Typical lifetime movie. I watched this last night and I have to say it wasn't bad. This time the villain is a popular and wealthy teenage girl. Judging by her mother and her grandmother and the years of mental abuse, I could see the reasoning behind the way she turns out. Good suspense throughout as well!
9 Reviews
Slightly above average Lifetime fare
MyFriendsCallMeDirt28 June 2019
The storyline on one plays out like a side-plot from a serial soap opera, complete with an aging matriarch character who has her spoon in the stew the whole time ... but it worked better than I expected. Fairly easy watch, would recommend it to fans of the "Lifetime stalker" genre.
Waste of time
krahnic-445761 May 2020
So Stoopid
tomfsloan9 September 2019
It runs in the family
phd_travel1 June 2019
Instead of 1 psycho there are 3 generations of of wack jobs in this story about battle for Homecoming Queen. It's quite interesting to see how the good girl fights back against the psycho and her psycho mom and grandma.
Tradition!!!
lavatch27 March 2021
Warning: Spoilers
Three generations of ambitious women have willed themselves to become Homecoming Queen at West Chester High School. In the Manning clan, it was first the formidable Evelyn, followed by her equally determined daughter, Connie. Now, the baton has been passed to young Whitney, who is resolved to follow in the footsteps of her illustrious kin.
Standing in the way of Whitney is young Natasha Hart, who is so fed up with the bullying of Whitney that she decides to become a candidate herself for Homecoming Queen. The film's main action revolves around the cutthroat tactics of Whitney, who seeks to undermine Natasha's chances even if means committing murder.
Surprisingly, the most interesting character in the film was Natasha's mother, Sarah, a hardworking proprietor of a restaurant, who has instilled the values of decency in her daughter. The loving support of Sarah for Natasha is juxtaposed with the cruel and vindictive nature of the Mannings, as passed down the line from Evelyn to Connie to Whitney.
The filmmakers strove for a tongue-in-cheek approach to this tawdry melodrama. Connie's unwholesome relationship with the school principal, Wayne Wainsley, was all-too-convenient, as she blackmailed him in leveraging an advantage for her daughter. An even greater coincidence was the romantic relationship of Sarah and Whitney's father, who long ago bailed out on his marriage to Connie and the unpleasant relationship with his indomitable mother-in-law.
The climactic scene was an outrageous convergence of all of major characters, who arrive at the Manning mansion. They don't knock or ring the doorbell, but just seem to materialize inside the home. It is there that Whitney's dream of becoming Queen for a Day will be shattered, as she must exchange her scarlet dress for an orange jumpsuit. Still, the best line in the film was given to Whitney, who exclaimed with a sigh, "Negative energy is not good for my complexion!"
Standing in the way of Whitney is young Natasha Hart, who is so fed up with the bullying of Whitney that she decides to become a candidate herself for Homecoming Queen. The film's main action revolves around the cutthroat tactics of Whitney, who seeks to undermine Natasha's chances even if means committing murder.
Surprisingly, the most interesting character in the film was Natasha's mother, Sarah, a hardworking proprietor of a restaurant, who has instilled the values of decency in her daughter. The loving support of Sarah for Natasha is juxtaposed with the cruel and vindictive nature of the Mannings, as passed down the line from Evelyn to Connie to Whitney.
The filmmakers strove for a tongue-in-cheek approach to this tawdry melodrama. Connie's unwholesome relationship with the school principal, Wayne Wainsley, was all-too-convenient, as she blackmailed him in leveraging an advantage for her daughter. An even greater coincidence was the romantic relationship of Sarah and Whitney's father, who long ago bailed out on his marriage to Connie and the unpleasant relationship with his indomitable mother-in-law.
The climactic scene was an outrageous convergence of all of major characters, who arrive at the Manning mansion. They don't knock or ring the doorbell, but just seem to materialize inside the home. It is there that Whitney's dream of becoming Queen for a Day will be shattered, as she must exchange her scarlet dress for an orange jumpsuit. Still, the best line in the film was given to Whitney, who exclaimed with a sigh, "Negative energy is not good for my complexion!"
Very Engaging
Kristamw26 November 2019
Writing Quality: Good and solid with Whitney, a psychotic teen who can't control her impulses and allows her inherited and learned self-entitlement to determine her own fate as well as those who are "less deserving". The acting is well done. Especially engaging is Whitney's home life where we learn that she comes from a long line of mentally disturbed, greedy women.
Scare Factor: Whitney, the MC, is very obsessed about winning at everything. Her mental imbalance shows up in in deranged and cruel ways in her plotting against anyone who gets in her way. Her maniacal laugh will rattle you as much as her self-entitlement that pours from her veins as her insanity drops into full plummet, her selfish motives fully encouraged and pushed by her own mother and grandmother, who are equally disturbed.
Content (sex, language, & violence): There is a sex scene between two adults though no nudity and the scene is cut short and shown at a distance. There is also a quick reveal of a woman in lingerie. A couple instances of bit**. Violence is localized and minimal, with one instance of a character stabbing another with a syringe, a character throwing her head into her fists, and scenes where a character smashes things and throws things in a verbal rage.
Values & Themes: Getting to the truth. Protecting one's child.
Scare Factor: Whitney, the MC, is very obsessed about winning at everything. Her mental imbalance shows up in in deranged and cruel ways in her plotting against anyone who gets in her way. Her maniacal laugh will rattle you as much as her self-entitlement that pours from her veins as her insanity drops into full plummet, her selfish motives fully encouraged and pushed by her own mother and grandmother, who are equally disturbed.
Content (sex, language, & violence): There is a sex scene between two adults though no nudity and the scene is cut short and shown at a distance. There is also a quick reveal of a woman in lingerie. A couple instances of bit**. Violence is localized and minimal, with one instance of a character stabbing another with a syringe, a character throwing her head into her fists, and scenes where a character smashes things and throws things in a verbal rage.
Values & Themes: Getting to the truth. Protecting one's child.
Deliciously Vengeful Sweet Psycho!
cecilbeltwayblog24 October 2020
As for the like, kajillions of LMN *psycho* movies I've seen, this one pretty much tops my favorites list!
oh how i love to hate a well-played mean girl! of course, the plot line seems completely implausible (although with today's millenial kids, maybe not SOO far fetched?? lol) but it definitely magnifies many subtle little idiosyncrasies from high school social life that will probably always be relevant no matter what generation.
Overall, well acted, good cast, good production quality & script - loved the payoff scene at the end.. this one is on my DVR in my 'bad girls night' watch list, permanently!
oh how i love to hate a well-played mean girl! of course, the plot line seems completely implausible (although with today's millenial kids, maybe not SOO far fetched?? lol) but it definitely magnifies many subtle little idiosyncrasies from high school social life that will probably always be relevant no matter what generation.
Overall, well acted, good cast, good production quality & script - loved the payoff scene at the end.. this one is on my DVR in my 'bad girls night' watch list, permanently!
Somewhat watchable camp
CranberriAppl17 December 2021
Warning: Spoilers
There's a lot to cringe at here, but I finished it. Truth be told, I only watched it for Ashley Jones who I know from B&B (the campiest soap still on tv). She's not the best actress, but her soap background fits right in with this over the top flick.
Lifetime has better movies with this theme, and the way Granny, Mom, and Whitney behave, and how rich they are supposed to be, this movie should have gone with a debutante pageant or something bigger than homecoming queen. It was just silly how serious they took freaking homecoming. A debutante ball would have made more sense given Granny and Mom's level of involvement. Mind you, this wasn't a private school; it was your basic Lifetime high school. Nothing about it warranted the extreme behavior. I kept asking myself who cares about this. Also, since Whitney apparently is a good student without her mother's interference, it could have been a debutante (or equivalent) pageant competition with a scholarship connected to it. Would have made Whitney a more gray area character and given this absurd movie some depth.
The character of Whitney was the standard mean girl. I think it would have been better had her bad behavior maybe been more under the radar? She wasn't exactly Taylor from She's All That. We can blame the adults in her life for spoiling her and teaching her terrible morals, but she was just a bad person. She was willing to do way too much to everyone for me to believe she'd actually win. But I get it, Lifetime churns and burns movies, so there will be some that are more of a farce than others.
As usual, the "police investigation" part of the movie was lame. Tired of movies having characters steal stuff and take to the police. Whitney's rich family's lawyer would have absolutely gotten that illegally taken DNA thrown out..which would blow the whole case. I get it's a movie, but come on.
Watch as background noise once while you're doing something else . I don't think this movie is worth making the focus of your evening.
Lifetime has better movies with this theme, and the way Granny, Mom, and Whitney behave, and how rich they are supposed to be, this movie should have gone with a debutante pageant or something bigger than homecoming queen. It was just silly how serious they took freaking homecoming. A debutante ball would have made more sense given Granny and Mom's level of involvement. Mind you, this wasn't a private school; it was your basic Lifetime high school. Nothing about it warranted the extreme behavior. I kept asking myself who cares about this. Also, since Whitney apparently is a good student without her mother's interference, it could have been a debutante (or equivalent) pageant competition with a scholarship connected to it. Would have made Whitney a more gray area character and given this absurd movie some depth.
The character of Whitney was the standard mean girl. I think it would have been better had her bad behavior maybe been more under the radar? She wasn't exactly Taylor from She's All That. We can blame the adults in her life for spoiling her and teaching her terrible morals, but she was just a bad person. She was willing to do way too much to everyone for me to believe she'd actually win. But I get it, Lifetime churns and burns movies, so there will be some that are more of a farce than others.
As usual, the "police investigation" part of the movie was lame. Tired of movies having characters steal stuff and take to the police. Whitney's rich family's lawyer would have absolutely gotten that illegally taken DNA thrown out..which would blow the whole case. I get it's a movie, but come on.
Watch as background noise once while you're doing something else . I don't think this movie is worth making the focus of your evening.
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