suspicion that she is actually her daughter. No blood tests are done by the police, which is a fact to consider and question the whole movie. Also, There are no dirty actions done to her, nothing major. The kidnapper just took the girls hostage. He didn’t do anything horrific to them.

Well, after a while they feel that Olivia is lying to them, that she is pretending to be their daughter, and after questioning her, they find out that she lied. That she is not the real Olivia. Natalie admits that she is not Olivia and shows Kristen the house where the girls are kept. So, Kristen rushes to her child and finds her in a locked room away from the other girls. She of course saves her and writes a book about the entire experience, and apparently makes a ton of money from it since she works in a publishing house. Oh, and also to make things better they take Natalie into their care, and she gets what she wanted: a family.

There is not pretty much more to the story, that’s it. We don’t get to know what motivated the kidnapper to kidnap those girls. The only focus here is Natalie and her desire to have a family of her own. She wanted to have somewhere to belong, that’s why she lied to Kristen and Justin. However, Natalie chooses in which side to be at the end: The kidnapper’s side or the Kristen and Justin’s side.

The pace of the movie is sometimes too slow, and sometimes it’s too fast, which makes the story boring. I felt no danger or excitement throughout the movie, it was dull and predictable. The director could have shaped the story better, make it more unique and complicated. I thought I was about to watch an interesting movie, but no, it was really boring. Maybe it is fascinating to some people who never watched an abduction movie.

Source: Screenshot taken from movie
I knew that Natalie was pretending to be Olivia when she snapped at Beth. This was an important point of the movie, which suggested there is something wrong with her. It was because Beth who is Olivia’s best friend recognized that she is lying to everyone including the police. And, she told Justin that she is not the same person, she is not Olivia!

I thought the character of Natalie was the best performance out of the three (Natalie, Justin, and Kristine) of them. I noticed that out of all the girls, Natalie seemed to have a special relationship with the abductor. She was the one responsible for giving them food and called the abductor her “Dad.” This showed the desperation of Natalie to have a family that she was willing to help the abductor in his heinous act. And, that she was selfish to leave those girls in the hands of the abductor just to have a family, to have somewhere to belong. She thought she would have no one, which was sad.

When I was watching this movie, I couldn’t help but wonder why there are not many movies on boy abduction, it is only girls who are portrayed in movies as abducted, who has to endure the trauma.

Also, there was nothing sinister about this movie. This movie also showed that not all families could be caring and loving.