Stalker’s Prey (2017 Lifetime)

Stalker’s Prey (2017 Lifetime)

Cast: Cynthia Gibb, Saxon Sharbino, Alexis Lariviere, Mason Dye

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Synopsis (via Lifetime)

Laura’s life is turned upside down when she is attacked by a shark while celebrating her 18th birthday. She’s rescued by Bruce, a handsome young man just returned home from college. As she recovers, he becomes a local hero for his bravery. As the dust settles, Bruce seems smitten with his damsel in distress, but Laura is not ready to move past the boyfriend she lost in the attack. Bruce shows up in more and more places in her life, but her friends and family can’t see the hints of obsession that she starts picking up from her dreamy rescuer. When she tries to tell him no, she winds up being stalked by a local hero who believes that she owes him her life.

Thoughts

Sandy, a worried mother, comes home to find her daughter Chloe safe in bed, and Laura in a car making out with a shirtless hunk named Nick. Laura is a bad girl, skipping school and acting out. Sandy grounds her daughter for a week… ON HER BIRTHDAY. (Life truly is, so unfair.)

Of course, Laura sneaks out of the house to go to the beach with her BFF, Bre. They see a cute shirtless blonde hunk on the dock and flirt with him. Then they run into their friend Parker and surprise Laura with a birthday boat party! (Well, only Laura and Nick go on the boat.) Nick cuts his leg and lures a shark attack. The shirtless hunk (who now has a shirt on, disappointingly.) saves Laura from the shark. Nick is not so lucky and dies. (Maybe, Laura shouldn’t have snuck out of the house; she should know Cyntiah Gibb is always right.)

The shirtless hunk steals Laura’s phone and then visits Laura in the hospital and watches her sleep. His name is Bruce, and his dad is a politician. (Sandy approves, and maybe has a crush herself.) He gets good press for this father’s campaign. (Interview by basically Galw Weathers from the Scream series.)

Once Laura has recovered and is out of the hospital, Bruce visits her at her home. He invites her to a fancy campaign gala for this father and gives her a necklace. At the gala, she is mistaken for Bruce’s girlfriend. She clarifies to Bruce that she doesn’t want to date him. He apologizes and asks her to go along with it for his parent’s sake. Then he takes her to a pool, and they kiss while listening to “You Made me Love You.” They go for a swim, and after seeing Bruce’s hot bod, Laura sleeps with him. She overhears him talking to the phone and hears him talking to an ex named Allie. The next day when Bruce brings Laura flowers, she tells him she needs some space and isn’t ready to date. (A shark just ate her boyfriend.)

Bruce has news clipping all over his room and practices talking to the press in the mirror repeatedly. He also screams in his car and bangs the steading wheel. Then listens to voicemails from Allie. He is unhinged. His mission is to catch the shark that attacked Laura AND to

Laura goes back to school and is surprised to see that Bruce is her substitute teacher. (Bruce pushed him down the stairs.) It is terrible timing because the photo of them together from the gala if front-page news. The article title? “Love at First Bite.” (Haha! So rude.) Parker and Bruce clash in class, and Parker is sent to detection. So Bruce beats him with a bat and steals his wallet. Parker survives and identifies this attacker is Bruce by his watch. When he confronts Bruce, Bruce tells Parker that next time he will be lucky to survive.

Laura and Bre are concerned to hear about Parker and start to have suspicions about Bruce. Laura has a hard time keeping her distance from him because he begins watching her kid sister after school.

Bre is hit by a car, Bruce does more stalker behavior, and Laura argues with Sandy again. (Sandy doesn’t think that Bruce is a hero and couldn’t be capable of the bad things happening Laura’s life.) He is totally living in her closet at this point.

With no one left to turn to, Laura and Parker decide to track down Allison. (Bruce’s ex-girlfriend.) Allison’s sister informs them that Allison died in a car crash four years ago. Bruce was at the wheel and has been obsessively listening to old voicemails from his dead ex-girlfriend.

Laura tells Bruce that she knows that Allison is dead, and he punches a wall. Bruce tells Laura that he is in charge of her life and controls what she does. He forces her to go on a date with him. (For some reason, she goes.) On the date, Laura acts like she is into him and has Parker record the whole conversation. With evidence that Bruce attacked her friends on tape, Laura feels she has taken care of the Bruce issue.

Bruce murders Parker and drives his car to Laura’s house. When Laura sees her friend’s car she runs out to meet him. That is when Bruce sneaks into the house and blasts, “You Made me Love You.” He gives Laura roses; she stabs him in the leg and screams for him to get out. Bruce grabs her shark bite wound to incapacitate her, throws her in the trunk of his car, and ties her up on his boat.

On the boat, Bruce throws chum in the water to lure the sharks and talks about how much better Allison was that Laure. (Sooo rude, Bruce. Leave Allison in the past!) Laura harpoons Bruce and tries to lock him out of the cabin. Inside, she finds pictures of herself sleeping and a mannequin that Bruce has made to look like Allison.

Laura still has the necklace Bruce gave her, and she threatens to throw it overboard. All he has left of Allison is the necklace, and he dives in the water to get it, getting attacked by a shark in the process. Laura manages to get herself out of the water to safety and cried on the boat. Sandy rushes to her daughter and apologizes for arguing. They hug as the camera pans out.

Side Note

Minority Report: Parker

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Overall rating

🔪🔪🔪 (3 Knives)

🍷🍷🍷 (3 glasses of wine required.)