Cries Unheard: The Donna Yaklich Story
| Cries Unheard: The Donna Yaklich Story | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Drama |
| Written by | Christopher Canaan |
| Directed by | Armand Mastroianni |
| Starring |
Jaclyn Smith Brad Johnson |
| Music by | Harry Manfredini |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) |
Felice Gordon Carla Singer |
| Producer(s) | Christopher Canaan Joan Carson Arnold Grossman (co-producer) |
| Cinematography | Paul Onorato |
| Editor(s) | Robert Florio |
| Running time | 91 min. |
| Production company(s) |
Carla Singer Productions World International Network |
| Distributor | CBS |
| Release | |
| Original network | CBS |
| Original release | February 1, 1994 |
Cries Unheard: The Donna Yaklich Story (a.k.a. Victim of Rage) is a 1994 American made-for-tv thriller film directed by Armand Mastroianni, and starring Jaclyn Smith and Brad Johnson. The film is based on a true story.
Through a series of flashbacks, Donna (Smith) tries to tell her son Denny (Lascher) why she murdered her husband Dennis (Johnson). When she returns to her hometown in Colorado from California for the summer, Donna is set up on a date with former aerobics instructor and current police officer Dennis. She immediately falls in love with him, and quickly meets his teenage stepdaughter Patty (Swank). Patty is still upset over the death of her mother to an allergic reaction, especially because they were quarreling when they last saw each other. Sympathizing for the girl, Donna agrees not to return to California, and move in with Dennis to take care of Patty, and they are engaged shortly after.
The romance is short-lived, though. After being insulted at the gym, Dennis starts to shoot himself up with steroids, causing violent outbursts. One night, he is too unrested to sleep, and orders Donna to leave the room. He then lifts some weights in the middle of the night, and violently orders Donna to leave when she asks him to come back to bed. Scared by her husband, she turns to her sister Susie (McCormick), but she is too vulnerable when he begs her to take him back. They are married shortly after, but during the ceremony, Dennis already has another outburst against her, causing Donna to spend her wedding night in fear. Patty later explains to her that his violence behavior is caused by the steroids, which he even uses at work to catch criminals in an unorthodox way.
When Donna finds out that she is pregnant, she explains to Dennis that she cannot live in fear and begs him to stop using the steroids. He does not keep his promise, and starts to act violent again, even going as far as raping his wife while their newborn is crying in the other room. She packs her bags to leave with their son Denny and Patty, but Dennis orders her to stay inside and beats her up with a belt. She contacts his friend Jerry (Gianopoulos) to persuade Dennis to stop taking steroids, but Jerry only tells Dennis of their conversation. Dennis threatens to kill her or Susie if she ever goes behind his back again, and then rapes her a second time.
Five years later, Donna focuses her energy on raising Denny (Lawrence), and Dennis becomes obsessed with the gym. When Patty one day admits that she is pregnant, Dennis blames Donna and forces her to tell Patty that she is disgusted by her and to order her to leave the house forever. Deciding that she has had enough, Donna flees with Denny to a nearby local shelter, but Dennis picks her up there and threatens to kill her, priding that he will get away with murder. Donna suspects that he might have killed his first wife, and scared for her life, she pays Eddie Greenwell (Midwood) to murder Dennis. With the help from his brother Charlie (Kristofer), Eddie shoots Dennis dead when he parks his car in his driveway one night. Charlie's girlfriend (Kelly) eventually gives the brothers up to the police, and they in turn confess Donna's involvement.
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