Lifetime Original Movies - General Discussion

[Spartan Girl]

Anybody going to watch The Bad Seed remake tomorrow? I probably will, though the part with

 

the poor boy drowning

is already making me ill.

Edited September 9, 2018 by Spartan Girl

[DangerousMinds]

5 hours ago, Spartan Girl said:

Anybody going to watch The Bad Seed remake tomorrow? I probably will, though the part with

  Hide contents

the poor boy drowning

is already making me ill.

Watching it tomorrow, can’t wait.

[movingtargetgal]

I love the original movie.  The first time I watched it was with my grandmother, who NEVER swore.  At the end of the movie they break the fourth wall and introduce the actors and they each get a curtain call.  Patty Mccormack (the bad seed) took her bow and afterward the actress who played her mother took her bow.  The actress looks at the young actress and says something like "you get over here." and she bends the little girl over her knee and "spanks" her.  Both actresses were laughing and having a good time with it.  My grandmother shouted "Good for you mom .  You get that little devil bitch."  I was shocked to say the least but the two of us laughed so hard.  We joked about it all the time.  On the day she died she looked at me and said she was very proud of me and that she was so happy that I did not grow up to be a little devil bitch.

[Snow Apple]

I saw the 80's tv remake first and then the original. I liked both.

Watching Lifetime now. I'll have to put my thoughts together after it's over.

[Spartan Girl]

I had to laugh at Patty McCormick's cameo as the shrink, and her telling the girl that she did the "exact same stuff" at her age. 

Could have done without the sight of the drowned cat. 

I totally knew they were going with the Omen ending. Hard to believe this was the same little girl in Gifted. That McKenna Grace is sure going places.

[zillabreeze]

Oh hell! no!  I adore the original and was SO ready to hate on this remake.  But the Patty McCormack scene was f-ing PRICELESS!!!  I just died laughing!

If you don't take it too seriously, it's a hoot.   Lawd knows, I've wasted more time on other shit Lifetime.

Having a nanny sub in for Leroy as the foil was not bad. "Google it" kept it current. 

 And you certainly can't have a "Penmanship Medal" in 2018

I'll still faithfully watch Rhoda, Hortense & Mrs Breedlove on TCM.  BUT dammit, I couldn't hate watch as planned.

Disclaimer, I just love me some Rob Lowe, so there's that, too.

Edited September 10, 2018 by zillabreeze

[DangerousMinds]

It was worth watching. Not the orirignal, but not a huge disappointment.

[Ms Lark]

1 hour ago, zillabreeze said:

Oh hell! no!  I adore the original and was SO ready to hate on this remake.  But the Patty McCormack scene was f-ing PRICELESS!!!  I just died laughing!

So agree! Patty McCormack's scene was the very best part. So funny! The original is still best, but I think this is a bit better than the '80s remake. Although, David Carradine as Leroy was priceless in that one.

I liked the role reversal with Dad and the nanny. They could have done more with the nanny, though. She's not as memorable as Leroy.

What a waste of a lake house. Dad turning off the "gas" on the electric stove was worth a chuckle, but I really missed the lightning strike (the part you weren't supposed to tell) in the original. Left the door open for The Bad Seed II, Return of Rhoda Emma. We'll see!

[Spartan Girl]

Full disclosure: I always thought the "lightning strike" ending of the original was a cop-out. This ending was more faithful to the one in the book, at least.

[Snow Apple]

Did they say what the psychiatrists name was? I was watching for a mention of Rhoda but if they said, I missed it.

[Lizzing]

7 hours ago, Ms Lark said:

What a waste of a lake house. Dad turning off the "gas" on the electric stove was worth a chuckle

What was the point of that, anyway?  I tried to rationalize it by thinking maybe the heat from the elements would spark the ambient gas, but that's a stretch.

In addition to the great use of Patty McCormack, I liked that, toward the end, Emma was reading The Outsiders as a little wink to Lowe.  Was there a connection to Get Out, or did the "stirring sugar cubes in a cup of coffee" scene function only as a visual hat tip to the movie just for funsies? (I can 'six degrees' connect Lowe to Peele through P&R, but that seems like a giant reach.)

It was a fun little flick though, especially for Lifetime.

[Ohwell]

I saw the original movie, was skeptical about watching this but I did anyway.  I like Rob Lowe but I thought this was very disappointing.  The acting by all of the characters was flat and uninspired, like they just read their lines. 

Plus, I know it would have been a hard act to follow anyway, but no one could top Eileen Heckhart as poor Mrs. Daigle coming to Rhoda's house to confront the parents because she believed Rhoda knew what happened to her son Claude.  She was drunk and pitiful and that scene was just heartbreaking.  I still remember it.  Now that was acting.

[LexieLily]

I will have to record it tonight but is anyone planning on watching No One Would Tell?

[Spartan Girl]

9 hours ago, LexieLily said:

I will have to record it tonight but is anyone planning on watching No One Would Tell?

Watching it now. It IS a remake of the 90s one with DJ Tanner. Oh boy, it really sucks when you know exactly that things are going to end badly.

Shannon Doherty looks great considering all she's been through. Hope she's still doing okay.

[LexieLily]

55 minutes ago, Spartan Girl said:

Watching it now. It IS a remake of the 90s one with DJ Tanner. Oh boy, it really sucks when you know exactly that things are going to end badly.

Other than that did you like it?

Nitpick: In the 90s one the victim was Stacy Collins. In this one her name is Sarah.

The original one soured me on Kevin Arnold for a LONG time.

Edited September 17, 2018 by LexieLily

[paulvdb]

On 10-9-2018 at 6:04 AM, zillabreeze said:

Having a nanny sub in for Leroy as the foil was not bad. "Google it" kept it current. 

But I guess Emma didn't actually Google it because later in the movie she was still afraid that she'd end up in the pink little electric chair for kids.

[Spartan Girl]

7 hours ago, LexieLily said:

Other than that did you like it?

Nitpick: In the 90s one the victim was Stacy Collins. In this one her name is Sarah.

The original one soured me on Kevin Arnold for a LONG time.

It was okay. Better than most of the shit Lifetime has done lately.

[Mabinogia]

5 hours ago, paulvdb said:

But I guess Emma didn't actually Google it because later in the movie she was still afraid that she'd end up in the pink little electric chair for kids.

I found it hard to buy that a girl as screwed as Emma, who seemed to be pretty intelligent, would buy the little pink electric chair story. Unless she was using it to manipulate dad, which makes sense, but I didn't see any indication of that being the case.

[PepSinger]

I thought the No One Would Tell remake was very effective. As much as I'm attached to the original, I do think it was necessary to update it for a generation Z, considering the heavy phone usage and social media that was non-existent in 1996. Shannen Doherty really held the movie together, IMO. I also appreciated that the girl looked really young since the real life victim was only 14 when she was murdered. The actor has such a baby face, which made it more heartbreaking.

Edited September 17, 2018 by PepSinger

[spankydoll]

Oh boy - The Bad Seed! Such campy fun but they could have shaved down the scenes of Rob Lowe gazing lovingly at his reflection in the mirror. The nanny was a really fun character to watch.

[Angeltoes]

Quote

That McKenna Grace is sure going places.

For sure, she's this generation's Jodie Foster or Kristy McNichol.

I'll say one thing for Rob Lowe, he's seems to be aging naturally and looks like most normal middle-aged guys.   As for his character in the movie, that guy must not have seen very many Lifetime movies if he didn't know that you don't let the wacko have a chance to switch hot chocolates.

[Laurie4H]

Anyone watch Conrad and Michelle If Words Could Kill?

I thought it was very good and disturbing.  Reminded me of the old school Lifetime movies or one of the network movie of the weeks from back in the day.  

[KaveDweller]

20 hours ago, Laurie4H said:

Anyone watch Conrad and Michelle If Words Could Kill?

I thought it was very good and disturbing.  Reminded me of the old school Lifetime movies or one of the network movie of the weeks from back in the day.  

I watched it and also thought it was good. When I first saw she was on trial I thought it was a bit ridiculous to charge someone with murder for what she texted, but after seeing it play out, I can see the reasoning.  He wouldn't have killed himself on his own. But, she clearly has her own set of issues and it is a shame she wasn't sent somewhere she could get help.

[Josette]

I caught the last hour of the new No One Would Tell.

Sally Jessy Raphael was the judge in the original, so I guess they wanted a "name" (Mira Sorvino) for the remake.

In the original (which is on YouTube for anyone interested) Bobby was from a lower-income family.  And the murder was definitely premeditated since he brought a knife to stab her to death.  They made it look more like the guy just lost control in the remake. In real life, the victim (Amy Carnevale) was stabbed and slashed, so I don't know why it was changed in the updated version.

The real life killer is actually eligible now for parole since he was a minor at the time of the crime.

[topanga]

The Bad Seed with Rob Lowe and McKenna Grace? 

Well done, but the ending lost me. 

Edited October 7, 2018 by topanga

[emjohnson03]

Just watched on Lifetime movie, "He's Watching". Must have come from another network as they muted a bad word, haha!

Anyways, the guy was psychotic and what I thought, verrrry good looking as he went after his ex-college girlfriend after she spurned him (of course they had to have a one night stand).

Her current boyfriend was nothing special and he proposed to her while they were in their hot tub? Um, not romantic.

The woman was ok, she was cute but dang the crazy guy was smooth when he wasn't on a murderous rampage and sexy.

Though he was this famous photographer and looked like he did  in school portraits (haha).

[LexieLily]

I just saw an oldie from 2016, Unwanted Guest. The movie never really bothered to explain Amy's motivation for anything that she did to Christine and her family, much less why she murdered that boy and his girlfriend at the beginning. Or how she tampered with Christine's stepfather's co-worker's car when she had never met him before that night. It was obvious she wanted Christine's stepfather but the movie played it like she had never met him before or even talked to him before Christine brought her home for break.

If anyone cares to explain, have at it.

[emjohnson03]

Man Lifetime has been my go to these days...

On Lifetime Movie Network they had a movie from 2016 called Broken Vows. Oh it was SOOO bad, campy and wooden and absolutely crazy. And it was the best two hours of my weekend, haha!!!!

It had some kinda famous people but it was just so over the top and the lead woman was dumb but the crazy guy was worth watching for.

Wes Bentley!

I know it's not everyone's cup of tea or maybe it's because I've been binging on trashy romance novels, but YESSS. He plays smooth, psychotic so well!

Thank you for letting me share the cray/hottie!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Madding crowd]

On 10/20/2018 at 6:14 PM, LexieLily said:

I just saw an oldie from 2016, Unwanted Guest. The movie never really bothered to explain Amy's motivation for anything that she did to Christine and her family, much less why she murdered that boy and his girlfriend at the beginning. Or how she tampered with Christine's stepfather's co-worker's car when she had never met him before that night. It was obvious she wanted Christine's stepfather but the movie played it like she had never met him before or even talked to him before Christine brought her home for break.

If anyone cares to explain, have at it.

I have seen this one a few times but what I can’t understand is why no one considered taking the deathly ill daughter to the doctor-they had no idea what was wrong. On top of that the stepfather didn’t notice his wife being heavily drugged beyond a simple fracture. 

[LexieLily]

Locked In (with Ryan Paevey as the bad guy). Not only did nothing happen until the last twenty minutes, I didn't have much sympathy for the mother. Her husband's murder two years prior somehow lead to debilitating agoraphobia to the point where she couldn't leave her house. The killer allowed her multiple chances to leave and she wouldn't, and she didn't put up a fight when the killer took her daughter out of the house. She did finally leave the house at the end and save her daughter from being choked and thrown out of the second-story barn window, but - I wasn't impressed with this one.

[Chippings]

This page has been much neglected for nearly a month, but I wonder if regular Lifetime watchers saw "A Very Nutty Christmas" ?  Was that as weird as I thought it was?  Did not get it **at all**.  The 'enchanted' nutcracker guy was about as appealing as Jerry Lewis at his nuttiest (sic) in his goofy movies of long ago, and Melissa Joan Hart's character not particularly likable either.  The script seems hopeless and even better directing couldn't have saved it.  You knew something had to 'make it all happy' at the end, but the actually alive military fellow who turned up in the last four minutes was no more appealing than his nutcracker avatar.  Hope I'm not the only grinch on this subject.  

[Scarlett45]

On 12/1/2018 at 5:57 PM, Chippings said:

This page has been much neglected for nearly a month, but I wonder if regular Lifetime watchers saw "A Very Nutty Christmas" ?  Was that as weird as I thought it was?  Did not get it **at all**.  The 'enchanted' nutcracker guy was about as appealing as Jerry Lewis at his nuttiest (sic) in his goofy movies of long ago, and Melissa Joan Hart's character not particularly likable either.  The script seems hopeless and even better directing couldn't have saved it.  You knew something had to 'make it all happy' at the end, but the actually alive military fellow who turned up in the last four minutes was no more appealing than his nutcracker avatar.  Hope I'm not the only grinch on this subject.  

I will probably watch tomorrow, I’ll report back. 

[paulvdb]

I've recently been watching some older Lifetime movies and came across what is now my favorite Lifetime movie series: Stalked By My Doctor. I watched all three movies and it was just so crazy, especially the third one. Eric Roberts drinking tropical drinks while trying to be Dr. Beck's voice of reason but Dr. Beck just won't take his advice. Sophie faking her own death in the same way that Dr. Beck faked her death in the first movie. And I thought Dr. Beck finally found someone who was perfect for him but it turns out that Melissa was actually working with Sophie the whole time.

And of course I love all of Dr. Beck's fantasy scenes in the three movies. Especially the one where Sophie comes to Dr. Beck's house to kill him but sees him with Melissa and decides to join them in a threesome. And of course Dr. Beck completely lost touch with reality when he wondered if it was really happening when Melissa slept with him. And then he denied tying up Melissa but started doubting himself and wondered if maybe he actually did it.

I want them to make a fourth movie just to see what other crazy stuff they can come up with. Or they could have Tropical Beck trying to be the voice of reason for the crazy villains in other Lifetime movies.

[Was-MArsenault]

Such a missed opportunity for Lifetime to re-air Ebbie this year.

Checked the schedule, and no signs of the movie even popped up at all.

[HamSammich]

Ok, guys. Surviving R. Kelly premieres on January 3rd. Is anyone else going to try and stomach this? I plan to take a run at it, but it’s three nights long and the topic is pretty revolting, so.

Edited December 31, 2018 by HamSammich

[Dr.OO7]

I just saw an ad for "Death Of A Cheerleader" and caught a glimpse of Kellie Martin, who starred in the original. 

So is Lifetime's latest thing? To remake movies from the '90's (which were actually on network television, not Lifetime) with cameos from those who were in the original? Because they've redone "Mother, May I Sleep With Danger" and "No One Would Tell" already.

[LexieLily]

2 minutes ago, Camille said:

I just saw an ad for "Death Of A Cheerleader" and caught a glimpse of Kellie Martin, who starred in the original. 

So is Lifetime's latest thing? To remake movies from the '90's (which were actually on network television, not Lifetime) with cameos from those who were in the original? Because they've redone "Mother, May I Sleep With Danger" and "No One Would Tell" already.

I didn't like either of the remakes because I am attached to the original (No One Would Tell) or they took the remake in a different/weird direction (Mother May I Sleep With Danger) but I have never seen Death of a Cheerleader.

[DangerousMinds]

1 hour ago, Camille said:

I just saw an ad for "Death Of A Cheerleader" and caught a glimpse of Kellie Martin, who starred in the original. 

So is Lifetime's latest thing? To remake movies from the '90's (which were actually on network television, not Lifetime) with cameos from those who were in the original? Because they've redone "Mother, May I Sleep With Danger" and "No One Would Tell" already.

Seems like it. Just add a bunch of phone and internet nonsense to the mix and there you go. Wish they would leave the originals alone.

[methodwriter85]

In 2010's America, is anyone really that obsessed with being a cheerleader? Any girl that wants to be famous and known pretty much just needs to post pretty pictures on Instagram.

Can they make the lesbian angle much more overt now? I always thought that was the real motive for the murder- "Angie" was a lesbian and "Stacey" rejected her, and coming from a strict Catholic home, it was just a big mess of baby lesbian confusion and self-hatred and "destroying" the object of your homosexual attraction. Note that she's not really into it when she finally gets to have a boyfriend.

Edited January 10, 2019 by methodwriter85

[DangerousMinds]

I never really considered the lesbian angle but now I see it.

[Dr.OO7]

On 11/21/2017 at 12:09 AM, ApplePie said:

I believe they probably just had her admit who she was quickly in the movie because of time constraints. The two hour format really makes it impossible to capture every aspect of this story accurately. For example, the hike up to the camp was very difficult and took hours. They didn't get to the camp until the sun had started to come up. I also remember from reading her book, that Mitchell made her throw away that radio playing Christmas music after a few minutes and then he preceded to listen to the one he had been given to make her feel more horrible. It would have been more realistic if they at least played it a minute or two more in the movie though. But yeah, 9 months is a long time and there were plenty of things they didn't include from the book.

I thought it was a decent movie though. I think the A&E documentary covered more accurately what her captivity was like because they did switch a few things in the movie. 

I totally understand why she's defensive. There are still people out there questioning her which I find absurd and pretty offensive. 

The Jayme Closs story makes me wonder how these other long-term kidnapping survivors feel whenever another of these stories break. On one hand, I'm sure they're as thrilled and relieved as the rest of us. On the other hand, I can't help but wonder if they're cringing, knowing that the press is going to want to talk to them and they'll have to relive their ordeals yet again.

[Souris]

The Nellie Bly movie tonight was disappointing -- they ended up

 

making her a damsel in distress who had to be rescued by a made-up guy [/spoiler]

 

. I don't think that's something that Nellie would have approved of.

Edited January 20, 2019 by Souris
Ack, left out / in spoiler tag, now have nested tags!!

[Spartan Girl]

7 hours ago, Souris said:

The Nellie Bly movie tonight was disappointing -- they ended up

  Reveal hidden contents

making her a damsel in distress who had to be rescued by a made-up guy [/spoiler]

  Reveal hidden contents

. I don't think that's something that Nellie would have approved of.

Yeah, despite a good performance from Christina Ricci, the liberties that the movie took pissed me off. "Feminist network" my ass.

[Mabinogia]

That's disappointing. I was looking forward to the movie as I find Nellie Bly a fascinating woman for doing what she did. But, this being Lifetime, of course they had to make changes to her story. Booo Of course, the commercials already had me doubtful that it would live up to the true story so I'm not too surprised. 

[Snow Apple]

Just reading a Wikipedia article on Nellie's book was fascinating and horrifying enough to make a movie depicting real life events. It would have been more interesting and educational than this.

I love Judith Light but making up a fake evil matron was unnecessary. 

[JD5166]

On 1/6/2019 at 8:31 PM, Camille said:

I just saw an ad for "Death Of A Cheerleader" and caught a glimpse of Kellie Martin, who starred in the original. 

So is Lifetime's latest thing? To remake movies from the '90's (which were actually on network television, not Lifetime) with cameos from those who were in the original? Because they've redone "Mother, May I Sleep With Danger" and "No One Would Tell" already.

I squeeeeeed with excitement! I loved the original. I am aging myself here but I remember reading the original true story in the 80’s (Rolling Stone) when I was in HS and remember feeling so bad for the girl who murdered Tori Spelling. I’ve actually  never been quite able to get that story out of my head. Girls in HS are mean AF!

Kellie Martin was such a sympathetic character, I am not sure this new one will make me feel the same way, it’s a whole different level of meanness now with social media. 

[Scarlett45]

Are we discussing Love You to Death in this thread?

[TattleTeeny]

Quote

I squeeeeeed with excitement! I loved the original. I am aging myself here but I remember reading the original true story in the 80’s (Rolling Stone) when I was in HS and remember feeling so bad for the girl who murdered Tori Spelling. I’ve actually  never been quite able to get that story out of my head. Girls in HS are mean AF!

Same! Oh my goodness, that sister who cut vegetables to eat while driving a car!

[KeeperOfTheIce]

You need to watch the documentary on this - Mommy Dead and Dearest - pretty good. 

9 hours ago, Scarlett45 said:

Are we discussing Love You to Death in this thread?

Edited January 27, 2019 by KeeperOfTheIce

[Scarlett45]

2 hours ago, KeeperOfTheIce said:

You need to watch the documentary on this - Mommy Dead and Dearest - pretty good. 

Yup I have! That’s why I wanted to watch the lifetime movie. 

 

The movie was just “okay”. I thought it kind of dragged in parts, and didn’t real dive into the Mom’s creepiness or the daughter’s desperation the way it could have. There’s a Hulu version coming out.