Tag Archives: Sofia Masson

I Watched Fatal Exposure (2025, Dir. by Sam Coyle)

Posted on by Dazzling Erin

Red flags, girls!  You need to know how and when to spot them!

Photographer Ariel (Sofia Masson) is the victim of a violent home invasion and her sex buddy Derek (Stephen Huszar) just happens to show up a minute later?  Red flag!

The only photograph from Ariel’s exhibit that sells is an erotic selife called “No Daddy Issues” and then Derek suddenly wants to be called “daddy” while in the bedroom?  Guess what?  That’s a red flag!

Derek invites Ariel to his estate for the summer without telling her that he’s a widower and that he has a stepdaughter named Chloe (Jasmine Vaga)?  You better believe that’s a red flag!

Chloe is the same age as Ariel and physically resembles Ariel and calls her stepfather “daddy?”  Red flag, red flag, red flag!

I watched this movie because it was about a photographer and there really aren’t that many non-documentaries about photographers.  I didn’t think that the selfie that Ariel sold was that impressive but some of her other photographs showed a hint of talent.  But a photographer has to be aware of the world around her and she has to be able to see the things that other people miss.  That’s what distinguishes a photographer from someone who just has a camera.  How could any photographer miss all the red flags and all the strange atmosphere inside of Derek’s estate?

(I did like that Ariel had somehow developed a system to allow her to develop film and make prints within seconds.  I’d love to know how she did that.)

Fatal Exposure requires a big suspension of disbelief.  If you can do it, then the film itself is enjoyably trashy.  Derek’s gothic mansion is a great location and the acting wasn’t bad at all.  But you just have to be willing to accept that someone could miss all of those red flags.  Derek was too obviously evil from the start but he did give Ariel a nice studio to work in.  Maybe he wasn’t all bad.

 

Lifetime Film Review: The Wrong Blind Date (dir by David DeCoteau)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

“Looks like he was the wrong blind date!”

You tell them, Vivica A. Fox!

The Wrong Blind Date is the latest of the Lifetime “Wrong” films.  Like all of the “Wrong” films, it was directed by David DeCoteau and it features Vivica A. Fox delivering the film’s title.  It may seem somewhat silly to those who don’t regularly watch these films but, if you’re a fan of the “Wrong” series, you will literally sit through just about anything just for the chance to hear Vivica A. Fox say the movie’s name.  The film’s realize this too.  Lifetime films, at their best, are very self-aware.  None are as self-aware as the “Wrong” films.

In this one, Fox has a supporting role.  She plays Beth, who works as a therapist.  One of her patients is Laura (Meredith Thomas).  Laura has got a lot to deal with.  Her daughter, Hannah (Sofia Masson), has just started going to college and is dating Noah (Rainer Dawn).  Laura and her friend, Angela (Lesli Kay), are trying to launch their own design firm.  Laura is also in the process of getting a divorce from her husband, an abusive ex-cop named Michael (Clark Moore).  Michael is controlling and temperamental and he’s also determined to convince Laura not to go through with the divorce.

When Laura puts her profile on a dating website, she’s shocked by the number of replies that she gets.  One of those replies is from Kevin (Matthew Pohlkamp).  Kevin is handsome and charming and he lives in Beverly Hills.  He lists his job as investment banking.  Kevin has money and he’s so interested in Laura that he even finds a way to contact her after she deletes her dating profile!  At first, Laura thinks that Kevin’s behavior is a little stalkerish but then she agrees to go on one date with him.  And that one date leads to another and then another and then….

But wait a minute!  This is a Lifetime film!  Even more importantly, this is a “Wrong” film.  Those of us who have spent years viewing these movies know better than to trust any perfect man who claims to be wealthy.  Laura may not realize that there’s obviously something sinister about Kevin but we do!  Unfortunately, Laura is so used to her husband acting like a jerk that she’s overly impressed when Kevin does things like refuse to pick a fight with an obnoxious drunk.  It’s only after Laura leaves that Kevin returns to the bar and beats the man up.

Yes, Kevin has some problems.  He’s the wrong blind date.  And it soon becomes apparent that he’s lying about who he is, where he lives, and what he even does for a living.  It’s not a spoiler to tell you that Michael has hired Kevin to fool his wife, all as a part of a rather silly plan to convince Laura to take him back.  But when Kevin starts to become obsessed with Laura, not even Michael can stand in his way.

These films are predictable but fun.  We all know better than to trust Kevin but that doesn’t make it any less enjoyable to watch as Hannah vainly tries to convince her mother that she needs to do a little more research into her new boyfriend’s background.  And, of course, there’s the murders.  There’s always a murder or two in a Lifetime film.  Mereidth Thomas and Sofia Masson are convincing as mother and daughter and Matthew Pohlkamp is credible whether being charming or unhinged.  And, of course, Vivica A. Fox says the name of the movie.  It’s Lifetime, what’s not to enjoy?

Cleaning Out The DVR: The Wrong Cheer Captain (dir by David DeCoteau)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

“She definitely picked the wrong cheer captain,” Carol (Vivica A. Fox) says toward the end of Lifetime’s The Wrong Cheer Captain and what else can I say but, “Damn right!”

Seriously, Anna (Sofia Masson) may be a good cheerleader and she may have a lot of experience and she may have even been recruited to go to her new high school so that she could be a member of the cheerleading squad but she definitely should not have been named captain.  Not only is Anna failing her classes and vaping on school grounds but she also has a bad habit of murdering people!  Of course, Anna only commits murder because a past trauma and because she wants so badly to succeed as a cheerleader but still, murdering is definitely not a good habit.  I mean, if the school has a no vaping policy, I can only imagine what their policy on murder would be!

Perhaps a better pick for cheer captain would have been Carol’s daughter, Kate (Alexis Salmon).  Of course, Kate is actually pretty busy trying to prove that Anna murdered her best friend so it’s not like Kate doesn’t already have a lot to deal with.  Oddly enough, even though the evidence overwhelmingly indicates that Anna is murderer, Kate can’t get anyone to listen to her.  The principal is skeptical.  The cheerleading coach just wants to win competitions.  And Kate’s mother keeps trying to blame everything on drugs.  She even orders Kate not to hang out with her boyfriend because of his past use of steroids….

Wow, there’s a lot going on at this high school!  Who knew that the world of high school cheerleading was so ruthless?

Well, everyone.  Everyone knows that high school cheerleading is perhaps the most dangerous activity that someone can involve themselves with, especially if they’re starring in a Lifetime film.  And if you’re in a Lifetime film that has the word “Wrong” in the title, it’s even more dangerous!  I’ve lost track of how many Wrong films David DeCoteau has directed by Lifetime but it certainly does seem like a lot of them feature cheerleaders.  They also all feature Vivica A. Fox, usually playing a no-nonsense authority figure and ending the film by using the title as a way to sum things up.  “It looks like you hired the Wrong Landscaper,” Vivica will say and, even though you didn’t actually do the hiring and he was instead only sent by an agency, you nod and agree because you know better than to openly disagree with Vivica A. Fox.  Instead, you face the truth and admit that, even if it doesn’t seem that way, you were still somehow wrong.

The Wrong films have become a bit of a Lifetime mainstay, loved for their campy melodrama, their Canadian locations, and, of course, Vivica A. Fox.  The Wrong Cheer Captain has a lot in common with the other Wrong films but then again, that’s part of the appeal of these films.  They’re like comfort food.  You watch them because of their comforting familiarity and because you know exactly what you’re going to get.  The Wrong Cheer Captain delivers exactly what it promises, cheerleader mayhem and plenty of different takes on the term “wrong.”  Who could possibly complain about that?