Adam Harper | Through the Shattered Lens

My best friend Evelyn and I have a long-standing pact. If either one of us dies mysteriously or suddenly disappears, the surviving friend will investigate the crime and bring those responsible to justice.

It’s the type of pact that you make when you realize how much your best friend actually means to you. Fortunately, I’ve never had to keep up my end of the pact because nothing has happened to my best friend. The truth of the matter is that it seems like it would actually be very difficult to independently solve a crime. I know that a lot of people thought that Michelle McNamara did that when she investigated the Golden State Killer but, if you actually read I’ll Be Gone In The Dark and then research the actual facts of the case, you can’t help but notice that all of McNamara’s theories were wrong. It’s not easy investigating a crime without a crime lab or a search warrant or the power to arrest people. There’s a reason why most crimes are solved by detectives and not by well-meaning civilians. Add to that, with my ADHD, there’s no way I’d be able to keep track of whatever clues I did find. Seriously, I fear that I would be useless in that situation.

If only life were a Lifetime movie!

In 2o24’s Danger of Party Island, Mel Dale (Lindsey Dresbach) is a lawyer who is stunned to learn that her carefree sister, Georgia (Andrea Prevatt), has apparently washed up dead on the island of Fang Key. While her anxious mother waits for word in the States, Mel heads down to Fang Key and tries to figure what could have led to her sister’s death. The local police suggests that Georgia was on drugs and trying to cliff dive. Mel says that Georgia never drank or used drugs. (Why would you go to a “party island” if you didn’t drink or use drugs?) The police say that Mel should just go home and let them handle it. Mel says that she has to discover the truth. The police mention that Georgia’s best friend is missing too. Around this time, Mel finally figures out that the police aren’t going to be much help.

Mel’s investigation leads her to darkest corners of a party island. She befriends hunky club owner Jever (James Bobo), despite everyone telling her that Jever is actually bad news. She comes to suspect that Georgia might not even be dead. This suspicion seems to be confirmed when Georgia suddenly starts posting cheerful videos to her social media accounts. Again, everyone tells Mel that she should just go home but Mel is convinced that someone is holding Georgia against her will. Meanwhile, Mel and Georgia’s mother keeps threatening to come to the island and take over the investigation herself.

The cool thing about Danger on Party Island is that all Mel really needs to launch an investigation is a lap top and a good search engine. That certainly gave me some hope because, if I ever do have to solve a crime, I know all of the best search engines. The other good thing about Danger on Party Island is that the island was really pretty. This was a film where the plot was so-so but the scenery was lovely. Director Danny J. Boyle did a good job of contrasting the beauty of the island with the darkness of some of the things going in the shadows.

I just wish that the film had been a little bit more fun. This is a film that did indeed embrace the melodrama but I still found myself wishing that it had embraced it even more. Instead, the film’s big finale felt anti-climatic and things just never got as over-the-top as they should have. Danger On Party Island had a beautiful island but it still needed to be more of a party.

In the end, this Lifetime film held my attention. It didn’t quite live up to the melodramatic promise of its name but at least it suggested that solving a crime isn’t as hard as it looks.

I can only hope!

In 2025’s My Amish Double Life, Lexi Minetree plays Emma, a young Amish woman who suspects that her father was murdered and who starts sneaking into the city so that she can see for herself what life is like amongst the English.

While hanging out at the club with her friend Rebecca (Rebecca Coopes), Emma meets the handsome and charming Heath (Ty Trumbo). When Emma, much like Cinderella at midnight, announces that she has to go home, Heath asks her to meet with him the next day. He says he really likes her. Even though it goes against her way of life, Emma does so. In fact, Emma even ends up at Heath’s large and beautiful home. Unfortunately, when another woman is murdered by a scythe-wielding assailant, Emma finds herself trapped in a web of deception and danger!

Oh, the Amish! I feel kind of bad for them. For the most part, they just want to be left alone but, over the past few years, Lifetime and Hallmark have become obsessed with them. As a result, we’ve gotten several movies about life amongst the Amish. On Hallmark, Amish men and woman are falling in love with the English. On Lifetime, young Amish women are having to solve murders and stand up to condescending male elders. For the most part, most of these films present the Amish as just being a bunch of people who wear old timey clothes and work on farms. And certainly, I imagine that the farms and the clothes are an important part of Amish life but it’s still hard not to feel that most of these movies are simplifying things a bit. If nothing else, they tend to ignore the huge role that both religion and pacifism play in the Amish community. There’s also a tendency to assume that every Amish person secretly yearns to sneak off to the big city. In the movies, the Amish obsess about life amongst “the English.” In reality, it seems to be the other way around.

(I should mention that there’s a fascinating documentary called Devil’s Playground, which follows a group of Amish teenagers on Rumspringa. I recommend it for anyone who is curious about the Amish.)

But what about My Amish Double Life? Is it an entertaining film? Heck yeah, it’s an entertaining film. I mean, let’s set aside the question of accuracy. This is a Lifetime film. You’re not watching it for accuracy. You’re watching it for the melodrama. You’re watching it for the mystery. You’re watching it for the clothes and the houses. That’s why we watch Lifetime films. My Amish Double Life had a good mystery, one that features several viable suspects. Clothes? Not only did we get old timey Amish clothes but we also got sneaking off to the club in the middle of the night clothes! Houses? Heath lives in a mansion and the Amish farmhouses were pretty cozy too! And melodrama? This film totally embraced the melodrama! Lexi Minetree was a sympathetic lead, Lesa Wilson did a good job as her overprotective mother, and Rachel Coopes was a force of chaos as the Amish girl who liked to break the rules. It was an entertaining film, which is the main thing that a Lifetime film should be.

Seriously, though — if you’re in Pennsylvania and you see a horse-drawn buggy on the road, be polite when you pass and don’t gawk. The Amish are just living their lives.