One Nightmare Stand (2018 Lifetime)
Stars: Gina Holden, Johnny Lee, Corin Nemec
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Synopsis (via Lifetime)
A mother and wife finds herself haunted by a brief affair she had while separated from her husband. With her scorned lover refusing to give up, she must fight to keep her family and her secret safe.
Thoughts
The movie starts with a mother and daughter on a bridge. The daughter is about to be executed by a man with a gun. YIKES!
Flash to weeks earlier, Stephanie (the mother) is getting a divorce from her husband, Kevin. They argue in the driveway, and Kevin takes the kids (Anna and Robby.) for a weekend vacation. With the kids out of town, Stephanie goes out on for drinks with her friend Shelley. Shelley wants Stephanie to embrace her newfound freedom and encourages her to hook up with a young twink. He is a little too babyfaced, but these ladies are thirsty.
Stephanie and the young twink talk about their desires and have desert. The young twink’s name is Brady, and he claims he is 26, but my dude looks 16 at best. The hookup and it is tragically unsexy, and Stephanie hightails it out of there in the middle of the night. The hookup does wonders for Stephanie’s writer’s block the next day, so she keeps going back for more.
When Stephanie’s children come back from vacation early, she pumps the brakes on the relationship with Brady. Kyle moves back into his house with the family, and they are giving the marriage another shot. Brady doesn’t take the news well and tells Stephanie that he loves her. Stephanie says that she doesn’t love him and gives him back a bracelet he got her. Brady drops the bracelet in a drink. (Because, why???)
Of course, Stephanie isn’t rid of Brady that easily. He goes to the same school and is a year older than her daughter, Anna. Anna starts dating him and brings him home to meet her mother. Stephanie is shocked, and Brady is cocky AF. (He did somehow manage to trick a grown-ass woman into thinking he wasn’t 18, even though he looks 16. Stephanie is instant that Anna NOT date the man she dated all summer.
Anna calls it off with Brady. Brady takes that as a sign that Stephanie wants to be with him and starts showing up at the house. He even watches the family through a window while drinking a beer. While the family is away during the day, Brady confronts Stephanie. He drugs her, lays her on a bed and undresses her, and takes pictures of her incapacitated body. Does he rape her? Ugh. I think he does. When she wakes up, Stephanie heads downstairs to find her daughter talking on the phone with Brady!
Brady isn’t only entangling himself with Anna; he wins over Kyle and their son Robby too. Little Robby gets closed in the garage with the car running and almost dies. Stephanie can’t go to the police because she was sleeping with a minor. She tries to pay him off, but Brady only wants Stephanie.
Stephanie starts looking into Brady’s background and family life. He says that his mother passed away and his father is away on an extended business trip. Stephanie is not buying that. She trails Brady when he leaves school and follows him to a rundown part of town. Stephanie sees Brady argue with his father, who is not away on business and is, in fact, an alcoholic.
To stop Anna and her entire family from spending time with Brady, Stephanie accuses him of lying about his family and selling drugs! Kyle is on board with Brady getting the boot; Anna is less so. She takes Brady back after he charms her with champagne and a fancy hotel room. The charm doesn’t last long when Brady forces himself on Anna and tells her, “Don’t be like your whore mother.” Anna escapes and returns home to cry in her mother’s arms.
The next day, Stephanie talks with the principal who is like, GO TO THE POLICE!!!
Kyle gets an email with videos and photos of Stephanie and Brady together. He explodes and demands an explanation. When Stephanie gives a lame explanation, he tells her she is responsible for everything that is happening to the family. He calls the police.
In a parking lot, Anna is abducted by Brady with a gun. Brady calls Stephanie and has her meet him on a bridge where they had a romantic date earlier in the movie,
Back at the beginning of the movie, Anna is on the bridge held at gunpoint. Stephanie pretends not to be over Brady and says she is choosing him. Brady lets Anna go so he can have Stephanie. She knocks the gun out of his hand and shoots him off the bridge. (The shot and reaction here are so delayed, I thought she missed. Maybe she did, and he is still alive?)
Stephanie has her new book published, and the family takes a Christmas vacation. As they pull out of town, Stephanie sees Brady in his car.
Side Note
Minority Report: Principal
If the gender roles were reversed, this would still be creepy AF. So I’m going to say this type of story can stop being written.
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Overall rating
🔪🔪 (2 Knives)
🍷🍷🍷 🍷 (4 glasses of wine required.)
*Photo Credit: © 2018 Lifetime
