Terror in the Family

Deena Marten is a 15-year-old high school student who has become a rebel since dating Garret Lexau, another rebellious teen who was suspended from school for hitting a teacher. Deena no longer keeps any of her promises, skips school and leaves the family home whenever she pleases. Her newfound harsh attitude upsets her mother, Cynthia, who once enjoyed a close relationship with her daughter. Cynthia is frustrated because the lines of communication have broken down between mother and daughter.

Cynthia's relationship with her own mother is not entirely pleasant. Although Cynthia's alcoholic mother advises her daughter to be stricter with Deena, Cynthia does not heed the advice. For example, she tidies Deena's bedroom, a chore which Cynthia has consistently and politely reminded her daughter to do. When Deena discovers what Cynthia has done, she is less than grateful and reacts violently and ends up pushing her mother. Adam, Deena's younger brother notices the impact that Deena's behavior has upon his mother and starts drinking alcohol in order to forget about the family problems. At one point, Cynthia and Deena's relationship seems to improve, until Cynthia finds out that she has been skipping school. Her confrontation leads to an argument, during which Deena slaps her. Although she admits to Garret that she liked hitting her, Deena later apologizes to her mother, only to ask her to cover for her absence at school.

Cynthia agrees to lie for her, but she soon has another setback when she finds out that Deena has been kicked off the swim team at school. Todd, her father, announces that there are going to be changes in the house to put an end to Deena's rebellious behavior. Todd punishes their daughter for her behavior, but Deena gets more rebellious towards them. Todd stipulates that his daughter is not allowed to go out anymore, she has to do all of her chores and cannot miss another day of school. Deena reluctantly agrees, but soon finds ways to do what she wants by lying and being manipulative. Her violent eruptions still continue and after an argument with her father over incomplete homework, she goes as far as slamming the door on his hand breaking one of his fingers, for which he has to go to the hospital for. Upset over everything going out of hand, Deena considers committing suicide, but Garret stops her, by convincing her to run away from home to California with him.

Meanwhile, Cynthia and Todd have no idea what to do about Deena. When they find out that she has been flunking school and taking drugs, they forbid her from seeing Garret again and threaten to call the police. To their surprise, she responds by threatening to tell the police that Todd tried to rape her. Later, Deena sneaks out again to see Garret, but when he arrives, he reveals he got into a violent confrontation with his mom and a man she brought home, so he decides to leave town immediately and tells Deena to pack up and meet back up with him. As Deena returns home, her father reacts furiously. This leads to Deena hitting her mother with a phone and threatening to stab her father. Afraid, Adam calls the police and has Deena arrested. Although her parents attempt to withdraw the charges, she is put on probation for 6 weeks and she has to visit a therapist. On her own terms, Deena moves in with her aunt Judith and convinces her that her behavior can be explained by her mother's so-called alcoholism.

Cynthia doesn't want Deena to visit a therapist, claiming that she will make a victim out of herself, blaming her for alcoholism and Todd for rape. She constantly argues with Todd over Deena and when she turns to her mother, she gets slapped when she makes an insulting comment about her bad parenting and believing that her dysfunctional parenting habits have passed on straight to her family. Upset, she goes to Judith-(while bringing a homemade pizza for Deena), confronting Deena with her behavior and blaming Judith for never having thanked her for all she has done for her in the past claiming that Deena is the way as her aunt is. Deena runs away and tries to find comfort with Garrett, only to find him cheating on her with another girl. Later, Cynthia receives a visit from Judith, who blames her for being just like their alcoholic mother. Cynthia tries to prove that she is a good mother by pointing Adam as an example, but then finds out about his drinking problem after finding an empty bottle of liquor in his bed. She tries to convince Todd to support her, but he makes clear that he thinks that she is drinking too much as well.

In the end, the entire family agrees to enroll in therapy. Deena returns home, but is still on probation, having to do 300 hours of community service and attend anger management classes. She ends her plans of going to California with Garret, during which she finally sees Garret for who he really is when he reacts angrily and nearly tries to slaps her. Garret relents at the last moment and leaves Deena alone, but she now finds that she is better off without him. She is reunited with her parents and younger brother and the family continues on their road to recovery together.

• Joanna Kerns as Cynthia Marten
• Dan Lauria as Todd Marten
• Hilary Swank as Deena Marten
• Andrew Kavovit as Garret Lexau
• Adam Hendershott as Adam Marten
• Nan Martin as Ivy
• Beau Billingslea as Judge Roubal
• Kathleen Wilhoite as Judith
• Ryan Christopher Mouritsen as Ryan (uncredited)

• Terror in the Family at IMDb