Last night, I watched the Lifetime original film, Sorority Murder!

Why Was I Watching It?

Well, the obvious answer is that I was watching because it was on Lifetime.  However, beyond that, I had high hopes for this film because Lifetime has a pretty good track record when it comes to over-the-top melodrama about sororities.  Remember The Haunting Of Sorority Row?

What Was It About?

Jen (Scarlett Byrne) has a lot to deal with.  She has just started her first semester at college and she already has a huge design project due.  Her alcoholic mother (Sarah-Jane Redmond) keeps getting arrested and needs her daughter to bail her out.  And, on top of all that, Jen is being harassed by the apparently crazy president of her sorority.

When the president turns up dead, everyone assumes that Jen must have killed her!  However, Jen was alone in her bedroom, working on that design project, when the crime was committed!  Can Jen track down the real murderer before the semester ends?  Will Jen’s mother ever get her drinking under control?  And will Jen ever manage to finish that project!?

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

What Worked?

The film’s title promised both a sorority and a murder and it totally delivered both of those things.  You have to appreciate a film that actually keeps its promises.  The murder mystery was enjoyable, if a little predictable.  I especially enjoyed the way the film portrayed the sorority as almost being a Scientology-style cult.  I was half-expecting someone to start talking about evil Lord Xenu.

Also, I liked the relationship between Jen and her mother.  It was sweet and touching, in the best Lifetime tradition.

What Did Not Work?

Sadly, the film never quite reached the heights of the greatest of all Lifetime sorority films, The Haunting of Sorority Row.  But, when taken on its own terms, the entire film worked.  It was a good Lifetime movie.

“Oh my God!  Just like me!” Moments

I have never been a member of a formal sorority (though I am a member of the unofficial sisterhood of red-headed film bloggers) and I have never killed anyone, though I have been tempted.  So, unfortunately, this was the rare Lifetime film to which I could not directly relate.

Then again, when the film is about murder, that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

(Actually, I did relate to Jen’s desperate attempts to get her design project completed while dealing with all the death, lies, and cover-ups.  What’s sad is that the project itself — which showed that Jen was heavily influenced by the Bauhaus School of Design — did not look like it was that impressive.  I would have given her a C at the most.)

Lessons Learned

Stay away from sororities!  They’re murder.