Mommy’s Little Angel
Stars: Amanda Clayton, and Morgan Neundorf
Listen to the Lifetime Uncorked Podcast here!
Watch & Stream the movie here! #Ad
Synopsis (via Lifetime)
Twelve-year-old Katie has had a short but rough life. When her mother dies from an apparent suicide, her cousin, Nikki, and her husband, Luke, decide to adopt her. Katie adores her new family and will not let anyone—including her abusive and mentally deranged father—take her away from them.
Thoughts
The movie starts off with a mother (Shawna) and her young daughter (Katie) who are trying to stop a burglar from getting into the house, he is literally shouting “Let! Me! In!” Turns out the burglar is her abusive/ex-con husband and the father of her child. To get away from the Mr. Crazy, Katie and Shawna move into Nikki’s house. (Shawna’s cousin). It is the perfect escape (so they think): it is a house with an alarm and far enough away that they can have peace of mind.
Katie seems like a little angel (hence the movie’s title). She has a cute speech impediment and bangs. She seems very concerned about her Mom’s pill intake and want to be sure her dad won’t be coming back for them. Then Katie is looking out the window and she sees a dog, she air points a gun at the dog, shoots and then says “You DIE.” We also see Katie staring at an open drawer of knives, then slamming it shut shouting “NO!” She also stabs a stuffed cat with a sharp stick and says “I hate everything!”
B storyline: Nikki is trying to get pregnant and Skypes her husband who is in the army. He will be back in town in a few weeks and is pleased that Nikki is helping take care of his cousin that he never met.
Shawna’s pills mysteriously go missing (Katie totally stole them) and she frantically tries to get them replaced. On her way to the doctor’s office, Shawna is confronted by her Mr. Crazy (Daren) who punches her out and then throws her over the edge of the parking structure. The police rule it as a suicide, little do they know that Katie was the one who arranged for Daren to meet her in the parking garage via text.
Nikki is informed that Shawna was a drug addict and that social services will be coming to take Katie and place her in a foster home. Nikki goes home and breaks the news to Katie, who takes it pretty well! (Nikki on the other hand is a mess.) They hug as Katie tries to console her new “Aunt” Nikki. Katie tells Nikki that she wants to live with her and not go back to her dad. After a temper tantrum, Nikki tells Katie that if it were up to her should would take her in. Unfortunately, it isn’t up to her and Child services come to take Katie to a foster home until Nikki can lawyer up and get guardianship. She promised Katie it will be alright (after Katie freaks out on a table full of dishes).
At foster care, Katie gets into a power struggle with another girl after admitting that she hates people and can’t stop herself from doing bad things. The other little girl asks if Katie has ever killed anyone or started a fire and then taunts her and calls her a liar. Late in the evening she is visited by her dad (Daren) with whom she has been conspiring to kill her mother. He gives her a tiara for a job well done and a hug. The next morning while the other little girl is showering, Katie crushes up pills and put them in her drink. (Causing her to OD).
The child services worker (Gloria) comes to take Katie to Nikki’s house. While baking cookies they discuss Nikki’s attempts to get pregnant. Katie offers to be her child instead of some new baby. She even goes as far to tell Aunt Nikki that she wants to call her mommy and will be a perfect little angel. (They say the title! Yay!) After seeing a child phycologist, Katie is given the all clear to live with her new mommy.
They go back to Katie’s original town for the funeral (and to settle up some things at the house). Katie meets with her dad in the back of the cemetery, where she tells him that she hates it at Aunt Nikki’s and wants to live with him. Then immediately goes and tells Aunt Nikki that she doesn’t want to live with her dad… Seriously, what is her angle?!?
Nikki, of course, gets pregnant. This makes Katie extremely jealous. Katie sets up her dad to appear to be kidnapping her. He is caught by Nikki, who runs and calls the police. Katie meanwhile grabs a knife, stabs her dad, and then pushes Nikki down the stairs. As her dad is crawling down the driveway to escape, Katie runs him over with the car, killing him. Katie promise to be a good kid from then on.
Her attempt to kill Nikki’s baby didn’t work and Katie is placed under psychiatric treatment. They recommend that it be a in-patient treatment. Nikki convinces her husband to take Katie in, despite doctor recommendations. She is also put on bed rest, causing Luke to have to take care of her and Katie. He is creeped out by Katie and shares his feelings with Nikki. Of course, Katie overhears the conversation and has a full on meltdown (breathing heavily and hitting herself in the head. While wearing a striped shirt and polka dots, like a TRUE psycho). She goes downstairs and grabs a knife and trashes her room. She colors on the walls, cuts the heads off of her toys (and birds), and leaves a nasty letter that reads:
“Dear Mommy I hate you and Luke. I hope you die and I hope your baby dies too.”
Nikki calls the police, while Luke runs to the woods (they previously went hiking together ) to look for Katie. He certainly finds her her. She jumps him on the hiking path and shanks him with a knife! She menacingly waves the knife at Luke, while he holds his stomach bleeding on the ground. Before he passes out from blood loss, get grabs his phone from his cargo shorts and calls the police and Nikki to let her know where he is.
Katie is on a rampage and stabs another jogger on the hiking trail and steals his car keys. Then she heads directly to “Mommy” Nikki’s house and threatens to kill her with the knife. Katie locks Nikki out of the house and dumps gasoline all over the house and lights the house on fire. The bedridden Nikki goes back in the house to try to get Katie out. Katie knocks Nikki’s knees out with a baseball bat leaving her to burn in the house, while crying in the driveway.
“I didn’t mean to do it! I Didn’t mean to!
Flash forward: Nikki and Luke are both fine and have their new baby. They receive a letter from Katie and she appears to be doing better. They are heartbroken that Katie is institutionalized. Fade to black.
Side Note
Screen writer Christine Conradt has 64 credits on IMDB, most of which are Lifetime movies.
Don’t forget to listen to the Lifetime Uncorked Podcast available on iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts!
Donate to keep the blog and podcast going 😊
Overall rating
🔪🔪🔪🔪 (4 Knives)
🍷🍷🍷🍷 (4 glasses of wine required)
*Photo Credit: © 2018 Lifetime
