Killer Prom (2020 Lifetime)
Cast: Mark Lutz, Yvonne Zima, Gabriel Darku
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Synopsis (via Lifetime)
When Cayleigh Wilson, 17, loses her mother in a tragic boating accident, the excitement of her senior year of high school is shattered. But when her deceased mother’s hip and beautiful distant-cousin, Sienna Markle, 40, moves in with Cayleigh and her father, Tony, 40, things start looking up. Sienna gets Cayleigh excited about life again…especially her senior prom…the biggest high school event!! Sienna will stop at nothing to make it a perfect night for her young cousin…including murder.
Thoughts
The Wilson family is heading to a BBQ. Teenage daughter Maya is busy “snap talking” but takes time to take a family selfie with her mom (Hannah) and father (Tony). At the BBQ, Hannah and Tony run into Sienna Hannah’s cousin. Sienna wears too much eye makeup and has been jealous of Hannah their whole lives. Sienna wants Hannah’s husband, kids, and house. Sienna is so jealous she pushes Cousin Hannah off of a boat, killing her.
Sienna moves back to Philidelphia and has nowhere to stay. Tony invites her to live with them and doesn’t blame her for his wife’s death. Maya, on the other hand, isn’t as excited. She is upset because:
a) Her mom died.
b) Her dad is replacing her mother with Sienna
c) She doesn’t have a date to prom!!!! (Jake asked Kat instead of her.)
While sulking in her room, Maya gets a “Prom Promise” from Sienna that things will work out. Sienna searches through Hannah’s belongings and inserts herself into the household chores taking responsibilities from the suspicious housekeeper, Janet. (who is two years sober.)
Sienna picks up Maya from school and threatens Kat for bullying Maya. The girls visit a tech nerd named Tyler, who tracks a number that was sending text posing as Maya. It doesn’t matter; it is very convoluted and doesn’t come back. The point is: Kat gets broken up with Jake when he finds out she was bullying Maya. Jake promposals to Maya instead.
Fed up with the housekeeper, Sienna puts antifreeze in her coffee tumbler and sends her to pick up Luke from school. Sienna calls the cops to report a drunk driver, and Janet gets stopped and taken into custody. With housekeeper Janet out of the way, Sienna is free to take Maya to get a prom dress. (Or more like fantasize about taking Tony to Prom while Maya tries on dresses.) Janet gets fired, and Sienna offers to fill in.
Next on Sienna’s hit list is Tony’s receptionist Lauren. Sienna overdoses on allergy medication to give herself heart palpitations. Tony is a cardiologist, and Sienna rushes to his office for him to save ger. Sienna is rude and to Lauren when she arrives, especially when Lauren calls Tony her work husband.
To show Lauren, who is the queen bee. Sienna throws a BBQ just like Hannah used to do. Sienna gives herself a pep talk in the bathroom mirror about marrying Tony. Lauren overhears the speech and leaves the party abruptly. Sienna follows her and pushes Lauren down a flight of stair, killing her.
The family attends Lauren’s funeral, and Maya sees Sienna comforting her father. Red flags are starting to become apparent to Maya, and she snoops through Sienna’s room. When Maya brings her concerns to her father, he brushes them off. Tony tells his daughter that she is overreacting and to stop searching through Sienna’s things. Sienna overhears the conversation and has rationales for everything. Without any proof, Maya calls Houskeeper Janet, who agrees that Sienna is a shady bitch.
Montage of happy family activities like Jenga, catch, and movie night intercut with Sienna planning for Prom… not Maya’s prom… her prom? (I do not understand WHY Sienna is obsessed with Prom, it is stupid.) Sienna is continually daydreaming about Tony proposing to her on prom night.
Prom night finally arrives, and Sienna pours Tony a glass of roofie champagne to celebrate. Maya and Jake take pictures by the staircase and ride away in a limo. With the house to themselves, Tony takes a nap because he is suddenly not feeling well. While he is sleeping, Sienna makes a charcuterie board that looks delicious, hangs a mirror ball, and gets dressed up in a replica of Maya’s prom dress. Tony wakes up at Sienna’s fantasy prom night. She tells Tony he is going to fall in love with her just like he did with Hannah on their prom night years ago. Tony declines Sienna’s advances and shuts her down. Sienna calls him a tease and snaps. She starts shouting (or talking a bit louder.) about being the perfect wife. Sienna also admits to killing Hannah and then smashes Tony’s head with a champagne bottle.
Maya tracks downs Sienna’s mother, Dorothy, via social media. On her way to Prom, Maya gets a call from Dorothy, who tells her that Sienna is a liar and jealous. Dorothy also warns Maya to be careful and gets Sienna out of her house as soon as possible. Maya skips out on prom and goes back to save her dad. Jake is supportive and goes back with her.
Sienna ties up Tony and throws him in the pool to drown like Hannah. Jake and Maya arrive just in time. Jake and Sienna struggle with a knife, while Maya saves her father from the pool. Sienna cries and apologizes for killing Hannah and has a meltdown. Like an OVER THE TOP MELTDOWN. The cops come and take Sienna away in handcuffs. She still thinks she will be with Tony after all of this.
Tony tells Maya that he should have listened to her. Then he throws her an at-home prom using all the same decorations that Sienna used, haha. Lame surprise, dad.
Side Note
Minority Report: Violet, Tyler, hairstylist, Saleswoman
The writing here was pretty awful. Did Sienna have to self narrate everything she was doing? That being said, I’m not convinced Yvonne Zima is a good actress. I’ll blame the source material this time.
This movies saving grace was Maya, saving her father. I liked that a lot.
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Overall rating
🔪 (1 Knife)
🍷🍷🍷🍷(4 glasses of wine required.)
*Photo Credit: © 2020 Lifetime
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Maya was the saving grace because Erica Anderson is incredibly talented.
Good review! I just saw and reviewed this film and I thought it was fine. If you’re interested, you can read it at this link:
https://18cinemalane.wordpress.com/2020/05/06/take-3-killer-prom-review/
The best part was probably the tagline from the ad: I want your house, I want your man, I want your liiiife.
I keep saying it like Buddy Cole. I need an excuse to say it to SOMEONE.
As a connosseur of great acting, Yvonne Zima is one of the worst actresses to infiltrate a TV screen. Appearing in other Life Time movies, she is robotic and acts has though she is reading from a teleprompter. My suggestion to Ms.Zima is, take acting lessons, or find another profession.
Thanks for the comment and the LOLs. Haha.
Erica Anderson was way to old to play a teenager!!