Girl in the Shed: The Kidnapping of Abby Hernandez

I really like Erica Durance but this movie is so bad that I didn't even finish it. The first thing you notice is that the girl who is supposed to be 14 years old is obviously being played by a woman in her 20's therefore making the entire thing hard to take seriously. Then the acting of the other characters was really bad that it was ridiculous. The background in the scenes were so obviously fake. I mean come on Lifetime you can do better than this. I have watched two other based on a true story movies immediately before this one and they were far better than this one. Needless to say I DO NOT RECOMMEND this movie. Maybe if someone remakes it better I will try it again.

Abby (Lindsay Navarro) is walking home one day after missing the school bus. Conspiracy nut Nathaniel Kibby (Ben Savage) offers her a ride. Zenya (Erica Durance) is her mother. It's interesting that Ben Savage is doing this character. Actors, who play nice guys, often switch gears to do the evil role. Ben is fine as the creepy crazy nut. I don't know about the mask. Mostly, it's a standard Lifetime girl-in-peril movie. Apparently, it's a real story. I'm not going to look down on the story. It is what it is. The filmmaking is TV level with a few minor attempts at higher art. All these movies are pretty much the same unless the filmmaking can raise it up to Room. I don't expect more.

I had high hopes for this movie, but it was so boring and so lightweight compared to the original life event... it looked like the girl and the kidnapper are best buddies, no drama, no emotional playing.. the actress is way too old for the role. She suppose to look 14 and she looked more like in her late 20s. I usually like films based on true story, but this one was lacking everything, the assault parts were entirely cut off so its basically not the original story, its some movie inspired different story.. but not a good one. I don't get why they make films like that that doesnt actually follow the original true stories.. I rarely give such a low rating, but this movie was just so, so bad... and the actual story of Abby is so much more interesting and impactful, too bad they ruined it with this lackluster film.

This is my own personal review. I watched this movie last night and it kept me on the edge of my seat. It doesn't depict everything that happened to the actual victim in real life. For instance, there are no scenes of sexual assault. The girl is kidnapped when hitchhiking and is tased once or twice throughout the movie. It may be hard to watch for some people. I really enjoyed watching the end scene when she returns home, it gave me chills. Nobody should ever have to endure what Abby went through. With her continual prayers and faith, she was able to make it out alive. She is an inspiration to everyone and a warning to what can happen if you are not careful.

Abby was a producer for this movie so it was made in a way she saw fit if you know the case then moments stuck out for showing the relationship of the kidnapper and victim I think it toned down the events but also it's a 1 hour and 30 minutes long movie about something that took place over 9 months even if they didn't cut back to the mom and her perspective that's ten minutes a month I think it is something to watch to at least learn about the case but it doesn't give you all the facts a documentary would seeing as this isn't a documentary. Now actors I couldn't remember what Ben savage was from when going into watching this movie and I was not expecting Corey Matthews okay. I think the actress that played Abby did a phenomenal job.