Lifetime Original Movies - General Discussion

[Scarlett45]

6 minutes ago, Spartan Girl said:

I couldn’t bring myself to watch. Watching Corey Matthews be a creeper was just too much.

He did a really good job. I thought it was one of the better “ripped from the headlines” films. I am making a note to nominate it for some awards here on the forums. 
 

After everything Abby has been through, she’s doing amazing and I am I shouldn’t be surprised how many people were purely awful to her after she was released from captivity. 

[Snow Apple]

8 hours ago, Spartan Girl said:

I couldn’t bring myself to watch. Watching Corey Matthews be a creeper was just too much.

I watched the beginning and fell asleep due to exhaustion. I don't know why I thought that was Fred Savage. Maybe because Fred played creeps before but I don't think I've seen Ben. I may catch the rerun today.

Edited February 27, 2022 by Snow Apple

[Scarlett45]

12 minutes ago, Snow Apple said:

I watched the beginning and fell asleep due to exhaustion. I don't know why I thought that was Fred Savage. Maybe because Fred played creeps before but I don't think I've seen Ben. I may catch the rerun today.

Well they are brothers. Fred has a much more square face- Ben has a long face. If you were tired it would be easy to mix them up. 
 

It was good. I noticed there were no depictions of sexual assault or rape, likely Abby didn’t want that. So if someone is sensitive to those images this film is ok to watch.   

[Snow Apple]

1 hour ago, Scarlett45 said:

Well they are brothers. Fred has a much more square face- Ben has a long face. If you were tired it would be easy to mix them up. 
 

It was good. I noticed there were no depictions of sexual assault or rape, likely Abby didn’t want that. So if someone is sensitive to those images this film is ok to watch.   

LOL. Yeah, the older they get, the more they look alike. I didn't think they looked anything alike as children, unless it was because I can tell them apart by their hair back then.

Good to hear the movie is not graphic. 

[Scarlett45]

54 minutes ago, Snow Apple said:

LOL. Yeah, the older they get, the more they look alike. I didn't think they looked anything alike as children, unless it was because I can tell them apart by their hair back then.

Good to hear the movie is not graphic. 

I always thought as prepubescent children they looked MORE alike. Fred ended up with a more classically masculine face-square, with a strong jaw. Ben ended up with an oval face and more full cheeks. Ben is not a bad looking guy, but not "actor attractive" the way Fred is. They both have curly hair, but for men (and women) who have curly hair but keep it short, the curl pattern isn't as visible. 

[movingtargetgal]

On 2/26/2022 at 11:16 PM, Scarlett45 said:

After everything Abby has been through, she’s doing amazing and I am I shouldn’t be surprised how many people were purely awful to her after she was released from captivity. 

So many internet trolls wrote absolutely brutal "opinions" about Abby.  Even after her kidnapper and rapist confessed, there are still people out there who still don't believe her.  I will never understand why some people seem to take such pleasure in re-victimizing survivors of sexual assault.   

[Scarlett45]

36 minutes ago, movingtargetgal said:

So many internet trolls wrote absolutely brutal "opinions" about Abby.  Even after her kidnapper and rapist confessed, there are still people out there who still don't believe her.  I will never understand why some people seem to take such pleasure in re-victimizing survivors of sexual assault.   

Because rape is just a property crime against a woman/girl’s male guardian don’t you know?? So what’s the big deal if it is true?? Everything is always the woman/girl’s fault. (Sarcasm)

 

Remember the movie this summer about the poor girl that was left FOR DEAD in the damn woods? People kept asking her “what did she do?” What could ANYONE do that would warrant LEAVING THEM FOR DEAD IN THE WOODS?? Worst case they attacked you first and you drove away, in an age of cell phones any decent human being would call 911 so they could get medical care.

 

[Spartan Girl]

Heads up: The Bad Seed Returns has been postponed to later this year due to the Texas school shooting. Which is for the best.

[Spartan Girl]

So even though the premiere was postponed, I found The Bad Seed Returns free on demand. I had nothing better to do, so I watched.

Spoiler

Once again, Emma kills everyone and gets away with it, mainly because everyone is as stupid as you’d expect from a Lifetime movie. The girl who knew Emma back from when she was a kid and KNOWS Emma is a murderer is dumb enough to drink hot chocolate Emma makes, which OF COURSE is drugged. Seriously, between this and Stranger Things, does NO ONE have the common sense not to drink something that’s given to you by someone you know isn’t trustworthy?!

[shapeshifter]

6 minutes ago, Spartan Girl said:

So even though the premiere was postponed, I found The Bad Seed Returns free on demand. I had nothing better to do, so I watched.

  Hide contents

Once again, Emma kills everyone and gets away with it, mainly because everyone is as stupid as you’d expect from a Lifetime movie. The girl who knew Emma back from when she was a kid and KNOWS Emma is a murderer is dumb enough to drink hot chocolate Emma makes, which OF COURSE is drugged. Seriously, between this and Stranger Things, does NO ONE have the common sense not to drink something that’s given to you by someone you know isn’t trustworthy?!

I do not watch these kinds of movies/shows, whether based on real events or fictional, but I have access to LifeTime and like to watch Castle reruns, which means I've seen Way Too Many ads for The Bad Seed Returns, and have been traumatized each time seeing a baby that looks like my grandbaby about to fall in a pool. 
Please tell me that doesn't happen, or that the baby swims to rescue. 

[Spartan Girl]

On 6/4/2022 at 8:04 AM, shapeshifter said:

Please tell me that doesn't happen, or that the baby swims to rescue. 

Spoiler

The baby lives. In fact, it’s the sole survivor, and it’s implied that Emma deliberately spared him because she wants to groom him into a partner in crime.

Edited June 6, 2022 by Spartan Girl

[MerBearHou]

I watched about 30 minutes of Buried in Barstow to support two that I like in other roles — Angie Harmon and Kristoffer Polaha — but OMG, it was bad.  Did anyone watch it?  Did it ever improve?  The acting in the portion I saw was just awful, IMO.  

[Cinnabon]

16 hours ago, Spartan Girl said:

So even though the premiere was postponed, I found The Bad Seed Returns free on demand. I had nothing better to do, so I watched.

  Hide contents

Once again, Emma kills everyone and gets away with it, mainly because everyone is as stupid as you’d expect from a Lifetime movie. The girl who knew Emma back from when she was a kid and KNOWS Emma is a murderer is dumb enough to drink hot chocolate Emma makes, which OF COURSE is drugged. Seriously, between this and Stranger Things, does NO ONE have the common sense not to drink something that’s given to you by someone you know isn’t trustworthy?!

Now I need to find this! Nothing will ever beat the original, but I love this stuff.

[shapeshifter]

12 hours ago, MerBearHou said:

I watched about 30 minutes of Buried in Barstow to support two that I like in other roles — Angie Harmon and Kristoffer Polaha — but OMG, it was bad.  Did anyone watch it?  Did it ever improve?  The acting in the portion I saw was just awful, IMO.  

I watched it. 
Angie Harmon is good in it. She also is one of several Executive Producers, so I don't know if that matters. 
Kristoffer Polaha was a bit weak. Maybe this much drama is outside of his wheelhouse?
It had some interesting plot twists.

The end makes it clear that there is more to the story.

[Madding crowd]

I liked Buried in Barstow but it ended on quite a cliffhanger. I read something that said they didn’t even film part 2 yet. Is that true? I won’t remember this story a year from now. I also thought she isn’t giving her daughter a good life. She constantly takes off and leaves Joy in an unlocked trailer and refuses to tell her where she is going. The poor girl must be in a constant state of anxiety. I couldn’t find part two of The Bad Seed on my on demand. They must not have released it to Dish Network.

[shapeshifter]

37 minutes ago, Madding crowd said:

I liked Buried in Barstow but it ended on quite a cliffhanger. I read something that said they didn’t even film part 2 yet. Is that true?

I read an interview in which Angie Harmon said they would begin filming the second made-for-TV movie in early June, which is now, but I didn’t see anything more definitive. Maybe they were going to wait for ratings and buzz on this one?🤷‍♀️

41 minutes ago, Madding crowd said:

I also thought she isn’t giving her daughter a good life. She constantly takes off and leaves Joy in an unlocked trailer and refuses to tell her where she is going. The poor girl must be in a constant state of anxiety. I couldn’t find part two of The Bad Seed on my on demand. They must not have released it to Dish Network.

I got the impression that Hazel hadn’t left Joy alone like that previously. And if Joy spent 8 months in college, at least she didn’t drop out mid-semester and lose credits. 
But the bits with the terrible boyfriend seemed unlikely after being in college. IDK.🤷‍♀️    
So I can see how that disconnect might make viewers think Hazel is not a good mother. 

[KaveDweller]

Did anyone else watch Dirty Little Secret this weekend? I thought it had an interesting concept, but it took quite a weird turn towards the end. And then it just ended? I feel like we need resolution on many things. Does the daughter get away with the fire? Does she still go away to school? What about her romance with Josh? It seriously felt like they made a mistake and just cut off the movie halfway through.

Melissa Joan Hart was decent in it, but I feel old thinking she is old enough to have 20-something-year-old children.

[tinderbox]

The Dirty Little Secret ending belonged to a very lazy writer!  Shame on him/ her. 

[LexieLily]

4 hours ago, KaveDweller said:

Did anyone else watch Dirty Little Secret this weekend? I thought it had an interesting concept, but it took quite a weird turn towards the end. And then it just ended? I feel like we need resolution on many things. Does the daughter get away with the fire? Does she still go away to school? What about her romance with Josh? It seriously felt like they made a mistake and just cut off the movie halfway through.

Melissa Joan Hart was decent in it, but I feel old thinking she is old enough to have 20-something-year-old children.

The daughter setting fire to the house is a weird choice if her intent was to keep her mother's hoarding (and her mother's death?) a secret. Fires don't burn everything, and even still there's furniture and things that won't burn. There's still going to be piles and piles of crap in that house when it is inevitably found.

[Spartan Girl]

13 hours ago, KaveDweller said:

Did anyone else watch Dirty Little Secret this weekend? I thought it had an interesting concept, but it took quite a weird turn towards the end. And then it just ended? I feel like we need resolution on many things. Does the daughter get away with the fire? Does she still go away to school? What about her romance with Josh? It seriously felt like they made a mistake and just cut off the movie halfway through.

Melissa Joan Hart was decent in it, but I feel old thinking she is old enough to have 20-something-year-old children.

Dirty Little Secrets was actually a YA novel, and it was very different from the movie version. It's exclusively in Lucy's POV and the mother dies right at the beginning. Lucy spends the rest of the novel trying to clean up the house and reflecting how the hoarding affected her whole life. The mom, while obviously mentally ill, could be quite cruel, blaming her for the house being a mess and accusing her of being ungrateful for everything she did. Lucy even find she corpse of her hamster buried in all the rubble; she left it with her mother years when she went to summer camp YEARS before and when she got back, the mother lied and said that the hamster escaped from the cage and ran off. So...yeah. That was really bad. At no point in the novel does she have an epiphany and try to get herself together right before dying.

So Lucy's decision to burn the house at the very end works a little bit better in the novel because it's her last resort and she's so burned out by the grief and anger that she doesn't know what else to do and is tired of dealing with the mess. 

[KaveDweller]

15 hours ago, LexieLily said:

The daughter setting fire to the house is a weird choice if her intent was to keep her mother's hoarding (and her mother's death?) a secret. Fires don't burn everything, and even still there's furniture and things that won't burn. There's still going to be piles and piles of crap in that house when it is inevitably found.

I can't imagine she thought she could hide the mother's death, but maybe she was going to say the mom died in the fire? Not sure how that could work though, unless the body completely burned up and they couldn't examine it at all.

6 hours ago, Spartan Girl said:

Dirty Little Secrets was actually a YA novel, and it was very different from the movie version. It's exclusively in Lucy's POV and the mother dies right at the beginning. Lucy spends the rest of the novel trying to clean up the house and reflecting how the hoarding affected her whole life. The mom, while obviously mentally ill, could be quite cruel, blaming her for the house being a mess and accusing her of being ungrateful for everything she did. Lucy even find she corpse of her hamster buried in all the rubble; she left it with her mother years when she went to summer camp YEARS before and when she got back, the mother lied and said that the hamster escaped from the cage and ran off. So...yeah. That was really bad. At no point in the novel does she have an epiphany and try to get herself together right before dying.

So Lucy's decision to burn the house at the very end works a little bit better in the novel because it's her last resort and she's so burned out by the grief and anger that she doesn't know what else to do and is tired of dealing with the mess. 

So in the book did she hide the mother's death for days while trying to clean up? And do we find out if it actually works (in terms of hiding the hoarding)?

[Spartan Girl]

1 hour ago, KaveDweller said:

I can't imagine she thought she could hide the mother's death, but maybe she was going to say the mom died in the fire? Not sure how that could work though, unless the body completely burned up and they couldn't examine it at all.

So in the book did she hide the mother's death for days while trying to clean up? And do we find out if it actually works (in terms of hiding the hoarding)?

It ends when the fire trucks show up, so it’s left a bit ambiguous.

Edited June 14, 2022 by Spartan Girl

[Anela]

Am I in the right thread for Lucky 7? I remember watching it in my twenties, and liking it. I found it on Amazon's freevee, and am watching it now. Brad Rowe's character is too perfect, but it's a TV movie, that ends with her living happily ever after, so he's supposed to be, even though she doesn't end up with him. 

I used to want to live in the Pacific Northwest, or along the coast of California, which would never happen, unless I won the lottery. I loved walking through the redwoods, and hearing and occasionally seeing the ocean on the other side. The movie starts out with her sitting with her mum, as a child, right next to the water. 

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0370904/

It says ABC family, but I remember shows like Men in Trees, airing on Lifetime, after they'd aired on ABC. 

Edited July 7, 2022 by Anela

[Dejana]

The couple in Jailbreak Lovers was so stupid, but the story is "ripped from the headlines", so you can't even blame the screenwriter. Buying a pet bird while you're on the run with a felon? Giving out the address of your hideaway? Good call to script the authorities as literally laughing at them.

They really did glamorize Toby onscreen with Catherine Bell, but they didn't bother with the husband character, so it was an odd match. Whereas in real life, the real Toby would 100 percent be married to some dull, grumpy fire captain and you'd understand why he would never suspect his wife of having an affair.

Edited July 8, 2022 by Dejana

[Guest]

Anyone watch Nightmare PTA Moms? Caught it last night, and it was a riot, with scenery being chewed everywhere.  Family moves to new town, mom joins the PTA and discovers that the PTA president is a complete tyrant who rules with an iron fist 😆 Typical escalation from passive-aggression, whispered warnings from other moms not to cross the prez, husband-flirting (and of course there's a history of flirting on his part that has damaged their trust), veiled threats, fights between their kids, cookie poisoning, confrontations on stairways, and so on.

The villain was a camp delight, and the protagonist came off a little off-kilter as well, actually, even before the standard "no one believes me!" sequence. It briefly looked like the couple's daughter was going to go down a dark path with the PTA prez's daughter, but she broke free early on and was kind of bad-ass, honestly.

Anywho, it was a good time.

[ctlady]

On 6/13/2022 at 12:33 AM, tinderbox said:

The Dirty Little Secret ending belonged to a very lazy writer!  Shame on him/ her. 

Just caught this on On Demand over the weekend.  I loved it - right up until the end for the reasons you stated.  So many open doors.  They could've at least FF 6-12 months for a quick five 2 minute wrap up

[Scarlett45]

8 hours ago, tracyscott76 said:

Anyone watch Nightmare PTA Moms? Caught it last night, and it was a riot, with scenery being chewed everywhere.  Family moves to new town, mom joins the PTA and discovers that the PTA president is a complete tyrant who rules with an iron fist 😆 Typical escalation from passive-aggression, whispered warnings from other moms not to cross the prez, husband-flirting (and of course there's a history of flirting on his part that has damaged their trust), veiled threats, fights between their kids, cookie poisoning, confrontations on stairways, and so on.

The villain was a camp delight, and the protagonist came off a little off-kilter as well, actually, even before the standard "no one believes me!" sequence. It briefly looked like the couple's daughter was going to go down a dark path with the PTA prez's daughter, but she broke free early on and was kind of bad-ass, honestly.

Anywho, it was a good time.

I saw a bit of it, it did look campy!

[Guest]

3 hours ago, Scarlett45 said:

I saw a bit of it, it did look campy!

It was great, because there was no attempt to make the PTA prez likable at first and have her sheistiness revealed as the movie went on. She was straight-up awful from the jump, and it was awesome. And her daughter was a total mini-me. The two of them being snotty and indignant together was hilarious.

But I swear there were some scenes where if you stumbled on the movie at that point, you would have thought Gail, the protagonist, was the villain in a "jealous wife goes nuts and stalks her husband's perky co-worker" flick. Some odd acting choices, but that made it all the better!

[Madding crowd]

I like the PTA mom movie. I’ve dealt with snotty PTA moms but the PTA has zero influence on the school besides fundraising, so her threatening the principal that she would have her fired is ridiculous and I’m glad the woman stood up for herself. Since these were all upper class women, I was surprised they let themselves get bullied by that bitchy woman.

[Guest]

16 minutes ago, Madding crowd said:

I like the PTA mom movie. I’ve dealt with snotty PTA moms but the PTA has zero influence on the school besides fundraising, so her threatening the principal that she would have her fired is ridiculous and I’m glad the woman stood up for herself. Since these were all upper class women, I was surprised they let themselves get bullied by that bitchy woman.

For real! It was so ridiculous that this woman was so obsessed and power-hungry over bake sales and walk-a-thons 😆

The attitudes of the other moms was weird - they seemed to shift back and forth very easily from terrified to "wheeee let's party with the psycho lady who's terrorizing us!" There was talk of the prez blackmailing them for this or that to keep them in line, but maybe they were mostly afraid of her because the one lady who beat her in the election ended up dying.

The narrative path of the main couple was bizarre also - they were going down the usual journey of being driven apart by the villain exploiting their existing issues, but then halfway through, they suddenly...made up and were totally cool. But not before the wife made a point of buying the same yoga outfit that the prez bought, which led to the awesomeness/ridiculousness of them both wearing the same ugly thing during the final confrontation 😆

[Spartan Girl]

The Bad Seed Returns will now air Labor Day weekend.

[Madding crowd]

Did anyone else watch “The Art of Passion “ last night? It didn’t really seem like a Lifetime movie; no twists or secrets. Also thought the love interest artist was creepy and couldn’t act. And why couldn’t the police capture Arnie when he was following the main character the entire time.

[ctlady]

I saw Lies Between Friends .  The base story was okay, but the character of the teenage daughter, Emily, was insufferable.  The actress was absolutely horrible.  She had these punchy, jerky facial expressions, body language and dialogue delivery

[Spartan Girl]

So you guys finally watched The Bad Seed Returns? It was basically another Lifetime movie where the bad guy is the smartest one in the room while everyone else was Moron Olympics.

I mean that girl knew what Emma was and what she was capable of. Why in the HELL would she take a drink from her?! This happens way too much in shows! 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

[Kiki777]

This was cheesily entertaining but the ending was very unsatisfying.  My guess is that they’re hoping for more sequels 🙄

[KaveDweller]

On 9/5/2022 at 10:07 PM, Spartan Girl said:

So you guys finally watched The Bad Seed Returns? It was basically another Lifetime movie where the bad guy is the smartest one in the room while everyone else was Moron Olympics.

I mean that girl knew what Emma was and what she was capable of. Why in the HELL would she take a drink from her?! This happens way too much in shows! 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

Yeah, I didn't like The Bad Seed Returns as much as the first one. In that one it made sense that no one suspected the sweet little girl of being a killer. But in this one everyone suspected her and still let her get away with stuff. The Uncle went upstairs knowing the wife had taken the baby with her. The Aunt went into the burning house. The friend went to see her and drank hot chocolate. So stupid. It would have been better to finally have her get caught, but I guess more sequels are in the works. Maybe they'll rapidly age the baby and have it suspect her in the next one.

Also, why did they keep calling the uncle her "step-uncle"? Wasn't he the husband of her father's sister? That is just an uncle. Wouldn't a step-uncle would be your step-parent's brother?

[nokat]

On 9/5/2022 at 7:07 PM, Spartan Girl said:

Moron Olympics.

I always think that when someone uses a tool, bat, weapon and then drops it and runs. Keep the bat!

[ctlady]

17 hours ago, nokat said:

I always think that when someone uses a tool, bat, weapon and then drops it and runs. Keep the bat!

or the knocks someone out and think that’s it - and immediately  turns their back to linger in a fierce hug with whoever they rescued. I’d hog tie their ankles and wrists while they’re out cold then get out of there to call 911

[TattleTeeny]

At least the stove in The Bad Seed Returns wasn’t electric like it was in the other Lifetime one.

[LexieLily]

I didn't watch House of Chains because I figured it was one of those ripped-from-the-headlines movies based on the Turpin children. True? 

[KaveDweller]

On 9/11/2022 at 4:37 PM, LexieLily said:

I didn't watch House of Chains because I figured it was one of those ripped-from-the-headlines movies based on the Turpin children. True? 

I don't know enough about that case to know for sure, but it did seem like it could be ripped from the headlines. But it actually reminded me more of this book I read called Girl A.

It wasn't badly done, but kind of disturbing. They had trigger warning about child abuse after every commercial break.

Edited September 13, 2022 by KaveDweller

[ctlady]

LMN has a cheerleader movie marathon today. 8am is the Fab 5 and 10 is the 1994 Death of a Cheerleader

[Scarlett45]

On 9/7/2022 at 7:23 PM, KaveDweller said:

Also, why did they keep calling the uncle her "step-uncle"? Wasn't he the husband of her father's sister? That is just an uncle. Wouldn't a step-uncle would be your step-parent's brother?

Was the father’s sister his step-sister?

[KaveDweller]

16 hours ago, Scarlett45 said:

Was the father’s sister his step-sister?

No, they always just referred to her as the father's sister. And said how they were both "Grossmans" (their last name).

[toodywoody]

Did anyone watch The Dissapperance of Cari Farver? Holy smokes some people are nuts and over a dude that told her he didn't want anything serious. Chick was legit nuts.

[Madding crowd]

I watched the Cari Farver movie. Elizabeth was really scary, to burn up your own dogs and house. I wonder if she did crazy things before . The guy didn’t seem worth all that . I felt so bad for Cari’s mom and son being tormented by those emails and calls.

[Laurie4H]

I watched.  Did the cops try and ping Cari’s phone?  Wouldn’t that solve if the texts were actually coming from her?

[KaveDweller]

On 10/9/2022 at 4:19 AM, toodywoody said:

Did anyone watch The Dissapperance of Cari Farver? Holy smokes some people are nuts and over a dude that told her he didn't want anything serious. Chick was legit nuts.

That was really sick. And if I didn't know it was based on a true story I would have said it was ridiculously unbelievable.

[Kiki777]

Did anyone catch Let’s Get Physical ?  Bad title but I actually really liked it!  It was truly entertaining, snarky and funny - I could not believe I was watching a Lifetime movie.

[Spartan Girl]

On 10/9/2022 at 8:39 AM, Madding crowd said:

I watched the Cari Farver movie. Elizabeth was really scary, to burn up your own dogs and house. I wonder if she did crazy things before . The guy didn’t seem worth all that . I felt so bad for Cari’s mom and son being tormented by those emails and calls.

Yes, those poor adorable dogs.

And poor Cari and her family. The worst part is that Cari wasn’t even serious about the guy: she was just casually dating him. And she wound up losing her life because he was keeping that crazy bitch on the hook.