Director: Stephen TolkinReminiscent of Carrie, this superb made-for-cable film was one of four movies adapted from novels by bestselling author Nora Roberts and is the most successfully translated piece, thanks largely in part to the screenplay and direction from Stephen Tolkin. Antitrust star Claire Forlani plays Tory Bodeen who returns back to the small North Carolina town of Progress eighteen years after the brutal murder of her best childhood friend Hope in order to face the tragedy head on instead of continuing to run away from the guilt and mystery that’s plagued Tory her entire life. Haunted by psychic visions since she was a little girl and able to see into the past and present with amazing accuracy, Tory suffered cruel abuse for what her extremist religious father considered to be the work of the devil, Tory’s storyline throughout Carolina Moon is intercut with her fantastic ability to see Hope once again and try to solve her still undetected murder. Josie Davis provides much needed comic relief to the tale that should intrigue Stephen King fans as Hope’s twin sister Faith who has also returned to Progress because of her cheating country music star husband and manages to shake up the town Desperate Housewives style by throwing herself at Tory’s cousin, the clean cut veterinarian Dr. Wade Mooney (Chad Willet) and annoy her brother Cade (Oliver Hudson) who tries to rekindle his childhood crush on the troubled Tory. At the same time of course the romance takes a backseat as the anniversary of Hope’s death nears and danger comes lurking once again to Progress, leading to a hurried but ultimately surprising finale that may manage to stump mystery fans better than the other Roberts works adapted this year that include Angels Fall, Blue Smoke, and Montana Sky.
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