One is always excited to watch a thriller movie, especially one with a mystery tied to it. “Killer Design” is one such movie. The movie stars Sarah Armstrong as Jodi and Chelsea Gilson as Wendy Richards. If you have watched the movie, you might agree that the themes were too cliche; it was as if we were watching Netflix’s “You,” the only difference being that the killer was a lady. So, who was the killer, and what is this comparison I’m making with the series “You”? Read on!
Spoilers Ahead
‘Killer Design’ Plot Synopsis: What Happens In The Film?
The plot is pretty basic. Jodi is an interior designer who likes to live a rather normal suburban life, going out for drinks and living carelessly in a safe neighborhood with her friends nearby. One day, after a business pitch meeting that went very well, she is attacked by a mugger. The mugger asks her for all the money she has, but here comes a savior! A girl saves Jodi from getting mugged. This girl introduces herself as Wendy. Jodi is very thankful to her for saving her life and offers her “rewards.” As weird as it sounds, this is exactly what she says. Anyway, after Wendy says she needs nothing, Jodi insists on at least getting her a coffee; they exchange numbers and decide on a date to get coffee together. In the next scene, we are introduced to Jodi’s boyfriend, Eric. Jodi and Eric are seen in a garden, eating food and drinking, where she talks about almost getting mugged, but she also shares that she got a new project. She would be designing a restaurant. This is a big project for Jodi since she is used to designing only small spaces. Anyway, while she is talking about her day, we see Wendy staring at the couple from a distance, and we get to know that Wendy is a stalker! I must say that the actors in this movie are not that good. Without nitpicking, let’s move on. So, after witnessing a brief conversation between the couple, in a very dull way, Eric proposes to Jodi, and she says yes, much to my surprise since I wasn’t expecting a marriage proposal on the day Jodi almost died. Anyway, she says yes to Eric, and when Jodi asks him to move in with her, he says he does not want to upset his parents, who think living together before marriage is a sin. Jodi gets a little upset about this.
Wendy Is A Stalker
We further get introduced to Dr. Farber, who is Wendy’s psychiatrist. She goes to therapy, and in one of her sessions, she says she doesn’t need a doctor anymore. She informs Dr. Farber that she met Jodi and that she is fine now. Here, we do not get much background as to why exactly Wendy goes to see a doctor, but therapy is pretty normal, so I didn’t bother to think about it much. Anyway, we then see Jodi and her friend Monica talking about Jodi’s big day. Jodi tells her friend about meeting this amazing girl, Wendy, who “saves her life.” We also get to know that her fiancé, Eric, is cheating on her, and that’s the reason why he does not want to move in with her. Nonetheless, we see Wendy and Jodi getting coffee together as they had planned. There, we see that Wendy tells Jodi about her mother’s death and how the grief made her shift from Oregon. Upon hearing that Wendy needed a job, Jodi put in an offer for her. Jodi is very gullible, and without actually checking her background properly, she asks Wendy to be her assistant. Of course, Wendy accepts. We also get to know further in the movie that it was actually Wendy who set up the mugging; it was all an act to get closer to Jodi. Well, she successfully reaches Jodi’s house with a job! We then start seeing her real side. She is obsessed with Jodi and wants to control everything she does. She even tries telling her fiancé and friends what to do and how to act around Jodi. We see Wendy getting too comfortable around Jodi soon in the movie. The fact that Wendy got so close so soon was a big red flag to everyone who knew Jodi. Even her client, Roy, caught Wendy in a lie; in one of the scenes, we see Wendy finding it hard to keep up with the lies she had woven, and she accidentally reveals that she does not have a bachelor’s degree in front of Jodi’s client, Roy. As the movie proceeds, we see a lot of red flags with Wendy, but Jodi ignores them all.
Who Dies In The Movie?
Well, we soon find out that Wendy becomes so obsessed with Jodi that she can’t bear to see her around her friends or fiance. She goes through her fiance Eric’s phone and finds out that he is cheating on her. I wonder why the phone didn’t have a passcode, and if he didn’t have a passcode, why was he not caught earlier by Jodi herself? Anyway, Wendy acts very normal in front of Eric but later stalks him to his place. Much like Joe’s character in “You,” she attacks Eric for not being good enough. After attacking Eric for being a cheater, she casually goes back to Jodi’s place, where she now resides too. She acts typical there until a detective comes home. The detective informs Jodi that her fiance was attacked, and the person of interest was the girl he was with. Jodi finds out that Eric is cheating on her and expresses how she does not know how to react. Eric is now in a coma because of Wendy, but Jodi is still oblivious to the fact that she has a lunatic in her house. She further attacks Monica too later in the movie, but it is like the writers totally forgot about Monica being attacked by Wendy because we don’t see what happened to her after that incident.
‘Killer Design’ Ending Explained: What Happens To Wendy And Joe?
Well, after getting to know her fiancé was cheating on her, Jodi tries to move on. Meanwhile, we see the mugger asking Wendy for additional compensation to keep quiet about her truth. Wendy agrees to give more money but kills the man. We then see Roy (Jodi’s client) getting very suspicious of Wendy and doing a background check on her. However, he informs Jodi that he did not find anything bad about Wendy, but neither did he find anything good. Apparently, Wendy had no social media accounts, and one could not trace her in any way. To this, Jodi says she finds it “refreshing.” Well, one could not possibly be so gullible! Anyway, when Jodi is unable to reach her friend Monica, she gets suspicious (finally) and goes through Wendy’s stuff. She finds out that fifteen years ago, they had met in a camp where she was a lifeguard. She then calls Elana Connelly, who was the camp’s manager at the time. She finds out that Wendy’s real last name is not Richards but Edelman. Near the end, we find out that Wendy has a savior complex in which a person becomes obsessed with the need to save other people. Wendy thought she was protecting Jodi by making her life perfect and helping her with her projects. However, this was not the case. After getting to know the truth, in the final minutes of the movie, we see a confrontation. Wendy then says she has to kill Jodi and almost attacks her with a knife when the detective who was working on her fiance’s case comes in to arrest Wendy. After her arrest, we see Wendy getting help in a mental hospital. Also, we see Jodi successfully open her restaurant, which she names “Joe’s restaurant.”
Final Thoughts
Well, the production house that made this film is generally known for making Christmas movies, so I didn’t expect a good thriller from them. However, this was a decent watch for when you have nothing else to watch. The actors did not do a very good job, but I wouldn’t expect much from a low-budget movie like “Killer Design.” I would also not really recommend the movie to my peers, but one could watch it at leisure to “kill” some time!
“Killer Design” is a 2022 mystery thriller film directed by David DeCoteau.
