
The Twisted Twin (2020 Lifetime)
Stars: Jennifer Taylor, Lorynn York, Rory Gibson
Listen to the Lifetime Uncorked Podcast here!
Watch & Stream the movie here! #Ad
Please buy me a coffee (or glass of 🍷) Support Lifetime Uncorked by leaving a $3 tip.
Synopsis (via Lifetime)
Tess loves her mom Patricia and the horse ranch she was raised on, but she’s ready for the next chapter. Attending her college orientation weekend, she gets the surprise of a lifetime when she’s approached by Sammy Crain, who happens to be her identical twin sister! After learning the story of how they were separated at birth, Tess is excited to connect with Sammy, but when Sammy’s adoptive parents turn up dead, and Tess is mistaken for her sister, she realizes she’s been duped by her twin as part of Sammy’s devious plan to steal Tess’s identity, take the family fortune and get away with murder.
Thoughts
An intruder murders a man with a knife. His blond wife is carrying laundry and discovers a body, and then she is stabbed to death by the intruder.
Tess is a teenage girl who loves horses and has recently been through a break-up with her boyfriend, Lucas. Tess is going to school to be a veterinarian, and on her way to college orientation, she sings a random ass country song with her mother.
On a tour of campus, Tess feels like she is being followed by someone who looks exactly like her. Feeling unsettled, Tess goes to the bathroom and stands on the toilet as the stalker attends to enter her stall. Tess opens the door and sees her identical twin in Mary Kate Olson oversized sunglasses. The twin sister’s name is Sammy and tells Tess about their birth mother.
Sammy lives in an affluent part of town, and her parents (Mitch and Kim, who I’m pretty sure are dead.) were keeping secrets (money in a safe, etc.) until Sammy heard them arguing about separating twins. Sammy tracked down Tess by looking at her social media. The sisters talk about their favorite colors, types of music, and hate of jalapenos. Since her parents are out of town, Sammy invites Tess over to her house while her parents are “out of town.”
Tess leaves her phone with Sammy while she packs a bag. Tess gets a call from her mom, and Sammy answers the call pretending to be Tess. At Sammy’s house, the sisters bond and even sleep in the same bed. Sammy leaves in the middle of the night and meets a man out by the pool. She tells him to come back tomorrow and leaves Tess alone in the house.
When Tess wakes up, she realizes her clothes and belongings are missing. Sammy leaves a note that says she is taking a Spanish test and pretending to be Tess. Much like the parent trap, they trade places, Tess less willingly so, but she goes along with it. Tess gets more into it when a hot jock boyfriend named Damon shows up. (Wow, this man is jacked.) He cooks Tess an omelet with drugs in it. The meal is interrupted by the cleaning service that discovers the bodies of Sammy’s parents.
Meanwhile, Sammy has a backpack full of cash and diamonds and is back on campus. Tess’s mother, Patricia, arrives early to pick her up from orientation, and Sammy rolls with it. When a call from Sammy’s cellphone comes in and an unknown number to Patrica’s phone, Sammy blocks the number and pretends it was a telemarketer.
Detectives arrive on the scene, and Tess attempts to straighten everything out. The cops try to corroborate her story, but Patricia says Tess doesn’t know anything about a twin. The police set up a meeting with Patrica and fake Tess. Patrica reviews the adoption papers but sees no mention of a sibling. She also notices her daughter is acting strange. Lucas stops by to apologize for breaking up and also notices that Tess isn’t herself.
In a flashback, we learn that Sammy was kicked out of her house by her wealthy parents. They thought she was an embarrassment and write her out of the will. Sammy screams at her adopted parents and says, “I hope you die!” Then she writes in a journal about it that she will kill them. The police find the diary and use it as evidence to take Tess into custody for Mitch and Kim’s murder.
Back with Patricia, Sammy has a hard time keeping up the charade. Sammy doesn’t know how Patricia takes her coffee or how to care for the horses. Damon shows up in the stables to get his half of the money. He killed Sammy’s parents and was supposed to kill Tess, but got interrupted. He won’t kill Patricia if it comes to that and tells Sammy to start doing her dirty work.
When the police come to question Sammy and Patricia, Sammy makes her best Tess impression and acts very surprised to learn that she has a twin. When placement test results come in, and Tess’s score on Spanish is way higher than usual, Patricia’s motherly instinct kicks in. She goes to Tess’s room and looks through her backpack. Sammy catches her and says she studied hard for the test!
In the middle of the night, Sammy meets with hunky Damon and kisses him one last time before pumping him with horse tranquilizer. Then she writes a suicide note on Damon’s phone and stages it to look like he hanged himself. (Yikes!)
Tess has a panic attack when the police accuse her of murder and is admitted to the hospital. She sneaks past a guarded door and steals her a patient’s car keys to getaway.
Patrica hears from the cops, informing her that “Sammy” has escaped from the hospital. Patrica drives Sammy pretending to be Tess to a cabin and knows that it is a lie when Sammy refuses to sing the lame-ass country song and can’t find her room. Patrica finds Sammy’s stash of money and diamonds and is held at gunpoint by Sammy.
The REAL Tess finds Lucas and convinces him that she is herself. He drives her to find Patrica and rescue her from the imposter twin. They arrive at the cabin, and Lucas drops Tess off and heads back into town to call the police. (Reception is nonexistent.)
Sammy almost shoots Patricia, but the gun is out of bullets, so instead, she pistol whips her. Tess screams at her sister to “Get away from her, you BITCH!” Then the twins wrestle over the gun. Sammy blames Tess for her abusive upbringing and a life lacking love. Tess tells Sammy that she would have loved her. Sammy pulls a knife, and they struggle some more but are stopped by Patrica with a fire poker.
Mother and daughter tie-up Sammy as the police sirens sound in the distance.
Tess visits Sammy in prison and tells her that she asked the judge for leniency and to wish her a happy birthday. The sisters talk on the phone through bulletproof glass. Awwww?
Side Note
Minority Report: College tour guide and students, Maid, Carla, Detective Fischer, hospital patient,
Some good twin slipt screen editing here. Similar to the original Parent Trap featuring Hallie Mills.
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)
🍷🍷🍷 (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.
Some of these LMN movies can be so stupid. So you’re telling me the girl under arrest cannot call her mom directly and talk to her. C’mon now!!