Villainess Review: Dani McConnell (Fear of Rain)

Fear of Rain is a thriller centered on the titular Rain Burroughs, a teenage girl struggling with schizophrenia--mainly seeing hallucinations. Other than her parents, the only adult who had knowledge of Rain's struggles was Dani McConnell, who was Rain's neighbor and teacher, and was shown warmly greeting Rain as she returned to school. Suddenly, Rain begins seeing an image of a little girl in Dani's home, leading Rain to believe that the girl had been abducted by Dani--but once Rain and her father, John Burroughs, visit Dani's home, they are taken to the upstairs attic and find nothing to back up Rain's claim.

Rain remained insistent that a child was in her neighbor's home, even sharing her suspicions with her classmate, Caleb, though Rain begins to question if Caleb is actually one of her schizophrenic hallucinations. Both of them made attempts to enter Dani's home to search, but neither were successful; it was after the first attempt that the pair discovered the identity of the girl: Malia Robinson--a four-year-old girl who was abducted two months prior, though her kidnapper was never found.

Following the second attempt, Dani was shown lambasting John and telling him to place his daughter in a mental hospital, and even threatening to have Rain arrested if she continued to enter her home. Despite the drawback in her quest, Rain is elated when Caleb is confirmed to be real, as she noticed that her mother, Michelle Burroughs, saw him clearly; however, it's revealed that Michelle is the true hallucination, as she committed suicide three years prior. A stunned and heartbroken Rain ran out of the house and returned to Dani's home, as her suspicions remained intact and she was determined to find out if Malia was in the house.

During this go-around, Dani returned home, forcing Rain to act fast. Rain saw that the basement was padlocked and quietly took the keys and entered, only to trip and fall after seeing a vision. Once the vision was gone, Rain saw Malia inside a cage, revealing that what she saw was real, and that Dani, her seemingly kindly neighbor and teacher, was a deranged kidnapper. Having heard the commotion, Dani entered the basement and saw Rain with Malia, and with the realization that she had been exposed, she attempted to convince Rain that she was hallucinating--and even tried to coerce Rain into covering up her secret in exchange for not telling John about Rain's appearance. Caleb appeared and went after Dani, who held Caleb captive and threatened to kill him unless Rain released Malia back to her. Rain refused and ran off with Malia thanks to Caleb holding Dani at bay and, leading to Malia's successfully being rescued.

The film overall was very thrilling, emotional, and amazing, and one of the things I loved about the film was its hidden main villainess in the form of Dani McConnell, played by Eugenie Bondurant. Bondurant truly played the Wolf in Sheep's Clothing character to a T; appearing to be genial and warm to Rain, only for her reveal to see her go from 0 to 60 in her personality, as the proverbial mask was gone and she showed her true colors as a manipulator and a psychopath. In this regard, Bondurant turns Dani's charm from genuine to conniving, and it is followed by a ruthless desperation to continue to hide her villainy. I also think that the reveal showed an arrogant side to Dani, as she appeared to really think that she could easily deceive and trick Rain because of her schizophrenia.

The only problem I have comes in the form of a question: what was Dani's motive for abducting Malia? The climax only reveals that Dani really did abduct Malia two months prior to the events of the film, but why? The film never did reveal Dani's motive; maybe she couldn't have children so she abducted Malia to have a daughter of her own? Maybe she lost a child years ago and saw Malia as someone who could fill the void? Or was Dani just an out-and-out maniacal villainess who committed her crime "just because"? We'll never know, but even so, it doesn't take away from the fact that Dani was a spectacular villainess played by an amazing actress in Eugenie Bondurant, who is best known for playing Tigris in Mockingjay Part 2--the final chapter in the Hunger Games series.

Click here to check out Dani McConnell's profile on Villainous Beauties Wiki!