Sep 25, 2026 3:26pm IST
‘This Tempting Madness’ Review: Simone Ashley’s Gripping Psychological Thriller Is Immensely Watchable But Fumbles Its Third Act
“This Tempting Madness” is a quintessential amnesia-driven thriller where the audience is as foggy on the details as the unreliable protagonist who is sifting through what’s real and what isn’t. But what makes Jennifer E. Montgomery’s psychological thriller, starring Simone Ashley, Austin Stowell and Suraj Sharma, rather gripping is its atmospheric setting, which Montgomery ensures is a paid actor alongside Ashley’s efficient performance.
Simone Ashley is Mia, a woman who survives a tremendous fall despite a broken leg, broken jaw and a severe brain injury. Her memory of that fateful night is in shambles. But the fact that her family—mother, father and brother, Ajay—are present when she wakes up, but her husband, Jake, isn’t, eventually clues her in that he is a suspect and currently in prison, awaiting trial. As her body heals, she tries to piece together the events leading to her fall and decipher what really happened. However, her paranoia and lapses in consciousness, where she blanks out for entire periods of time, make her a threat to herself and Jake’s young daughter, Aurora.
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From its opening sequence—Mia in freefall, clad in a popping orange gown—“The Tempting Madness” sets the standard for itself. The first half grips you tight as it divulges little details about Mia and Jake’s life, and there’s a trippy quality to the visuals that, accompanied by Simone Ashley’s convincing portrayal of the broken, scared but relentless Mia, keeps the audience in an equal haze about the truth. The supporting acts, particularly that of Suraj Sharma’s Ajay, who clearly dislikes his sister’s husband, lend to a palpable atmosphere of secrets and lies around Mia, alongside the constant murmur of disembodied, whispering voices Mia seems to be hearing.
The arrival of Austin Stowell’s Jake into the picture as Mia meets him in prison and testifies at his trial pushes the narrative (and Mia) into further uncertainty, which is a deliciously twisty place for the audience to be in. Stowell milks his charm well to balance the “is he or isn’t he” act, and if you weren’t already doubting the veracity of Mia’s flashbacks, he takes you right to the edge.
It is evident from the circular motifs all over the film, including the ouroboros symbol of two serpents eating each other that Mia keeps drawing, that this is a marriage story of two very troubled people and how their psychological issues abuse and devour their union. However, the third act, when this all is supposed to crescendo into this glorious, eye-opening moment of realization for Mia, doesn’t land with the right effect. There’s too much happening, too many ideas that are thrown at the audience and then never addressed, and the uncertainty rather hastily makes way for a moment of clarity that doesn’t feel earned.
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That’s not to say the third act doesn’t work; it’s predictable because it is the natural progression to what’s been revealed about Jake and Mia. However, it could’ve been landed a little more effectively. Still, this stylish, atmospheric thriller, powered by Simone Ashley’s performance, is worth a watch for the way it might make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up when you hear the sound of someone chewing screws or when a dark, expansive glass house becomes claustrophobic.
“This Tempting Madness” is currently streaming on Lionsgate Play.
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