Killer in the Guest House (2020 Lifetime)
Cast: Chelsea Hobbs, Marcus Rosner
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Synopsis (via Lifetime)
Gina, a struggling fashion photographer, is forced to rent out her guest house as a means of paying the mortgage. But when her new tenant, Mark, a hunky pilot, is revealed to be a dangerous and womanizing con-man, Gina finds herself in the shoot of her life.
Thoughts
Someone is digging a grave and whistling, which is never a good sign. Then we get the title card.
Gina is a photographer who drives a VW bug, like a typical artist. Also, she gets swindled by a sleazy ex-boyfriend Levon. To make ends meet, Gina and her blonde friend Rachel clean out the guest house to be rented. (Previously inhabited by her recently deceased mother.) to be rented for $800 a month. They list the guest house on “MiCasaSuCasa.com” and get multiple applications. Gina picks the hottest guy she can find. He is named Mark James and is sexy AF. Mark is a pilot who is divorced and has a daughter.
When Mark arrives, he is whistling, which is terrifying. Good thing her is so attractive AND in a pilot uniform. Gina shows him the place, including the deep freezer for her film. Mark loves it, and Venmos her right away and moves in and walks around, whistling like a maniac. The next morning Mark makes Gina brunch. While drinking mimosas, she asks him to be a model for her. Her photo process is reading lame jokes from a joke book to get her subjects to smile. They take pictures, and Mark gives Gina a pep talk.
Levon visits in his fancy leased car with a bottle of champagne, and his shirt undone one too many buttons. He tries to get back with Gina, but she shuts him down. While he reviews Gina’s photos, Mark puts a tracker on his car. They get in an argument when Levon refuses to pay up for the pictures. Mark comes to her defense and promises to get Levon out of Gina’s life, for good.
The next morning, Mark does gardening with his shirt off gratuitously. (His body is sickening! God bless this man.) Then we get another scene with him shirtless for no reason. While Gina is out, Mark bugs the house with nanny cams. Levon shows up again (This time in pink pants and a very patterned shirt.) He steals all of Gina’s photos from her computer. As he walks out, Mark hits him in the face with a shovel and then violently kills Levon and drags the body to the guest house. Mark’s shirt rips off his body in the struggle. Making this one of the horniest Lifetime movies I’ve seen in a while. (Then he explodes Levon’s car while going for a run whistling again. Why he didn’t blow Levon up in the car too, IDK!)
Gina comes home and is pissed to find out that Levon took her photos and didn’t leave the money she is owed. She reviews HER security camera and sees Levon in the studio, but misses Mark attacking Levon and stealing the money.
Mark strips down and takes a steamy shower. While his it toweling off, Mark doesn’t notice Levon starting to wake up; he isn’t dead. Levon grabs a knife, and they fight to the death for real this time. Mark stuffs Levon in the deep freezer and sits on it until he suffocates. Then he buries him in the garden.
Gina gets a job with bigshot photo agency Simms, mostly because she and the owner went to the same high school… When she tells mark about it, he applies at the same agency as a model. Then they go walking around town, taking photos together and have a lovely date when they kiss… oh, wait, then they have sex in the shower. (Get it, Gina!)
Detectives find Levon’s car and question Gina about his whereabouts. Rachel comes over to do laundry and catches Mark franticly looking for a flash drive in the dryer that he stole from Levon and now has lost. Mark leaves the main house and goes to the guest house to watch Rachel and Gina on the nanny cam. He doesn’t like what he hears, and angrily does pushups. Then, Mark breaks into the house and puts an audio recorder in Gina’s purse.
Gina starts at her job as director of photography and starts running photoshoots. She is doing really well, and Mr. Simms/Robert is very impressed. Mark poses as an aspiring model to get into the agency and sneaks into Robert’s office to bug his briefcase too. He almost gets caught but hides under the desk. Mark overhears Robert putting the moves on Gina. So he trails Robert and harasses him with texts from Levon’s phone.
When Mark surprises Gina on her birthday with a necklace and 30th balloons/decorations, she is creeped out and annoyed. They go to a party celebrating Gina’s first cover. Gina tells Rachel about her feelings of discomfort with the relationship, and Mark listens in. Robert steps away from the party to make a call to Paris. In his office, he gets strangled to death by Mark. The detectives show up at the party and find Mark in a staged suicide bu hanging. Mark framed Robert for the murder of Levon.
Horrified and in need of comfort, Gina cries to Mark. Mark says he has to leave for work and peaces out. Gina is left at home alone, and while doing laundry, she finds the flash drive in the dryer. She opens the flash drive and finds a security video of Levon getting attacked by Mark. Gina calls the detectives immediately but gets their voicemail. Left to do her own detective work, Gina finds incriminating evidence in the guest house. (Including Levon’s phone and money. She also finds footage of Mark burying the body.) While she is reviewing footage, Mark sneaks up behind her.
Gina denies seeing anything and throws something at Mark so that she can run away. She hides in the garden while Mark screams at her about “trying to give her the perfect life.” Gina attacks him with a shovel but is overpowered and tied up. Mark takes photos of Gina in the studio as she begs for water. Gina gets a call from the detective and is forced to answer. Detective Brown tells her that Mark is named James. He is extremely dangerous.
Gina pretends to accept James/Mark for who he is. She kisses him and then electrocutes him with some faulty photo equipment and the water. The police show up and roll his dead (but sexy) ass away.
Gina realizes that she is fine being a freelance photographer and doesn’t need any man.
Side Note
Minority Report: Mr. Simms Assistant named Patrick, Rachel’s boyfriend Tom, and Detective Brown.
Marcus Rosner played an almost identical (and equally shirtless) role in The Killer Downstairs.
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Overall rating
🔪🔪🔪🔪 (4 Knives)
🍷🍷🍷 (3 glasses of wine required.)
*Photo Credit: © 2020 Lifetime
Please buy me a coffee (or glass of 🍷) Support Lifetime Uncorked by leaving a $3 tip.
Marcus Rosner is one of the best at playing a-holes in Lifetime movies!
This sounds amazing. How would you rate it on a shirtless scale?
The most shirtless. Highly enjoyable!
I need to know what song is playing in the end credits! Plz & THANK YOU PPL!!!! I really do love the song though🫠✨🫶