Johnny Pacar | Through the Shattered Lens

Last night, I watched the latest Lifetime movie premiere, Killer Night Shift!

Why Was I Watching It?

Because it was on Lifetime!

Seriously, as much as I loved watching all of the SyFy shark movies last week, I was ready to return to Lifetime and see what type of melodrama they had to offer this weekend.

I have to admit that I was also intrigued by the title. Killer is a word that shows up in several Lifetime titles but this is the first time that I’ve ever heard of a killer night shift. Some day, I’m going to write a Lifetime movie called Killer Yoga Lesson.

What Was It About?

It was about a couple, David (Johnny Pacar) and Tricia (Christie Burson) Rosen. They’re rich in the way that most Lifetime couples are, in that they own a really big house, Tricia is an online yoga instructor, and David’s business is ill-defined but it keeps him away from home for extended periods of time.

Tricia is also 8 months pregnant! With David away on business, Tricia needs a homecare nurse. She has two to choose from. There’s Irene (Vanessa Reseland), the sullen nurse that’s actually assigned to her. Irene has a shady history of stealing medication and being rude to patients. And then there’s Katy (Cynthia Evans), who is Tricia’s talkative neighbor and who spends all of her time at Tricia’s house.

(I don’t blame her! It’s a really nice house!)

Anyway, since this is a Lifetime film, we know that at least one of the nurses is going to turn out to be crazy and homicidal. But which one?

What Worked?

For the first hour or so, the film did a pretty good job of keeping you guessing as to which nurse would ultimately turn out to be the dangerous one. Both Vanessa Reseland and Cynthia Evans were well cast as two very different nurses. Once it was revealed which nurse actually was the bad nurse, I have to say that she turned out to be even more evil than the typical Lifetime villain.

Shalesha Monique Henderson played Irene’s supervisor, Adele. Though it was a small role, Henderson made a definite impression. We’ve all known someone like Adele, someone who doesn’t have any time for any foolishness and who is too busy to waste time being polite. Adele’s withering look of disgust whenever Irene complained about her assignment was definitely one of the highlights of the film.

What Did Not Work?

The film itself moved a bit slowly and I have to admit that I got a bit depressed while watching it. Despite all of the melodrama, the film wasn’t quite as over the top as a typical Lifetime film. Lifetime movies deal with such traumatic issues that you kinda need those over the top, borderline absurd moments to remind you that it’s only a movie. You really felt their absence in Killer Night Shift.

“Oh my God! Just like me!” Moments

I was in kind of a bad mood yesterday so I related to Irene’s constant bad mood. Sometimes, you just don’t want to say “excuse me” when you shove someone out of the way.

Lessons Learned

There’s a lot of money to be made in yoga.

(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!)

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.