Fatal Honeymoon (2012 Lifetime)

Fatal Honeymoon (2012 Lifetime)

Cast: Billy Miller, Amber Clayton, Gary Sweet, Harvey Keitel

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Synopsis (via Lifetime)

Based on a true story, Fatal Honeymoon tells the shocking story and controversy surrounding a newlywed who tragically dies on her dream honeymoon and the subsequent investigation of whether or not her husband was guilty of killing her. In the film, Alabama couple Gabe Watson and his new bride, 26-year-old Tina Watson, married just 11 days, go on their dream honeymoon to scuba dive near Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, where Tina drowns in what appears to be a freak accident.

Thoughts

Australia 2003. The Australian police interview a man named Gabe Watson. His wife drowned while scuba diving, and he is having trouble keeping his story consistent.

Flash to two years earlier, Alabama college students Gary and Tina go out on a date. They seem very all American and should be a perfect couple if it wasn’t for his wandering eye and her jealousy. Their sexual chemistry, on the other hand, is on point. Gabe meets Tina’s family and rubs her father the wrong way. When your father is Harvey Keitel, I would imagine that happens a lot. Tina agrees to take a diving class because Gabe loves the ocean. Tina is less comfortable in the water.

Four years later, Harvey Keitel is on a mission to solve the mystery of his daughter’s death. According to Gary, she sank to the bottom of the ocean on a dive gone wrong. Harvey Keitel heads to Australia to find more evidence to prove what happened to his daughter. The police share that Gabe was reluctant to give up his dive computer and found multiple inconsistencies in his story.

A witness who was on the dive saw Tina struggling and was about to help, but Gabe interfered and the diver though he would save her, but maybe, he was tampering with her air supply.

Flashing back again, Tina and Gabe’s relationship was rocky. He had anger issues and made a scene at a dinner party. Later, when Gabe proposes, Tina shares that she is excited to tell her father. He tells her that she ruined the proposal and storms off. He withholds the proposal for six months, and she breaks up with him. Tina tries to date other men, but when Gabe notices her slipping away, he proposes to her at work. (Which sucks.) He plans the Honeymoon to Australia and insists on scuba diving, oh, and for Tina to update the life insurance policy. (RED FLAG!)

Five years later, Gabe is hooking up with a new blonde fiance and is such a shirtless hunk. This man is thick. Gave is arrested for the murder of Tina. He lawyers up immediately. The coverage of the story on the news is constant and intense. Gabe is known as “The Honeymoon Killer.”

After Gabe sees Tina’s father on the news talking bad about him, he asserts his control. Gabe resumes her body and moves it to his family plot. The he takes flowers from the grave, just to mess with Tina’s parents. YIKES! Harvey Keitel catches Gabe stealing the flowers from the grave on tape and sends it to the media.

We flash back to the honeymoon. While holding a koala bear, Tina tells Gabe she is nervous about scuba diving in open ocean. She has never done it before. The morning of dive, Tina tries to back out one last time, but Gabe gets angry and manipulates her into going. The current is strong that day, but her fellow divers reassure her that everything will be fine. The couple go out and come back because of a “computer malfunction.” On the second dive, Tina is even more afraid and her inexperience gets the better of her. Gabe grabs her in the water and turns of her air then he pushes her to the bottom of the ocean and swims away. Another driver pulls Tina’s body from the ocean floor as Gabe floats to the top to call for help. The diving experts perform CPR on her on one boat, while Gabe is comforted by another woman on a different boat. The fellow passengers all know that Gabe’s story is crap and think he is a creep. (Which he is! He steals her wedding ring from her body in the morgue!?!?!)

Gabe gets married to the other woman and then turns himself into the police. He admits manslaughter and takes a plea deal in the Australian court. He is sentenced to 12 month of hard labor in gen pop. Harvey Keitel tells the media that the ruling is an embarrassment and justice has not been served. After a year, Gabe is back in the USA living a normal life. Hopefully he is haunted by Tina.

Side Note

Minority Report: None

The REAL Gabe Watson is ugly AF. Fuck that guy, he is the worst.

What is Fatal about this movie is the timeline jumping. So unessicary. Here is the thing with “Ripped from the Headlines.” If we already know the story from the headlines, the time jumps are not needed; if we aren’t familiar with the news story, they are confusing.

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Overall rating

🔪🔪🔪 (3 Knives)

🍷🍷🍷 (3 glasses of wine required.)