Lindsey Dresbach | 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!

When aspiring writer Nicole Atkins (Lindsey Dresbach) returns to graduate school, she assumes that she’ll take a few creative writing courses and that will be it. Unfortunately, her creative writing professor has come down with a case of mono and his replacement is Daniel Hudson (Ross Jirgl), an arrogant academic with whom Nicole previously had a torrid affair. At time, of course, Nicole didn’t know that Daniel was married to a veterinarian named Valerie (Crystal Day).

It’s an awkward situation but Nicole hopes that her previous relationship with Daniel won’t be a factor in the grades that he gives her. Daniel, meanwhile, seems to be perturbed by the fact that Nicole is getting close to another student, Brandon (Byran Bachman). When one of Nicole’s papers gets an F, Daniel explains that he actually gave her an A. Maybe, Daniel suggests, Brandon hacked into the system and changed her grade, all in an effort to make Daniel look bad.

Meanwhile, students are dying. The police think that the deaths are due to accidental drug overdoses but the viewer knows that there’s a murderer stalking the campus and anyone who has ever had any sort of relationship with Daniel is a potential target!

If this was one of Lifetime’s “Wrong” films, A Professor’s Vengeance would have concluded with Vivica A. Fox showing up at the end and saying, “Looks like you slept with the Wrong Professor” or “You picked the Wrong Major.” However, it’s not a part of the Wrong series, even if it does have a plot that feels like it would have been perfect for the particular franchise. Also, like the majority of the Wrong films, A Professor’s Vengeance is a thoroughly fun and enjoyable Lifetime melodrama, full of lies, sex, death, and a smug man who you just can’t wait to see get his comeuppance. It also has a twist ending and a nicely done dream sequence! Seriously, what more could you ask for from a film like this?

Ross Jirgl is wonderfully hissable as the smug professor but the film is truly stolen by Crystal Day, playing the professor’s wife. Day perfectly captures the fury of a woman who is smart enough to know better than to trust her husband and her building anger as it becomes obvious that he’s cheated on her is one of the best parts of the film. Lindsey Dresbach is a likable heroine and, just as importantly, she’s also believable as someone who could write a short story that someone would actually want to publish. Meanwhile, Bryan Bachman is very sweet and sympathetic as her well-meaning classmate. Of course, it’s not a Lifetime film without a skeptical police detective and, in this film, that role is well-played by Kate Dailey. If I ever committed a crime, I would not want to be questioned by Kate Dailey’s detective. I would probably start naming names as soon as she shot me that first glare.

I very much enjoyed A Professor’s Vengeance. It’s exactly the type of film that made me fall in love with Lifetime in the first place.