Christina Reviews The Lifetime Network

What can I say?  This channel is a guilty pleasure for me.  It's not that I like seeing women triumph in the face of adversity.  I probably just like the adversity part.

Here are some of my favorites.



The Babysitter’s Seduction

Stephen Collins and Keri Russell star in this movie about an 18 year old babysitter (Michelle) who is seduced by the evil father of her charges.  Early in the movie, the children’s mother is found by Michelle, shot dead in the kitchen of her mansion.  At first, it’s assumed to be a suicide.  But when those investigating the case begin to suspect that it was a murder, Michelle is one of the suspects.  It’s an assumption that the husband does little to discourage.
It’s kind of awkward watching Reverend Eric Camden play a psychopath, and Felicity is little more than a dumb ditz.  Ah, I shouldn't say that.  She finds out what's going on in the end and there's a big showdown in the final minutes of the movie.  This is standard Lifetime fare.

Fatal Vows: The Alexandra O’ Hara Story

Alexandra O’Hara (Cynthia Gibb, Gypsy) is a single mother of a little boy named Ryan.  When she meets Nick Pagan (John Stamos, Full House), she thinks that she’s found the man of her dreams.  But not long after they marry, he begins acting weird.  There are several murders that occur around the city, and the victims all seem to be women and girls that Nick knows.   When he starts acting violent toward her and Ryan, she decides that enough is enough.  But Nick is a man who won’t take no for an answer. 

Ben Gazzara plays Nick Pagan’s pedophile father and David Faustino (Married…With Children, Killer Bud) plays Nick’s conflicted nephew.

Fatal Vows is based on the true story of Alejandro Henriquez.   He killed a handful of Hispanic women and children in New York years ago, one of which was a 10 year old girl named Jessica Guzman.  Most of the victims in this movie are white.  And John Stamos is as white as they come (that is if you consider Greeks to be white).  But this is one of my favorite Lifetime movies, and that’s because I like watching Uncle Jesse act tortured and go on a murderous rampage. 

Gone In the Night

Cindy Dowaliby and David Dowaliby find themselves at the center of an investigation when their 7 year old daughter is abducted from her home in the middle of the night. 

This is the true story of the abduction and murder of Jaclyn Dowaliby.  The movie is four hours long and it stars Shannen Doherty and Kevin Dillon as the mother and father of Jaclyn.  I've been fascinated by this case ever since I was 8 years old and first heard about it on the radio.
 

The Killing Secret

Punky Brewster plays a girl who dates someone else’s boyfriend unknowingly, gets pregnant by him, and when he finds out she’s having his baby, he kills her.  His real girlfriend begins to suspect that there’s something going on with her boyfriend, but this is long after she befriends the mother of the missing (dead) girl.

Nightmare in Columbia County

This movie is based on the real life murder of Shari Smith---sister of beauty pageant contestant Dawn Smith. 

Shari is abducted by a man named Larry Gene Bell while getting mail from the mail box at the foot of her driveway.  She is missing for several days.  Her family pleads for her safe return.  While she’s missing, Dawn and her family get phone calls from a madman who claims to be Shari’s abductor.