Tag Archives: Jake Helgren

So, I Watched Psycho Party Planner (2020, Dir. by Jake Helgren)

Posted on by Dazzling Erin

Kayla Anderson (Lindsey McKeon) wants to give her daughter, Kerry (Cathryn Dylan), a sweet 16 party that she’ll never forget.  She hires a party planner but unfortunately, Lindy Shores (Katrina Begin) is a psycho party planner!  Lindy only gets the job because she murdered the party planner that Kayla really wanted to hire and then she starts trying to corrupt Kerry.  Lindy is who she says she is.  This party is going to be murder!

You know what’s really psycho?  Throwing a big 16th birthday party when you’ve still got an 18th birthday party, a high school graduation party, a college graduation party, an engagement party, a wedding reception, and a divorce party to plan for.  Save your money!  My 16th birthday, I got a cake with one candle and I had to beg my sisters to at least let me have the part with my name on it.  And I was happy to have it!  I didn’t a planner to know how to party.

I liked Psycho Party Planner because the daughter looked like she was 30 but she was still only celebrating her 16th birthday.  It’s good to start denying your age early.  Even though the Psycho Lindy turned out to have a lot of bad things up her sleeve, Kerry still got to have a party.  It didn’t look like a great party to me but it was planned by a psycho party planner so I guess it was as good as it could be.  The high school drill team performed and they were terrible.  They’re not going to get to State with those moves.  “If you can’t handle a birthday party, how are you going to handle the pressure of keeping everyone’s spirits up when our guys are losing to Lake Highlands?” as my old cheerleading coach used to say.

Psycho Party Planner was dumb but fun in a “What did I just watch?” way.  Who would have guessed planning a party could be so dangerous?  I’m going to plan all of my future parties myself so if they turn out to be psycho parties, I’ll know exactly who to blame!

Lifetime Film Review: Killer Dream Home (dir by Jake Helgren)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Oh Hell yeah!

Now, this is a good Lifetime film!

Basically, Killer Dream Home tells the story of Jules (Maiara Walsh) and Josh Grant (John DeLuca).  They’re young.  They’re married.  They’re hot.  Josh never wears a shirt, which is kind of nice.  They’ve just bought a gigantic house that they’re planning on flipping, though there’s no way I would ever give up that house because it’s seriously one of the best that I’ve ever seen.  I mean, the pool alone is bigger than my back yard.  They invite their friend, Bliss (Brooke Butler), to come live with them.  You know that you’ve made it when you’ve got a blonde friend named Bliss.

They also end up hiring an interior designer named Morgan (Eva Mauro) but it turns out that Morgan might not be as perfect as their new house.  First off, it turns out that Morgan’s entire portfolio was made up of pictures that she cut out of magazines.  As soon as Morgan shows up, the first thing that she does is scare away the gardener, with whom she appears to have some sort of deep, dark history.  The second thing she does is suggest to Jules that Josh might be cheating on her with Bliss.  The third thing she does is get undressed while Josh is watching.  Morgan attempts to seduce Josh and Josh is all like, “Just because I don’t own a shirt, that doesn’t make me a man whore!”

And so it goes.  It all leads to murder, of course.  It always does.

Killer Dream Home has everything that you could possibly want from a Lifetime film.  It features beautiful people, beautiful houses, a lot of sex, and a few murders.  (Morgan doesn’t hold back when it comes to killing people.  Just as Jake is apparent allergic to shirts, Morgan is allergic to following a moral code.)  Jake Helgren has directed a lot of these films and he definitely knows not only what the audience wants but also how to deliver it.  Some might complain that Killer Dream Home is not a particularly realistic film but realism is not what we watch films like this for.  We watch films like this for handsome husbands who never wear a shirt and dangerous femme fatales who wear scandalous bathing suits while using the pool.  Lifetime films, at their best, create their own sort of alternative dream world and that’s certainly what Killer Dream Home accomplishes.

Killer Dream Home is a film that you experience more than you watch.  It’s a journey into the heart of Lifetime melodrama, where every house is big and everyone is sexy and every stranger has a mysterious past.  Watch this film for the house and the clothes and the wonderfully arch dialogue.  Watch it for Eva Mauro’s unapologetically intense performance.  Watch it for the scene where Morgan narrowly misses Bliss with a nail gun and then attempts to laugh it off. That nail gun gets quite a workout in Killer Dream Home.  I should probably pick one up because they seem to be very useful.

Killer Dream Home is Lifetime at its best!

What Lisa Watched Last Night #213: Is There A Killer On My Street? (dir by Jake Helgren)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Last night, I watched the latest “premiere” on the Lifetime Movie Network, Is There A Killer On My Street?

Why Was I Watching It?

I have to admit that Lifetime fooled me.  I thought this was a brand new movie, largely because it was listed as having been released in 2020.  When I saw that, I was like, “Well, there’s no way I’m going to miss a new Lifetime movie!  Especially one that isn’t a sentimental Christmas film!”

Well, it turns out that Is There A Killer On My Street has been around for at least two years.  It was originally released under the title The Neighborhood Nightmare, way back in 2018.  When Lifetime aired the movie, they changed the title and apparently, that was enough for this movie to reclassified as a 2020 release.

That said, I’m not angry at Lifetime.  The COVID-19 outbreak shut down a lot of productions and I can only imagine how many Lifetime movies were put on indefinite hold earlier this year.  So, Lifetime picked up an old movie and changed the title.  Big deal.  It was still new to the network, right?

Don’t worry, Lifetime.  I’ve got your back.

What Was It About?

It’s time for another round of sex and sin in the suburbs!  Having escaped from an abusive marriage, Lindsay Porter (Julie McNiven) and her teenage daughter have settled down in a beautiful house in a beautiful neighborhood.  (Seriously, there’s never been an ugly house in a Lifetime movie.)  Lindsay even starts to date her new neighbor, Dr. Stephen Lane (Trevor Donovan).  However, when strange things start to happen and eventually someone shows up dead, Lindsay is forced to consider how much she knows about not just Stephen but her neighbors as well!

What Worked?

I always love a good Lifetime sin-in-the-suburbs film and Is There A Killer In My Street had all the right ingredients.  Melodrama, murder, yoga, swimming pools, a good-looking cast, and a director who was willing to let everyone go just a little overboard.  This was an entertainingly sordid movie and that’s exactly what I was looking for on Friday night.

I will say that the film also did a surprisingly good job of keeping you guessing.  I thought I had figured out who the murderer would be just to then discover that I was totally wrong.  I’m usually really good at predicting who the murderer is going to be in a Lifetime whodunit so I have to give this film a lot of credit for keeping me on my toes.  I’ve seen a lot of these films and it’s always nice to discover that I can still be surprised.

What Did Not Work?

I could nitpick but screw that.  This movie was too much fun for nitpicking.  I mean, let’s be honest.  We’re all pretty much going to be stuck in our current bizarre situation for the forseesable future.  Films like Is There A Killer On My Street are going to be essential for keeping us entertained.

“Oh my God!  Just like me!” Moments

I appreciated that Lindsay and I both have red hair.  I share her struggle.

Lessons Learned

If you even have to ask whether or not there’s a killer on your street, you’re already in trouble.

Lifetime Film Review: Psycho Sister-In-Law (dir by Jake Helgren)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

When one of your in-laws is a psycho, it’s going to lead to some tense family gatherings.  There’s just no way to get around it.  Have you seen those Vrylar commercials where people are screaming at random strangers or the mother is locked away in the kitchen and sobbing all the way through her daughter’s birthday party?  Well, that’s nothing compared to what it’s like to have a murderer drop by a wedding, a reunion, or even a funeral.

From the start of Psycho Sister-in-Law, we know that Zara Downes (Lydia Hearst) is not the ideal in-law.  This is largely due to the seeing Zara murder a woman in Las Vegas.  Now, admittedly, the woman that Zara murdered was kind of mean and she was keeping Zara from finding success as an actress but it’s 2020 and there are other ways to deal with an annoying co-worker.  Murder is never the answer!

Zara, of course, claims that she has had a difficult life.  Her father was very rich man but Zara grew up without him.  Instead, he gave most of his attention and affection to his son, Nick (Brando Eaton) and his fiancée, Callie (Diora Baird).  That’s largely due to the fact that Zara was the result of an affair that he had while married to Nick’s mother.  Still, when Mr. Downes dies, Zara is invited to the reading of the will.

When the will is read, Zara is annoyed to discover that she’s inherited less than both Callie and Nick.  So, Zara sets out to ingratiate herself with Nick and his pregnant wife, Haley (Andrea Bowen).  Zara also goes out of her way to try to upset Callie. When Nick says that he’s considering giving their father’s mansion to Callie, Zara puts her evil plans into overdrive.

And really, who can blame her?  It’s a really nice house!  I mean, I know I say that about almost every Lifetime film but Psycho Sister-In-Law really does feature one of the nicest mansions that I’ve ever seen.  Obviously, I don’t want to compare myself to Zara because she does kill a few people over the course of the movie but still, I’m not totally sure that I wouldn’t go a little bit crazy over that house myself.

Most Lifetime films do require a certain suspension of disbelief.  That’s something that we’ve all come to accept about the Lifetime genre and I’m certainly not going to complain about it.  The fact that people in these movies often make stupid mistakes is one of the things that make them so entertaining.  (And before we get too judgmental regarding fictional characters, who among us hasn’t made a stupid mistake or two?)  That said, Psycho Sister-In-Law really stretches that suspension of disbelief to its breaking point.  I mean, it’s nice that Haley wants everyone to get along but, at some point, you really do have to be willing to put your foot down and say, “Hey, if you’re obviously plotting on killing everyone in the house, you’re going to have to leave.”  Zara’s villainy was so obvious that you really did have to wonder if Haley and Nick were just being intentionally blind to it.

That said, the melodrama is certainly embraced and the house is really nice.  There’s a neat and unexpected twist towards the end of the movie and Lydia Hearst appears to be having a blast playing her murderous role.  It’s a fun movie, even if Nick and Haley’s naiveté will have you rolling your eyes until you’re dizzy.

What Lisa Watched Last Night #198: Psycho Stripper (dir by Jake Helgren)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Last night, I watched the latest Lifetime premiere, Psycho Stripper!Why Was I Watching It?

Why was I watching it?  Seriously, with a name like Psycho Stripper, how couldn’t I watch it!?  There’s an art to coming up with a good title and whoever came up with Psycho Stripper has obviously perfected that art.  The title was so great that I even abandoned the neighborhood Cinco De Mayo party early, just so I could watch the movie in the comfort of my own home.  That’s the power of a perfect title!

Also, I have to give some credit to Lifetime, here.  Before they showed Psycho Stripper, they showed Magic Mike.  So, on Sunday night, viewers got a chance to see two separate versions of the life of a male stripper, the yellow-tinted Steven Soderbergh version (seriously, I like Magic Mike but, whenever I watch it, I worry all that yellow is going to burn my retinas) and the wonderfully over-the-top Lifetime version!

What Was It About?

Amber (Karissa Lee Staples) owns her own dance studio, has a lot of friends, and is about to get married to the wealthy (if kinda wimpy) Owen (Mark Hapka).

Hunter (Tyler Johnson) is a handsome and charming male stripper who dresses up like a fireman, can change a flat tire, and who happens to be really good with an ax.

Together, they solve crimes!

No, not really.  Instead, Hunter shows up at Amber’s bachelorette party.  He’s supposed to just be a part of the night’s entertainment but, instead, Hunter keeps showing up wherever Amber happens to be.  First, he just wants dance lessons.  Then, he’s kind of dating Amber’s best friend, Taryn (Rachele Brooke Smith).  Then, he’s bringing Amber a gift to thank her for the lessons.  Suddenly, he’s asking Amber if she wants to get lunch!  Amber doesn’t think that it’s a good idea for her to have lunch with Hunter, especially since Owen seems to have a hang-up about her hanging out with a mysterious man who has a great body.

Then again, Owen has issues of his own.  For instance, he doesn’t seem to have quite gotten over his previous girlfriend, the one who died mysteriously….

What Worked?

Okay, so I absolutely loved this movie.  I mean, how couldn’t I?  It combined two of my favorite things: over-the-top, in-your-face melodrama and dancing!  This movie was a lot of fun and Tyler Johnson really threw himself into playing the role of the psycho stripper.

The film also had a bit of a subversive side, as well.  Hunter may be a psycho but you still kind of find yourself on his side, if just because everyone else in the movie is so judgmental of him and how he makes his living.  Owen’s family is extremely wealthy and all of his friends are extremely privileged.  When they start giving Hunter a hard time about being a stripper (with one of them even throwing a dollar bill at him), you can’t help but feel a little bit bad for him.  (Of course, then he starts killing people and you’re like, “Okay, never mind….”)

My favorite character was Taryn, who was not only a good dancer but also the greatest best friends that one could possibly hope for.  She got all the best lines.  My personal favorite was, “We’re going to get in this car and plow his ass down!”

What Didn’t Work?

It all worked.  This was Lifetime at its best.

“Oh my God!  Just like me!” Moments

A Lifetime film set in a dance studio?  To be honest, almost the entire film was an “Oh my God!  Just like me!” moment.  I related to Taryn.  I’d like to think that, if there was a psycho wandering around outside, I too would be smart enough to grab a knife before going outside.

The last Bachelorette Party that I went to had a stripping fireman, just like this movie.  However, I don’t think he ever killed anyone.  Actually, rumor has it that he was a real fireman who had too much to drink that night.  Who knows?  Life is indeed a crazy tapestry.

Lessons Learned

Beware of strippers bearing gifts.

Lisa Cleans Out Her DVR: The Good Nanny (dir by Jake Helgren)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

(I am currently in the process of cleaning out my DVR!  It’s going to take forever because I’ve got over a 150 movies to watch!  Anyway, I recorded The Good Nanny off of Lifetime on May 15th.)

Poor Summer Pratt (Briana Evigan).

No sooner has she gotten engaged to Clint (Ben Gavin) then she suffers a miscarriage, losing the baby that she didn’t even know that she was carrying.  Before she has even had a chance to emotionally recover from her loss, Summer is offered a job.  Lilly Walsh (Ellen Hollman) wants hire Summer to be her interior designer.  Summer doesn’t particularly like Lilly, who drinks a bit too much, has a controversial past, and tends to come across as being just a little bit fake.  In fact, Summer would rather not take the job at all but Lilly just happens to married to Clint’s boss (Peter Porte).  Mostly in order to help Clint’s career, Summer takes the job.

While Clint goes out of town on business, Lilly moves into the Walsh mansion.  (As one would expect from a Lifetime movie, the house is absolutely gorgeous.)  It turns out the Walshes need more than just an interior designer.  Their nanny has quit and they need a new one immediately.  Summer takes the job and that’s where things start to get strange.

The Walshes insist that their daughter, Sophie (Sophie Guest), has borderline personality disorder and is accident prone.  Summer, however, suspects that they are abusing Sophie and even comes to believe that they might not actually be Sophie’s parents.  When she sees that Sophie’s shoulder is scarred, Summer grows even more concerned.  And, of course, there’s the fact that Summer regularly talks about a mysterious girl named Sasha and she also sleeps with a pair of scissors.

(Admittedly, I used to do the same thing but that was just because I was sixteen and I was pretending that I was in a horror movie.)

Is Summer right?  Are the Walshes abusing their daughter?  Or, are the Walshes telling the truth about Sophie?  Could Sophie be one of those crazy children who always seem to show up in Lifetime movies?  Or could it be that Summer, herself, is imagining things?  Has the loss of her own child left hrt susceptible to delusion?  Are her frequent nightmares evidence of her own instability or do they mean something else?

I really liked The Good Nanny.  It was enjoyably weird and over the top, featuring some memorably off-center performances, especially from Kym Jackson, who gives a ferocious performance as a character who I can’t say too much about.  Particularly for a Lifetime film, The Good Nanny is gorgeously shot, with Summer’s nightmares being appropriate creepy and full of shadows and there’s a wonderful harshness to the look of the film’s beach-set finale.  The film’s twisty plot will keep you guessing.  Just as in real life, you’ll never be sure who is crazy or who is just obnoxious.

The Good Nanny is definitely one to keep an eye out for!

Cleaning Out The DVR Yet Again #35: 10 Year Reunion (dir by Jake Helgren)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

(Lisa recently discovered that she only has about 8 hours of space left on her DVR!  It turns out that she’s been recording movies from July and she just hasn’t gotten around to watching and reviewing them yet.  So, once again, Lisa is cleaning out her DVR!  She is going to try to watch and review 52 movies by the end of Thursday, December 8th!  Will she make it?  Keep checking the site to find out!)

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10 Year Reunion premiered on the Lifetime Movie Network on October 23rd, 2016.

Recently, I’ve been re-reading some of the comments that have been left underneath some of my Lifetime reviews and it’s become very evident that not everyone seems to understand what makes a good Lifetime movie.  So often, I find people complaining that a Lifetime film was “implausible” or “melodramatic.”

Well, to quote my Aunt Kate, who has a way with words, “No shit, Sherlock.”

That’s exactly why people like me — i.e, intelligent, beautiful, happy people — love Lifetime films.  Lifetime films are supposed to be melodramatic.  They’re supposed to be implausible.  They’re supposed to be so frequently over the top that they verge on camp.  That’s the entire point!  The best Lifetime films are the ones that feature wild plot twists and which don’t always worry about things like logic.  Lifetime is all about having fun and that’s what their best films are all about.

Here’s what you need to ask yourself while watching a Lifetime film — am I having fun?  If you’re having fun, then it’s a good movie.  It’s not that complicated.

For instance, let’s consider 10 Year Reunion.  I fucking loved 10 Year Reunion!  Of all the pseudo-horror films that Lifetime showed in October, 10 Year Reunion was the best.

Does the film always make sense?

No, not really.

Does the film feature a lot of melodrama?

Hell yeah!

Does the film go totally over the top during the last 14 minutes?

You better believe it!

It’s great!

10 Year Reunion tells the story of five friends who, during their senior year of high school, wrote down all of their deepest and darkest secrets and put them in a box.  One girl wrote about sleeping with her friend’s boyfriend.  Another girl wrote about purposefully scoring badly on a test so that another girl could be the valedictorian and get a scholarship to college.  They entrusted the box to Abby and Abby buried it somewhere.

And then Abby died.  She was at a party and she apparently drank too much and died of alcohol poisoning.  Of course, since this is a Lifetime film, we know that there’s more to it than that.  One of the still-living girls poisoned Abby!

But who?

Ten years pass and everyone returns for their high school reunion.  Despite their best efforts to leave the past behind, everyone is still haunted by the death of Abby.  That’s especially true of Carly (Kacey Clarke).  It turns out that, before she died, Abby left clues that would lead her friends to the hiding place of the box.  Now, ten years later, Carly is determined to track down those clues, dig up the box, and learn those secrets!  Her friends tell her not to bring up the ghosts of the past.  A hooded figure keeps popping up and trying to kill Carly.  And, of course, Carly starts to fall for her old high school crush but he might have secrets of his own!

Or he might not.  He might be a red herring.

You’ll have to watch the movie to find out!

And I think you should watch the movie.  10 Year Reunion is an unbelievably fun and well-put together Lifetime film.  Yes, it’s totally melodramatic and often implausible and over the top.  Yes, it is the type of film where the passive-aggressive behavior starts with catty comments and then quickly escalates to a car blowing up.  And yes, this is the type of film that ends with two people dueling with a shovel and hedge clippers.

But, oh my God, it is so much fun!

Here’s the important thing: it’ll keep you guessing, it’ll make you roll your eyes in a good way, it’ll inspire you to shout at the screen, and it all takes place in a really nice house.  And, for the most part, the clothes are to die for.

What more could you ask for from a Lifetime film!?

10 Year Reunion is a freaking masterpiece.  Anyone who doesn’t get it is taking life too seriously.

Cleaning Out The DVR Yet Again #13: Honeymoon From Hell (dir by Jake Helgren)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

(Lisa recently discovered that she only has about 8 hours of space left on her DVR!  It turns out that she’s been recording movies from July and she just hasn’t gotten around to watching and reviewing them yet.  So, once again, Lisa is cleaning out her DVR!  She is going to try to watch and review 52 movies by Wednesday, November 30th!  Will she make it?  Keep checking the site to find out!)

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Now that Thanksgiving has passed and that I’m back home, it’s time for me to get back to cleaning out the DVR.  As a result of my own arbitrary time limit, I have 4 days to watch and review 40 films.  Will I make it!?  Well, we’re about to find out.

Earlier today, I finally got around to watching Honeymoon From Hell!  Honeymoon from Hell originally aired on the Lifetime Movie Network on July 16th!  I can’t remember exactly why I missed it.  Maybe I was watching a killer shark movie.  But anyway, I just watched it and I’m glad that I did!

Honeymoon From Hell was originally entitled The Legend of Alice Flagg.  Who, you might be asking, is Alice Flagg?  In 1849, Alice Flagg was a young woman living in South Carolina.  Alice’s wealthy family was aghast when she fell in love with a common lumberman.  Alice, however, refused to end their relationship.  When the lumberman gave her an engagement ring, Alice knew she couldn’t wear it on her finger so, instead, she attached it to a ribbon and wore it around her neck.  After briefly trying to run away from her controlling family, Alice was taken ill and died.  Her father refused to allow her to be buried with her wedding ring and, as a result, it’s said that the ghost of Alice still haunts South Carolina.  She comes out at night and searches for her wedding ring.

Honeymoon From Hell opens with newlyweds Julia (Lexi Giovagnoli) and Rivers (Adam Hagenbach) listening as a tour guide tells the story of Alice Flagg.  Julia immediately relates to the story.  She also comes from a wealthy family and she has also upset her father by marrying someone from “outside of her class.”  Rivers, on the other hand, is dismissive of the story.  When the tour guide mentions that Alice’s spirit can be summoned by running in a circle around her grave, Rivers proceeds to do just that.

Bad Rivers!

However, at the moment, Rivers and Julia are more concerned with the hurricane that is projected to be heading towards South Carolina.  They get a room in a bed and breakfast that’s run by a seemingly friendly but somewhat odd woman named Hazel (Catherine Hicks).

Julia, who has yet to tell Rivers that she’s pregnant, soon starts to feel that something bad is about to happen.  She’s having strange dreams and, occasionally, she thinks that she sees a mysterious young woman watching her.  (And yet, the woman is always gone upon a second look.)  When Julia sees her husband talking to the flirtatious Janelle Gamble (Cameron Richardson), she starts to get paranoid.  The nightmares get worse.  And then, of course, someone tries to stuff a pillow over her face…

Meanwhile, the storm is approaching…

And Julia has lost her wedding ring…

Honeymoon From Hell was full of atmosphere and creepy melodrama.  Lexi Giovagnoli and Adam Hagenbach make for a likable couple while Cameron Richardson gets all the best lines as Janelle.  Catherine Hicks is wonderfully eccentric as the odd Hazel.  Lifetime’s track record with the horror genre may be uneven but Honeymoon From Hell was a lot of fun.

Film Review: Suicide Note (dir by Jake Helgren)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

(While this review is meant to be a rather breezy look at a minor Lifetime movie, it’s totally possible that you may have come across this review because you’re feeling suicidal yourself.  Maybe you googled, “suicide note.”  Please, if that is the case, consider calling the following numbers: Call 24/7: 800-SUICIDE (784-2433) 800-273-TALK (8255) Text Telephone 800-799-4TTY (4889) Trans Lifeline 877-565-8860.)

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On Saturday night, I watched and live tweeted the latest Lifetime original film.  Unfortunately, I ran into a small problem.  The title of the movie was The Suicide Note and, as a result, I ended up posting a few hundred tweets with the hashtag #SuicideNote.  Apparently, some people were not aware that I was watching a Lifetime film and they actually thought I was spending two hours tweeting out an actual suicide note.  One tweet in particular seemed to worry people:

Well, allow me to assure everyone: I was just talking about the movie.  Adam is a character in the movie and he’s played by Stephen Colletti.  Adam is a pre-med student with a temper.  When his girlfriend, Emma (Kristen Ray), plunges to her death from the rooftop of her dorm, Adam is an immediate suspect.  And why not?  Before Emma died, she was seen having a drunken argument with Adam.  A later search of Emma’s phone reveals threatening text messages from Adam.  Adam is the logical suspect, except for the fact that Emma left behind a suicide note.

What does the note read?

The note reads, “I was not murdered so please don’t suspect my boyfriend.”

No, actually, it doesn’t.  Instead it says, “I’m sorry, please forgive me,” or words to that effect.  Nobody is sure whether or not the handwriting on the note is Emma’s but, since it’s the only evidence that the police have, they decided that Emma must have committed suicide.

However, Emma’s roommate, Molly (Kirby Bliss Blanton), doesn’t believe that Emma committed suicide.  That’s because Molly once tried to kill herself and didn’t see any signs that Emma was suicidal.  With the help of her painter boyfriend, Brady (Brant Daugherty), and her sarcastic best friend, Irene (Lexi Giovagnoli), Molly sets out to solve the crime.  At first, she suspects that Adam is the murderer but this is Lifetime and that solution is way too easy.  As Molly investigates, she discovers that there are all sorts of secrets waiting to be uncovered.

Suicide Note is pretty much a standard Lifetime mystery.  It takes place on one of those Lifetime movie college campuses where there’s only ten students and they all keep running into each other.  Molly also has a mentor, a professor played by Gabrielle Carteris (who, my friend Holly tells me, was on the original 90210.)  My favorite scene was when Molly and Brady were walking across campus, just to be confronted by a jogging and shirtless Adam.  Adam yells that he didn’t kill Emma and then Prof. 90210 shows up and snaps, “GO TO CLASS!”  I wanted Adam to ask whether or not he could at least go get a shirt before going to class but instead, he just jogged off.

One of the things that I did like about The Suicide Note is that it featured some genuinely creepy dream sequences.  Molly has several dreams where she sees Emma’s ghost and several other unsettling things.  The dreams are all very well-shot and brings a jolt of life to the film.

As I said before, Suicide Note is pretty much your typical Lifetime affair.  If you’re not into Lifetime, the film will probably seem pretty silly to you.  But, if you are into Lifetime, you’ll appreciate Suicide Note for what it is.  Just be careful about hashtagging the title.