A hard movie to watch for anybody who has been the victim of domestic abuse or who have been in an abusive relationship or are afraid they will ever experience one or the other.
Sam is a very intimidating character. He tries to be nice and lures people into trusting him, but at his core, he's a vile, mean person who takes advantage of Wendy and abuses her.
Wendy acts like a very inattentive mother, putting her own feelings before her kids'. Sam slams Jake against the wall as she looks on, seemingly unphased.
Jake sees his mother around Sam and his cokehead friends having a party one night.
Jake's school teacher is a jerk who likes to make classtime miserable for him and his classmates.
Sam yells at Jake and Brian and threatens to hurt their mother.
The climax is a very dramatic scene that shows how violent Sam can be.