Who Is Killing the Cheerleaders? (2020 Lifetime)

Who Is Killing the Cheerleaders? (2020 Lifetime)

Cast: Ella Cannon, Austin Freeman, Summer Madison

Listen to the Lifetime Uncorked Podcast here!

Please buy me a coffee (or glass of 🍷 ) Support Lifetime Uncorked by leaving a $3 tip.

Synopsis (via Lifetime)

Ellie, a former cheerleader, returns to her high school as a teacher ten years after being nearly killed in a series of brutal slayings on the squad. When the attacks start up again shortly after her arrival, she must find the killer before they get to her first

Thoughts

It is ten years since the slaying of 5 cheerleaders in a small town. The one cheerleader that got away is back in town and staying with her mother. Elliette Oliver (Terrible name.) has flashbacks to her friend’s murders. She hides her pom-poms in a dresser drawer to stop the memories.

Ellie is a new teacher at the school, and the students are fascinated with her and ask inappropriate questions. Elliette’s classmates still work at the school, specifically a jock named Forrest Parker, who was dating one of the murdered girls. He married her twin sister Brooke. Elliette volunteers for the open position of a cheerleading coach. At Practice, Elliette is surprised to see the squad is just four girls, they don’t have uniforms, and they don’t do stunts. The girls don’t even want to be there.

Elliette’s mom set her up on a date with her doctor, Jon. They were classmates in high school too. Apparently, everyone in this movie went to highschool with Elliette. On their date, Jon admits to having the biggest crush on her in high school. They decide to go on a second date.

The next morning Ellie goes for a run on the track in a super cute windbreaker. The workout is cut short when she finds a dead cheerleader with “I’m Back.” Written in blood on her chest. (It is a little much, mainly because the girls on the squad didn’t even want to be cheerleaders and were doing it for college apps.)

It is ruled as a prank, and Elliette is finally put into therapy. The red-headed therapist wants to put her into an immersion therapy and suggests journaling—multiple times.

Chloe, Brittney, Pippa, and Ava talk with Forrest Parker, who just happens to have photos of all the dead bodies of the cheerleaders who were murdered on his work laptop? Something is not right with this teacher. He freaks the girls out, and they quit the team. Well, everyone except Ava, who seems into it? Ava gets transcripts and works with Dillion to learn what happened ten years ago.

With no team and lots of time on her hands, Ellie finds an old journal and realizes that she had a Forrest Parker but forgot about it. The next day Brooke and Forrest have an informal reunion. Ellie invites her new friend Lisbeth to join her.

At the reunion, no one remembers Lisbeth, not even Jon, who dated her? Brooke runs into Ellie by the bathroom and asks what happened to her sister and then blames her.

Meanwhile, the teenagers are at the football game, and Pippa is missing. Chloe is too busy sexting Forrest Parker to care. (Earlier, she slapped his butt in the parking lot, and he was into it.) Ava finds Pippa stuffed in a locker. The Sheriff suspects Ellie because someone stuffed her poms in Pippa’s mouth. Also, her phone is missing again, so they can’t track her whereabouts. Lisbeth finds the phone in the parking lot.

Forrest pushes this affair with Chloe. He says, “Your grades are lacking in my class, so are we gonna do this?” Like REALLY, dude? This guy is the worst. Chloe doesn’t even seem like she wants to have an affair, but she goes to his house in the middle of the night. She has second thoughts and goes back to her car. Only to be strangled to death.

Lisabeth and Chloe watch as the police drag away Forrest for Chloe’s disappearance. Then Lisabeth overshares about trying out for the cheerleading squad and not making because she feels invisible. Then she goes to her classroom takes out her yearbook that confirms she is stuck in the past. (She has hearts around Jon and x’s on the cheerleaders.)

Ellie wakes up after drinking some wine with lipstick writing all over her mirror and walls that read, “I Did It.” Ellie shows Jon, and he asks her if she did it. Then they find Chloe’s headband in her bed. Jon thinks it could be a mental breakdown. Ellie realizes that it was Lizabeth. She finds the yearbook with all the writing in it. Then she drives to Jonathan’s house to show him the evidence. Then she remembers the killer was Jonathan! Too bad for her; he is right behind her.

He ties her up and admits to killing everyone because they laughed at him and put him in the friend zone. He framed Ellie for all the murders and has it all figured out. Ava, Dillion, Pippa, and Chloe break into the house and record her whole confession with their phones. Ellie hits him with a fire poker and takes him out. He is taken to jail to rot.

Ellie’s mom’s cancer is in remission (???) Missed that. They celebrate with champagne. Then we finally see some cheerleading. It is about time.

Side Note

Minority Report: Ava, Sheriff, Principal, Male Nurse,

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

🔪🔪🔪 (3 Knives)

🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷 (5 glasses of wine required.)