The "deadly isolation" of the film's title reflects the life of Susan Mandaway, who resides alone in a large house on Branford Island in New England after the tragic death of her husband Ron. Mr. and Mrs. Mandaway were artists, and Susan has never come to terms with Ron's death, which was ruled a suicide.

A stranger named Jeff Watkins arrives on the island, and Jeff is the most interesting character in the film, next to Susan's adorable dog Nelson. Jeff and his partner Kyle had worked with Ron in a diamond heist worth $12 million. Susan allows Jeff to reside in her home after he was injured in a boating mishap. The injury was self-inflicted as Jeff's goal is to search the premises for the diamonds. Instead, Jeff starts to fall in love with Susan.

The filmmakers were successful in sustaining interest during the budding romance of Susan and Jeff, which occupies the midsection of the film. The saddest moment of the film was when Jeff murders the nice cop, Kirby, who had conducted an investigation and learned that Jeff's story did not add up.

The only shortcoming of the film was in the denouement that was too brief and did not tie up the loose ends. The mysterious Ron Mandaway was evidently terminally ill, and he seems to have fenced the diamonds in order to leave Susan a sizable amount of cash assets. But did Susan actually inherit $12 million dollars? The ending could have been tidier.

***SPOILERS*** It doesn't take that long for escaped convicts Pat Carlson & Klye Mumford, Nick Lea & Andreas Apeigle, to realize that theirs break out from prison would get them into a deeper mess then they were already in. The 12 million in diamonds that they ripped off from the San Francisco Gem Museum was gone together with the person John Mandaway who was supposed to be safeguarding the diamonds for them who ended up killing himself. Now headed out to Bradford Island where john's wife Susan, Sherilyn Fenn,is living the two convicts plan to beat the truth out of her in where her husband hid the diamonds! That's if Susan knows where they are!

Not that much suspense here with almost everything telegraphed to the audience in what's to happen next. With Susan falling for Pat's nice guy act in him trying to get her to reveal where her late husband hid the stolen diamonds. The fact that Susan has no idea where they are makes Pat's partner Kyle start to lose it and therefore reveal both his and Pat's real motives. It's the island's Sheriff Kirby, Marcel Jeanin, who soon realizes that at least Pat, he never got a chance to meet Kayle, is up to no good and ends up losing his life for it. Which in fact alerts Susan who was having a romantic fling with Pat that he's not the nice guy that he makes himself out to be.

****SPOILERS*** The once kind sweet and lovable Pat now takes off the kid gloves and together with his psycho partner in crime Kayle attempt to play hardball with Susan's skull. That has her together with the local police turn the tables on them in almost record time. With both escaped convicts who ended up, with Susan lending a hand, shooing each other now history the truth comes out to just where Susan's late husband Ron hid the 12 million in diamonds. Not in the couples house on the island but in an annuity account for his wife Susan to live off but which she, knowing that they were ill gotten gains, returned to their rightful owner: The San Francisco Gem Museum.

I have been a fan of Sherilyn Fenn since David Lynch's "Twin Peaks" (who hasn't?) and I've had a great deal of respect for Nicholas Lea because of his very decent work in "The X Files". Unfortunately, looks like time has not been merciful to either of the actors, and they are now being forced to pick up whatever lousy piece of script so-called screenwriters throw at them, not to mention directors who couldn't direct a tree to save their lives. It's a shame, really, because they do deserve better than this run-of-the-mill, "B" or "C" class made-for-TV pulp. The storyline is so thick you could cut it with a chainsaw. The dialogs are so pretentious that I seriously pity the actors who had to actually deliver them. The characters are puppets being jerked around on strings by some unknown force, their motivations having little to do with emotions, the laws of logic or the common sense.

It's hardly a good endorsement for a movie to say that I cared more about peeling dead skin off my heels than about how the film ended. Unfortunately, this happens to be the case with "Deadly Isolation". Use your time more wisely: go for a walk, or to sleep. At least you'll do something positive for your mind.

This film gets a star for each of my favorite actors, the third being a dog. (I thought of adding one for a gun, too, but that would be overgenerous.)