Fatal Desire
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Fatal Desire is a made-for-TV film produced by Lifetime. It premiered April 3, 2006 on the network and starred Eric Roberts as Joe, an ex-policeman turned casino pit boss in Atlantic City, and Anne Heche as Tanya Sullivan, a bored housewife with very manipulative ways. The movie was based on, or "inspired by," the true crime book Fatal Error by journalists Mark Morris and Paul Janczewski. The book in turn was based on the real life Miller case
[edit] Plot
Joe is a newly divorced, single dad in his forties living in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Though he makes a decent living working as a casino pit boss, and loves the time he is getting to spend with his son, he still longs to start a new relationship. So Joe decides to explore the world of online dating, and while in a chatroom meets a woman in her twenties who calls herself sexykitten.
After a few months of exchanging messages, they meet in person. When she arrives at the airport, Joe learns that her real name is Tanya Sullivan and Joe is instantly attracted to her. She also reveals that she is married and has a young daughter. Luckily, both Joe and Tanya won't let that get in the way of their relationship. "If your husband was taking good care of you, you wouldn't be here right now," Joe says. And after a night of partying in the Jungle that is Atlantic City, Tanya seduces Joe and they make love in a hotel room.
Through several months the relationship grows from hot, passionate sex, into what Joe believes is love. During those months, they continue meeting and Tanya sends Joe pornographic videos of herself. The relationship seems to be going great, until one day Tanya drops a bombshell. She's pregnant with what she believes is Joe's baby. After she tells Joe of her pregnancy, Joe tries to convince Tanya to leave her husband to come and live with him. But Tanya refuses the offer, saying her husband is very dangerous and would never let that happen.
Throughout out the rest of the movie, Joe tries to convince himself that what Tanya is saying is true by asking to take pictures of the abuse that her husband allegedly causes. When Tanya pulls through with the evidence so to speak, it's not long before another bombshell is dropped. Tanya's husband finds out about the affair and takes it out on Tanya by raping her and in the process getting rid of her baby, or so Joe thinks.
At this point Joe can't take it anymore. So with the blessing of Tanya, he plots and then sets out to kill Tanya's husband, in which he succeeds in shooting him to death. During the weeks following the murder, the relationship between Joe and Tanya slowly starts to disintegrate. It's not long before Joe loses contact with Tanya all together.
So Joe decides to investigate. He travels to the town where Tanya lives. There he figures out that everything that Tanya has been telling him is a lie. Tanya was never pregnant. Her husband never abused her. And worst of all, Tanya has a new boyfriend. Joe is devastated at learning this. He returns to Atlantic City where he falls into a deep depression. He starts to drink again, which results in Joe's son leaving to go live with his mom. Joe then finally decides to take action, or rather his own life.
Joe commits suicide and in his suicide note instructs his friend to make sure a suitcase under his bed gets to the police in Tanya's hometown. Armed with the evidence Joe has left for them, the police arrest Tanya, and she ends up convicted of first-degree conspiracy to commit murder.
