Kindred Spirits (2019 Lifetime)

Kindred Spirits (2019 Lifetime)

Cast: Bruce Bennett, Thora Birch, Macon Blair

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Synopsis (via Lifetime)

Chloe (Thora Birch) has her life turned upside down when her younger sister, Sadie (Caitlin Stasey), comes home after a long unexplained absence. Though Sadie seems to want to settle in with Chloe and her 17-year-old daughter Nicole (Sasha Frolova), she’s a deeply disturbed young woman with a sinister agenda.

Thoughts

The movie starts with a little girl and her aunt playing in the woods. They almost get hit by a car, but the Aunt grabs the little girl just in time. Flash forward to the present day, and the little girl, named Nicole, is grown up and has a twink boyfriend, named Derek, and her mom is Thora Birch (or Chloe). Thora Birch also has a boyfriend named Alex, who likes her a lot, but the feelings denied.

At school, Nicole does not get along with the other girls and punches one of them in the face. Thora Birch and Nicole come home and find Aunt Sadie swinging on a swing in their front yard. She is back after going MIA for a year and is a free spirit. Aunt Sadie and Nicole are KINDRED SPIRITS. (The title of the movie.) Aunt Sadie moves in and has a heart to heart with Nicole, urging her to talk to her mom and stop being such a stereotypical teenager. In the middle of the night, Aunt Sadie looks in the mirror? (Not sure why. Something is off with Aunt Sadie.)

Aunt Sadie and Nicole dress up and run around the woods while some spooky music plays? Does Aunt Sadie have mysterious flashbacks to when she was younger? (WTF is going on in this movie. Is it Halloween?) Aunt Sadie then takes Nicole and her friend to a high school party. They’re dressed like they are going to a masquerade. Sadie pretends to be homeschooled and makes out with a high schoolboy. She lies about her life and is just acting creepy as hell. He seems into it because he is a teenage boy.

This whole pretending to be in high school thing goes to the next level when Aunt Sadie starts dressing and gets the exact same haircut (or a wig fashioned to look like.) Nicole’s hair. Nicole’s friend even confuses them. Things get really messed up when Derek confuses them, as well. He follows Aunt Sadie into the woods. (Thinking it is Nicole.) They make out, and then Derek realizes it is Aunt Sadie. He stops, but then they have sex in the woods, and Aunt Saide tells Derek not to tell. (They continue to hook up in the woods while Aunt Sadie tells Derek that she loves him while acting like a giddy schoolgirl.)

Aunt Sadie and Nicole share a birthday party, which is an awkward situation. Derek doesn’t give Nicole a gift and wants to leave the party early because he is a cheater. Aunt Sadie makes everything a little more awkward when she tells Nicole’s friend that Thora Birch and Alex (the friend’s dad) have been hooking up. Then Nicole and Thora Birch get into a physical fight, and they both cry. All the drama completely ruins Nicole’s birthday. She isn’t even sure why it is happening.

Later, Aunt Sadie tells Nicole about Thora Birch and Alex. This drives a wedge between mother and daughter even further. She is giving Aunt Sadie more time to spend with Nicole and herself looking in the mirror, having more flashbacks to the incident with the car. Could Aunt Sadie have deliberately put Nicole in harm’s way?

Alex comes over and tells Aunt Sadie about Thora Birch and his feelings for him. She is not happy about that and hits him in the head with a shovel, multiple times. Thinking that Alex is dead, Aunt Sadie leaves the body unattended. When she returns to the attic, she finds Alex crawling for help. Next, we get a gross-out disgusting scene of Sadie pulling and pushing dollhouse furniture from his skull. (100% NO THANK YOU!) After officially killing Alex, Aunt Sadie cleans frames it to look like Nicole did the murder.

Nicole’s friend comes over and is wondering if anyone has seen her dad. No one seems that worried.

Nicole has become disillusioned with her Aunt Sadie. Especially when Aunt Sadie lies to Thora Birch and says Nicole gave her a black eye. Then Nicole catches Aunt Sadie and Derek going to the woods and follows them. Thora Birch also sees them and tracks them as well. Deep in the woods, Aunt Sadie gets on top of Derek and slits his throat. Nicole rushes over and grabs the knife from Aunt Sadie. Thora Birch arrives on the scene and witnesses her daughter standing over the body, bloody, with a knife in hand.

They run back near the road at the top of the movie and fight. Aunt Sadie stops a car and tells them to call the police, pretending to be in danger and making Nicole look guilty AF. The cops interrogate Nicole and don’t buy her story.

Aunt Sadie doesn’t get away with it due to evidence. No clue what was happening in this ending. One of the worst Lifetime movies I’ve seen all year.

Side Note

So sad that Thora Birch has to resort to Lifetime Movies. She was the cutest little cutie in Hocus Pocus.

This movie had multiple F-Bombs, excessive gore, and artsy cinematography? Must have been acquisition by Lifetime. I’d say this one would have been better-left un acquired.

Minority Report: NONE.

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Overall rating

🔪 (1 Knife)

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