Terror in the Family
Terror in the Family is a 1996 American television film directed by Gregory Goodell and starring Joanna Kerns, Dan Lauria and Hilary Swank. The film is about a parents struggle with the raising of their teenage daughter whose rebellious temperament erupts into violence. Filming took place in Utah.
Cynthias relationship with her own mother is not entirely pleasant. Although Cynthias mother advises her daughter to be stricter with Deena, Cynthia does not heed the advice. For example, she tidies Deenas bedroom, a chore which Cynthia has consistently and politely reminded her daughter to do. When Deena discovers what Cynthia has done, she is less than grateful and reacts violently and ends up pushing her mother. Adam, Deenas younger brother notices the impact that Deenas behavior has upon his mother and drinks alcohol in order to forget about the family problems. At one point, Cynthia and Deenas relationship seems to improve, until Cynthia finds out that she has been skipping school. Her confrontation leads to an argument, during which Deena slaps her. Although she admits to Garrett that she liked hitting her, Deena later apologizes to her mother, only to ask her to cover for her absence at school.Cynthia agrees to lie for her, but she soon has another setback when she finds out that Deena has been kicked off the swim team at school. Todd, her father, announces that there are going to be changes in the house to put an end to Deenas rebellious behavior. Todd punishes her daughter for her behavior. But Deena gets more rebellious from them. Todd stipulates that his daughter is not allowed to go out anymore, she has to do all of her chores and cannot miss another day of school. Deena reluctantly agrees, but soon finds ways to do what she wants by lying and being manipulative. Her violent eruptions still continue and she even goes as far as breaking one of her fathers fingers, for which he has to go to the hospital. Upset over everything going out of hand, Deena considers committing suicide, but Garrett stops her, by convincing her to run away from home to California with him. ........
Source: Wikipedia
