Every generation gets its haunted-house TV movie, and in 1996 the gods of basic cable gave us Buried Secrets. It’s got everything a late-night Lifetime rerun requires: family drama, ghostly whisperings, a troubled teen spirit, and of course, a “hot new star” in Tiffani-Amber Thiessen trying desperately to prove she can act in something other than Saved by the Bell. Spoiler: she’s hot, but she can’t save this. Nobody can. Not Tim Matheson, not Kelly Rutherford, not even the horse that shows up to trample someone in the third act.
The Setup: Back to the Old Hometown (Because That Always Works Out)
Annalisse (Thiessen) and her mother Laura (Melinda Culea) move back to mom’s hometown after dad croaks. Because apparently nothing says “fresh start” like renting a creepy house that practically screams, We buried a teenage girl under the floorboards, welcome home.
The house belongs to Clay Roff (Tim Matheson), a man who looks like every guidance counselor who’d tell you to “try harder in math” while hiding a few skeletons (literal ones) in his closet. His daughter Mary (Erika Flores) vanished under mysterious circumstances, but Clay swears he had nothing to do with it. Which in TV-movie logic means: of course he did.
At dinner, Annalisse and Laura meet Clay’s Stepford-wife Danielle (Kelly Rutherford) and his replacement daughter Heather, who’s so sweet she may as well be wearing a T-shirt that says “soon-to-be-traumatized.”
Enter: Ghost Girl with a Bad Attitude
Once unpacked, Annalisse starts having nightmares about a woman falling off a cliff. It’s Mary, the missing daughter, who has decided to haunt Tiffani-Amber Thiessen instead of—oh, I don’t know—calling the cops from beyond the grave. Mary’s ghost pops up whenever Annalisse tries to flirt, eat dinner, or look remotely happy. It’s less The Sixth Sense and more Roommate from Hell.
The movie tries to sell us that Annalisse might be mentally ill, just like Mary supposedly was. But let’s be real: if you lived in a Tim Matheson gothic nightmare with Kelly Rutherford plying everyone with mystery pills, you’d hallucinate too.
Danielle: Gaslighting for Beginners
Danielle, the glamorous blonde wife, quickly reveals herself as the kind of woman who would slip Prozac into your iced tea while calling you “sweetheart.” She convinces Laura that Annalisse is unstable, then has her temporarily committed for observation. Picture Thiessen in a psych ward, trying to look fragile while the audience thinks: This is Kelly Kapowski. She can out-stare a ghost, don’t worry.
Meanwhile, Danielle swans around like a soap opera villainess with a side hustle in poisoning teenagers. Eventually, we learn she’s been drugging everyone in sight—Mary, Annalisse, probably the horse—because nothing says “domestic bliss” like a pharmacy in your nightstand.
The Love Interest Nobody Asked For
Enter Johnny Toussard (Channon Roe), a local bad boy with the charisma of damp toast. Naturally, Annalisse falls for him, because if you’re haunted by a dead girl and being gaslit by your landlord, the logical step is dating a guy your ghost hates. Mary reacts to this by throwing supernatural tantrums like an ex-girlfriend who still has the Netflix password.
The chemistry between Thiessen and Roe is so flat it could be used as a spirit level. Their romance exists purely so the script can check the “sexy subplot” box.
Tim Matheson: The Human Red Herring
Clay spends most of the film lurking around like he’s guilty of ten different crimes. And in a way, he is—he literally repressed the memory of burying his own daughter’s body. This isn’t “oops, I misplaced my car keys.” This is “oops, I dug a shallow grave for my child and just… forgot about it.” Freud would’ve had a field day.
Ghost Logic: The Horse Saves the Day
The climax involves Mary’s ghost possessing Annalisse, riding her beloved horse, and trampling Danielle to death. Yes, you read that right: the big resolution to this gothic family mystery is death by horse. Not a stabbing, not a dramatic fall off a cliff, but a Clydesdale stomping Kelly Rutherford into mulch.
It’s almost poetic. Danielle, the ultimate manipulator, finally undone by equestrian homicide. This horse deserves a spin-off, preferably titled Mr. Ed: Hooves of Justice.
The Big Reveal
In case you lost track of the plot while folding laundry (and who wouldn’t?), here’s the rundown:
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Danielle drugged Mary, turned her psychotic, and murdered Mary’s mom Ann.
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Clay, in a haze of denial, thought Mary killed Ann, so he buried her body like a complete idiot.
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Danielle had been having an affair with Clay all along, got pregnant, and plotted to marry him once the inconvenient wife was out of the way.
Basically, the whole town could’ve been saved a lot of trouble if somebody just searched Danielle’s medicine cabinet.
Tiffani-Amber Thiessen: Too Hot for This Nonsense
Let’s give credit where it’s due: Thiessen tries. She spends half the movie looking terrified, half looking sultry, and somehow manages to keep her composure while acting opposite both bad CGI dream sequences and Tim Matheson’s brooding eyebrows. But even her mid-90s teen-idol glow can’t disguise that the script is thinner than Mary’s ghostly excuses.
The movie sells itself on Thiessen’s presence, but it plays like the network executives just wanted her in nightgowns, wandering candlelit hallways, while pretending there was a plot.
The Atmosphere: Gothic, in the “Dollar Store Dracula” Sense
Director Michael Toshiyuki Uno tries to inject some Gothic flair—stormy nights, haunted dreams, a spooky cliff. But it all feels like a community theater production of Rebecca. The lighting screams “made-for-TV,” the score sounds like it was lifted from a rejected Unsolved Mysteries episode, and the scares are about as intense as a Scooby-Doo chase sequence.
The Ending: Rest in Peace (And Ratings)
Mary’s ghost thanks Annalisse, promises to wait for her “on the other side,” and vanishes. Annalisse reunites with Johnny, because apparently surviving ghosts, gaslighting, and horse-related murder is the foundation of a solid relationship.
The credits roll, leaving viewers with the bitter realization that nothing in the last 90 minutes was worth missing even a single rerun of Friends.
Final Thoughts
Buried Secrets isn’t scary. It isn’t suspenseful. It isn’t even campy fun. It’s a sluggish TV movie that mistakes long stares and gothic clichés for horror. Tiffani-Amber Thiessen is hot, sure, but you can’t build an entire movie around that unless you’re a teenage boy doodling storyboards in homeroom.
This film could’ve been saved by one of two things: a better script, or at least another horse trampling. Preferably both.
